Blogging for Lawyers: How to Start a Legal Blog

It is 2021!! and if you are still thinking to start your legal blog this is your time and here is the complete guide on blogging for lawyers.

There are currently more than 600 million blogs on the internet out of 1.7 billion websites and over 2.5 billion blog posts are published worldwide each year. The positive impact of paying attention to legal blogging trends has been well experienced by lawyers or law firms in terms of building their online reputation but at the same time, the fierce competition is leading law firms and lawyers to strategies their writing to gain client attention.

In this Digital Era, online marketing plays a pivotal role in the success of any individual. Blogging is probably the most critical component of any effective digital marketing for lawyers, with all the techniques accessible to lawyers to promote themselves online, such as search engine marketing, social media marketing, and pay-per-click promotions.

Why do lawyers need blogs?

Many lawyers know that potential customers do their research online and that their exposure can be enhanced by an online presence.

Blogging helps in building reputation and it’s a sign that the lawyer has deep insight into the subject and keeping oneself updated with relevant legal scenarios.

Writing blogs is about a relationship being established. It is about building confidence. It’s about creating a community around your blog, who are looking forward to hearing your thoughts on topics that matter to them.

Static websites don’t attract many new clients, but a regularly updated blog can produce a constant stream of good leads from all around the world.

Free blogging vs. Paid blogging

 Free Blogging Platform

As the name suggests in itself, free blogs are the blogs published on a free blogging platform where there is no subscription or domain cost involved, the authors get to publish for free.

In a free blogging platform, the files are stored or hosted on the blogging platform’s servers. In this type of blogging platform, there are no initial start-up costs involved. WordPress and Blogger are the two widely used free blogging platforms.

Advantages of Free Blogging Platform

• The foremost benefit of having a free blogging platform is its free factor. If the budget is low and there is no willingness to invest capital, a free blogging platform is a way forward. Whenever any individual starts writing blogs, free blogging platforms are always preferred preliminary.
• Even the least experienced person can post and publish content with easy-to-use interfaces designed to cater to a novice web user. Blogger’s user interface, for example, has some similarity to Word, and have features like spell check and autosave. Most free blog sites allow a certain amount of customization so blogs can be customized based on the target market and related topic.

 Disadvantages of Free Blogging Platform

• The host doesn’t allow to use of all the premium features of blogs including video or graphics upload, full access to customize the UI of the blog, etc.
• One cannot advertise or logos of the company and miss a chance of good publishing opportunity.
• Free blogs are generally studded with various kinds of ads without prior permission of the author, which leads to negative publicity.
• The company let you publish blogs for free, earns money through these blogs and advertisement on the blog page. It means the author misses the opportunity of the monetization of blogs where the company taking advantage of it.
• Most of the free blogging platform restricts the number of time the blogs can be shared, hence creating a barrier between the person and potential clients.
• There is a lack of total control which means the blogs can be deleted at any time which any prior permission from the author. The company can change its policies and vision and may ask to pay a premium to continue the service. If the company decides to close down, blogs and views are lost forever.

 Paid Blogging Platform

In Paid Blogging Platform, domains are purchased or rented, the authors get to choose the domain name and have total control over everything.

In most cases, a self-hosted blog is one that resides on the author’s server. Usually law firm has its own website, where a section can be created for publishing a blog.

Even private practitioners can create a website of their name and publish blogs related to subject expertise.

 Advantages of Paid Blogging Platform

• The author/owner has full control over the blog, including its layout, search engine optimization, advertising revenue, additional functions, and much more.
• The author can use customized logos or brand names in the case of a law firm. It also provides complete access to backend files which allows making necessary code changes and personalization.
• The author can directly take note of the comments and reviews, and can even get in touch with the potential client without any third party involvement.
• One can use an effective plugin, take advantage of Search Engine Optimization, full control of data and analytics, and advantage of unlimited customization.

Disadvantages of Paid Blogging Platform

• It requires an initial investment.
• It can often be intimidating for beginners.

 How to create a blog?

A blog is a type of website that focuses mainly on written content. Blogs are personal and professional perspectives which allows them to connect directly with readers. Steps to create a blog is stated below:

Choose the domain or website

The first step is to decide where to publish a blog, it can either be published on a domain or host server in individual, or a blog community consisting of like-minded people or a group of professionals.

The author can publish it into a blog of an institution, or on the website of the company, or can publish it on an individual website. The author needs to decide for what purpose it will publish the blog. It can either for getting new customers or clients, there can be revenue earning motive or to establish oneself as a leader or expert on the subject.

Pick a Blog name

A good blog name should be descriptive so that the potential visitors can instantly tell what the blog is about from the name itself. It should not be too descriptive yet predictable.

Select the theme and design your Blog

The first thing a blog need is a face, the design and layout should match the theme. The look and feel of the new blog rely on the theme that is chosen.

Readers first notice the overall appearance of the blog before they can even take a look at the content. A theme should be such that it looks great and also works for specific content needs.

In this step, the author or owner needs to decide the blog domain name and the blog’s log.

Write content and promote your blog

This is the foremost important step in blogging. One needs to publish the necessary information and background of the blog page. There needs to be a write-up on various topics falling broadly within the theme.

The content should be valuable to the targeted customer or audience and it should be able to provide a lead for generating income. To make the write-up more engaging, there can inclusion of poll, URLs, Statistics, and images.

The link to the write-up can be shared with different experts for their feedback and recommendation. Contact details should be provided so that potential customers or clients can get in touch with the author.

Relevant Content for a blog

Law is dynamic and is ever-changing to cope up with the changes in society. Introduction of new legislation,  amendments to existing legislation, and interpretation of legislation provide a wide range of topics to the relevant content of the blog.

When laws change, the public needs to know about them. Legal terminology and jargon are not well understood by common people, hence a write-up on the subject of easy language can be beneficial and useful in widening the subject of practice and getting new clients. The recent trends suggest people likely to connect with the lawyer or firms more who are updated and generate more content on recent media happenings.

Commenting or giving a professional opinion about the events, situation, or handling of the legal processing can draw the media’s eyes to the firm and generate a lead, also a fresh perception on traditional jurisprudential doctrines, case laws, a specific branch of laws such as constitutional law, Family law etc, business-specific information or compliance related matters can be a good choice.

Writing on your own or getting guest authors to write

In the preliminary stage, one needs to manage the blog by oneself, and if the owner is willing to invest some capital, he/she can hire a few personnel to work as an editor and make a team of content writers.

When the blog has gained a good amount of reviews and has become known within the community, there arises a need to publish more such content, and a guest author can help to a large extent to get more viewers.

Guest submissions are a great way to offer the blog a bit of variety, as well as keep it stocked with consistent content. New authors will shake things up with new ideas or subjects that have not been otherwise considered, or that are beyond the field of expertise.

The owner needs to find out how to attract and inspire top talent to participate. Guest Authors helps to lessen the burden of owner or content writer/s, it enables them to tackle a diverse range of topics and make the blog more engaging, in a pool of recurring guest writers, the owner gets the first place to look for a new permanent addition to the team.

The importance of adding tags, pictures, and URLs to external sites

Blogging is a common form of showcasing expertise and knowledge. There are hundreds and thousands of write-ups on different blog websites on the same topic.

It’s a human habit that we scroll from up to down for relevant content, so whatever the content is at the top, gets the most views. To make this happen one needs to understand Search Engine Optimization or SEO.

SEO is the process of modifying the site to increase its visibility for relevant searches. The better the visibility the webpage has in search results, the more likely the webpage will get more attention and will attract prospective and existing customers to the business.

Search engines collect information about the pages and put them in an index. Algorithms analyze pages in the index, taking into account hundreds of ranking factors or signals, to determine the order pages should appear in the search results for a given query.

Tag is one of the essential elements of SEO, every time a tag is included in the blog post it increases the chance of the blog being found through a search engine. It becomes easy for the Search Engine to identify the keywords and match them with the user required data.

Picture perfect

Adding a thematic image early in the post will attract attention and can set the tone for the content. It makes the content eye-catching and appealing. It also helps to make a point or emphasize a particular statement in the blog.

While adding an image it is essential that the title of the image is provided properly, as a Search Engine intelligently identifies an image, it identifies it with the title and filename. It is imperative to make the file name relevant and title descriptive for Search Engine to identify the image in the web page and index it.

Importance of external linking

An external link is a link that transfers the user into another external domain. It is widely believed by Search Engine Optimization experts that this type of external link helps in ranking power.

Furthermore, it creates an impression that the write-up is well researched and is backed by industry experts and examples. Adding trustworthy and informative website links of high quality will help in improving the credibility of the website.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve learned how to start a blog. Start content creation, and leverage with the tips mentioned to promote to become a successful blogger. So, that’s all it takes to create a potion for an interesting and readable legal blog post. The dramatic shift in the legal industry post-COVID-19 outbreak requires a great effort to scale up law firms digitally and if you need any help in that way contact us today

Read more Guides on Digital Marketing for Lawyers

Digital marketing is the new traditional marketing! Read our guides on digital marketing for lawyers and law firms to get tips and strategy to grow your law practice in 2021:

• Law Firm Website Design
• Video Marketing for Lawyers
• Law Firm SEO Marketing
• Law Firm Digital Marketing
• Law Firm Content Marketing

We can help you with your marketing initiatives to generate more leads and get you more clients, contact us now and we will reach out to discuss your marketing strategy. At Altclik, we believe in moving ahead together and we are there to help you at each and every step of your marketing journey! 

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