Four reasons why every law firm website needs a blog

One of the main reasons that most companies, including those in the legal industry, have a website is to help generate more revenue.

But if your website isn’t helping to bring in and convert new clients, something isn’t working.

For many legal websites, a blog is that missing element. Or, rather, a good blog.

That’s because just having a blog isn’t enough. It needs to be managed well for consistent delivery – not just something you spend a few hours on when you have time to spare.

Let’s look at the key benefits a blog can bring to your firm's website, along with some tips on how to manage your own content output.

1. Improves visibility on search engines

With 96% of people starting their search for legal help online, it’s important that your website appears near the top of the page of results when potential clients search for your services.

You can test this yourself by opening an ‘incognito’ window on Google Chrome or a ‘private’ window on Safari, and then searching for one of your main services.

For example, you could search for ‘fixed fee probate services’, if that’s something you provide.

If you don’t appear on the first page, potential clients might struggle to find you. Search engines like Google need to know they’re sending users to somewhere they can trust.

That trust is built by writing a lot of great content around a specific topic. That’s where your blog comes in.

For example, if you want to rank higher for the term ‘fixed fee probate services’, you could write multiple blog posts about that topic and link to your relevant service page.

Examples of titles could be "Five benefits of choosing a fixed fee probate service" or "How to choose the right fixed fee probate solicitor". These show your expertise – but also address questions readers may have.

2. Removes barriers for potential clients

The more people know about your services, the more likely they are to trust and work with you.

By answering the questions you know people have about your services, you can remove barriers that stand between them and becoming a client.

Instead of leaving your website due to uncertainty about your services, visitors can find your blog posts, gain a clearer understanding and overcome hesitations.

You can also link to blogs from your service page, and your customer team can even recommend them to potential clients looking for more information over the phone.

The more barriers you remove, the more clients you will get.

3. Supports social media

Social media can be vital in establishing your brand – and your blog can feed into your social media and support your output on platforms like LinkedIn.

For example, let’s say you wrote an article titled "Five benefits of choosing a fixed fee probate service". It doesn’t need to just be a blog post. It could easily be turned into an article on LinkedIn or a section of a podcast.

This way, both blogs and social media channels can feed into one another.

Not only does this make your work easier, but it will make your brand look more consistent too.

4. Gives your team a voice

It’s becoming more common for members of a firm to want to establish their individual professional profiles online.

This may make you worried that your best team members are looking to either leave for another company or go it alone.

But there is a more optimistic outlook. If someone on your team wants to establish themselves in this way, then encouraging them to create specialist content for the company on a particular topic can actually help both of you.

They get to develop their confidence and skillset in a particular area, while you get content created by a true expert.

They’ll also feel supported, which is an important part of maintaining a happy and productive team.

If writing doesn’t come naturally to them, they could even hire a writer to work with, to turn their expertise into a quality blog post.

The value of blogs

The success of blogs all comes down to expertise. You need to be writing valuable, quality content about the topics you want people to come to you for.

This will establish your firm as an expert to search engines, which means higher organic rankings on results pages.

You’ll also be seen as an expert to your potential clients, which in turn could mean more new business.

By achieving both goals, you will give your website the best chance of succeeding.