Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
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Law firm websites can become stagnant over time. Many contain only basic information about services and staff. Often firm websites serve as an online version of a brochure, serving only as a way for potential clients to get general information. However, in recent years, many successful firms have learned to turn their websites into a selling point, using their blog to establish thought leadership in specific practice areas. A blog can help boost a firm ahead of its competition and bring in additional business.
A law firm’s blog can dramatically increase its reach. Visitors will have a reason to keep coming back on a regular basis for insightful advice, news and information. A blog can increase your search engine optimization and serve as a means to generate content that can easily be shared across social media platforms.
However, for your blog post to reach its goals, you’ll need to ensure the information you provide is useful and interesting to new and repeat visitors. One of the best way to do that is to collect and share data that will help educate and inform the readers and also entice other online bloggers and social media users to share and re-post your content. Here are a few ways you can use data to make your blog more interesting to visitors.
Case Successes
One of the most popular uses of a firm’s blog is to announce news and accomplishments of the firm and its attorneys. Announcing state bar appointments and firm awards is a great way to impress visitors. Use your firm’s blog to provide statistics about your firm’s cases. Display data on the number cases the first has successfully resolved, money the firm has been able to recover for its clients, as well as trial and arbitration successes.
Statistics
When you step back and consider the information your website visitors might want to read, statistics related to the cases you cover will likely be toward the top of the list. Personal injury attorneys can share statistics on car accidents in the area or slip-and-fall accidents by time of year. These statistics are often publicly available and will likely be shared by your colleagues, clients, and general consumer audiences who find them interesting.
Surveys
One of the best ways to get your content linked in high-profile publications is by conducting your own survey. Make sure you gather a large sampling and fully disclose how many people participated when you publish your results on your blog. You can use a survey tool to make it easier to share it and gather results. The information you gather could be targeted directly to your colleagues in the legal field or to general consumer audiences. You could, for instance, conduct a survey to determine how clients locate and choose an attorney or what type of life event would lead them to seek an attorney.
Infographics
Infographics have become a great way to display information in a visually-appealing manner. The best thing about infographics is that can easily be shared and re-purposed into articles and news releases. This legal infographic demonstrates how information can be used to break down complicated concepts. Best of all, you can create your infographic for free using data available online.
Informed Marketing
One of the best things about data is its ability to help businesses learn more about the results of their efforts. Experts have expended significant energy into helping others determine the best time of day to take a blog post live, for instance, but each business has its own unique audience. By gathering and analyzing this information, your firm can better determine the type of content for your target audience, as well as the time of day and day of the week for posting to get the best results.
Successful businesses use data to inform important decisions. For law firms with blogs, this means finding ways to share statistics with their own clients, as well as putting the information to use in creating content their clients and potential clients will enjoy and share.
A well-executed and curated blog can increase website traffic, improve SEO performance, and help you firm to be seen as a thought leader in your practice area.
