Giving away free legal advice is not something lawyers particularly like. However, in order to have a solid inbound law firm internet marketing strategy for your PI blog, you must help your clients with the information they’re looking for. In return, you’ll be able to win their trust and ultimately their business.
This idea is best described by Robert Cialdini’s reciprocity principle, which says, “give a little something to get a little in return.”
When your blog is offering highly practical information that is making your clients lives easier; based on the idea of reciprocity, it is likely they will feel obligated to choose your service over competitors.
Once you’re done setting up your blog, a question you’ll eventually ask yourself is, “How do I keep coming up with interesting content that resonates with my target audience?”
Don’t worry. This is not an uncommon problem. In this article, we’ll discuss ten tactics that will help you generate content ideas to greatly improve your law firm’s content marketing efforts.
1. Take Advantage of Your Expertise
In marketing, one size doesn’t fit all. In fact, one size fits none.
If your practice area is personal injury law, then reflect on your experiences to generate engaging topic ideas.
You have probably settled cases that have elements that align perfectly with a current prospective clients problem.
Did you maximize a settlement for a motorcycle accident with a back injury? Writing about the experience will probably naturally utilize keywords with search volume and there will also inevitably be another injured victim that will be interested in the write-up.
Take the time to do some reflection. I guarantee your expertise and experiences as a practising attorney can lead you to excellent content ideas.
2. Conduct Keyword Research
Up until a few years ago, keyword research was a huge part of online marketing. However, it has become more complicated because search engines have gradually evolved. Today, Google and other major search engines like Bing, operate on the basis of the semantic search.
So, only targeting exact keywords for content marketing isn’t the best approach to curate content. You should also think about your reader first. If you just create content based on the estimated keyword traffic, you will not stand out from the rest.
Semantic search is a search based on intent that search engines are greatly in favour of. For instance, before, users would search “Pubs in London”, but now, the searcher can just do a voice search and ask, “Find me a luxurious pub in London”
The best practice to structure your content marketing for semantic search is by putting together a list that includes foundational keywords — keywords that align with the target phrase. These keywords give your content meaning.
In order to find the foundational keywords, ask yourself, “What is the phrase my clients would use to find me?”
That being said, traditional keyword research isn’t dead yet. You should still spend some time researching the right keywords. It’s worth noting that 93% of all online experiences begin with the search engine.
To put it simply, you need to keep track of what your potential clients are searching for and create content relevant to their needs. Think of keywords as the voice of your audience. And then use them to create enticing content.
The idea here is to find out which keywords are the top traffic earners generators around the high-level topic of personal injury law.
Here are a few keyword research tools you can use:
- Google Keyword Planner (Yes, it’s owned by Google)
3. Solicit Ideas From Your Audience
Tapping into your existing audience is by far the easiest way to find ideas that will actually work for your law firm’s blog. Your clients, past clients and staff are a great resource for ideas.
By asking them what kind of content they want to read, you remove the guesswork. So it’s a good idea to poll them from time to time to understand what blog topics would be worth writing on.
You don’t have to limit yourself to one channel when doing so. Utilize every channel that you have access to make things easier.
Survey website visitors
Start by embedding a survey form right on your blog so that your readers can give feedback on your content. By using a survey tool such as SurveyMonkey, you’ll find the whole process is simple and straightforward.
Survey social media followers
First, figure out where your clients hang out the most. Is it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat? Next, start collecting feedback and insights from your audience through social media.
Interact with past clients
Talk to your past clients who have had success with you. Your clients always have a lot of questions. Interacting with them will help you understand their pain points and help you generate more ideas to write about.
4. Research Your Competition
More often than not, half the work has already been done by your competitors. There are many tools that can help you track your competitors’ keywords, like Moz, SimilarWeb, and Ahrefs.
To start off, you need to identify your competitors and see how often they publish content.
Aim to find answers to these following questions:
-
- What kind of content are they publishing?
-
- How often do they publish?
-
- Are they using images or infographics?
-
- Which articles were popular?
-
- What social media platforms do they use to interact with their audience?
- What is the average length of their content?
Do not get stuck on one competitor. The more you can list, the better the analysis you’ll be able to do. As soon as you have answers to these questions, you’ll come up with plenty of ideas for your next article.
5. Explore Your Past Cases
Your law firm’s content marketing strategy can get stronger and more viable with the help of case studies. A thoughtfully written case study does two important things for your firm:
-
- It provides useful information that delivers real value to prospective clients
- It helps to get a higher return on your content marketing investment
Even though case studies are generally more time-consuming to produce, they tend to garner much more attention in the long run. Ask yourself, what’s the main reason you’re producing content for your law firm? That’s right, to build real trust with your target audience.
Every case study you produce solidifies your position and adds credibility. By clearly proving how your law firm’s services have helped other clients in the past, you’ll be able to convert more of your traffic to clients.
6. Leverage Reddit and Quora
When it comes to running a successful law firm blog, it’s important that you consistently publish high-quality content that your readers find both interesting and fulfilling. However, finding the right ideas can seem difficult and a tiring process if you solely depend on your own thoughts. This is where Reddit and Quora come in, both of them being great resources to find interesting content topics.
1. Reddit
Reddit, a social media website, describes itself as the “front page of the Internet.” Why wouldn’t it? After all, it’s one of the most visited sites in the world.
Users on Reddit share content mostly in the form of links. When it comes to generating ideas for your law firm blog, Reddit can prove to be a goldmine. Mainly because it’s built around super-targeted, niche communities called subreddits on various topics, including legal ones.
When you go through the data you find on Reddit and study it carefully, you are bound to find ideas that your target audience actually cares about. It not only makes it easy for you to find just any topic ideas but topic ideas that your readers will read and spread the word about.
You need to start looking into subreddits where your audience is most likely to hang out. For example, you can look into the following subreddits for ideas
If you want to go broad with your idea hunting, you can look at subreddits such as legal advice and law to find some inspiration. Although it’s always better to be specific in your approach.
For instance, if you look at the Family Law subreddit you’ll find a lot of people seeking legal advice. These queries come from real people, facing real problems, so it makes sense to look into them.
2. Quora
Quora is the most popular question/answer website out there. You’ll find people asking and answering all kinds of questions. Which means you can find an array of legal topics being discussed.
When you’re researching Quora to find blog post topic ideas, you should give preference to questions that have a good amount of upvotes and answers. These show the topic being discussed is in demand. Quora is a great place to find out what kind of information people are actually searching for.
You may want to start mining Quora with the help of a simple Excel spreadsheet. When you have a list of potential questions, you can then convert these into blog post headlines. And then create content that goes deeper into the subject.
Keep in mind that when you’re looking into Reddit and Quora, you are mainly looking for:
- Industry related topics
- Questions that are frequently asked
- Answers to questions that you can go deeper into
It’s a good idea to have a regularly updated list of Reddit and Quora discussions that can help you come up with new blog post ideas consistently.
7. Debunk Common Legal Myths
When it comes to the law there are just too many myths people fall for. This clearly has to do with the majority of the population being unaware of what goes on in the legal world.
People often turn to the web to research the law. A lawyer’s worst nightmare! That’s where random questions and false assumptions during consultations typically root from.
Research common PI legal myths and find a handful that would be great for your next blog post.
8. Seek Inspiration Online
It’s easy to run out of content ideas when you’re running a law firm website. But with the right kind of inspiration, you should be able to generate relevant ideas for your law firm blog on an ongoing basis. There are many sources online to look for inspiration in order to create effective content. Here are two ways to do so…
1. Use BuzzSumo
The Internet is filled with legal content ideas that you can tap into. You just need the right tools to do so. BuzzSumo is a content marketing tool that lets you find top performing posts in the legal arena.
2. Read industry blogs
Go ahead and subscribe to the most relevant and high performing legal blogs. Why? Because they’re regularly publishing content on topics that you can write about. The best part about leveraging these blogs is the topics you find are often well-researched. All you need to do is write about them from your own, fresh perspective. Adding your unique angle, you can create quality content regularly.
9. Study the FAQs on Your Competitors’ Websites
If you look around, you’ll find many of your competitors’ websites having dedicated FAQ pages. These FAQs have been carefully crafted based on their experience with their own clients.
So why not tap into these solid sources in order to generate ideas for your own blog?
Since they are your competitors, chances are high that your blog readers will have similar questions or problems they need to be addressed. Look for questions that have enough substance and are worth exploring further. You should be able to create a complete blog post around it and give real value to your readers. Avoid any closed-ended questions.
10. Review Competitors’ Reviews
Enough online reviews left by clients are unbiased and honest. Clients are transparent enough with their words. Which is why your competitors’ reviews can help you easily get into the minds of your audience and see what concerns them.
The idea here is to analyze reviews left by your competitors’ clients in common places such as Yelp, Google, Facebook and Avvo.
Reviews can help you figure out what kind of problems your audience is facing and what solutions they are looking for. This will allow you to create solution-based content that your audience will find helpful.
You may also want to analyze what they are saying and how. Look for common patterns or themes. If you find out that there is a particular topic that your audience is very interested in, go ahead and create a blog post around it.
Conclusion
Your expertise is your greatest strength. The content you create must be compelling and engaging to the end reader. Make sure you write keeping your target users in mind. Become an educator and advocate for the success of your clients.
The tactics that we discussed will definitely help you come up with ideas for your blog. Commit to the process and you will have a never-ending list of topics to address.
What are you currently doing to generate content ideas? I love to hear from PI firms across the nation. Leave a comment with the current tactics you’re utilizing.
Of course, if you are interested in professional content production and marketing services, don’t hesitate to contact me today.
