Everyone can write legal content, especially lawyers…right?

Sure, lawyers can write … Good legal writing is well researched and persuasive.

And legal content is writing … Good legal content is well researched and persuasive.

So why don’t most lawyers write good legal content?

Legal writing is written for an audience of lawyers or others familiar with the law. Legal writing applies existing law to specific facts and attempts to persuade a decision-maker to rule a certain way based on a factual analysis. 

Legal content is intended to educate an audience of non-lawyers about the law and available legal solutions. Legal content reveals how the law generally applies in given situations and attempts to persuade a person to make the decision to hire an attorney or law firm.

While traditional legal writing and legal content writing share many similarities, they are designed to influence distinctly different audiences and are intended to produce different results. 

1. Legal Content is about Marketing

Why do most lawyers and law firm websites have blogs?  And why is it important to keep fresh content posted regularly? Legal content is law firm advertising. Much of law firm advertising has moved online where the competition for attention is fierce and the rules of the game change rapidly.

Legal content needs to be a precision blend of education, inspiration, and motivation that will move potential clients into action. Content needs to give readers the information that they are looking for while creating the feeling that the writer has the solution they are looking for. 

Good legal content must be infused with benefits for the reader. Better legal content takes the reader on a journey that they can relate to. Great legal content rides in on a white horse and gives the reader exactly what is desired.

Knowledge of digital marketing practices is essential to creating legal content that will perform well and attract new clients.

2. Legal Content Needs Style

A judge is going to have to read a legal brief no matter how uninteresting it appears. A potential client has no such obligation when it comes to legal content.

Any content needs to be formatted to get the attention of the targeted reader. The content of a law firm’s webpage needs to be presented so that it attracts the reader and then holds the reader’s attention. 

Legal content needs to be organized so that the major points jump out when skimmed to let the reader know that a deeper dive into the content is warranted – it requires a visual appeal that legal writing does not.

  • Keeping paragraphs short helps break up chunks of text that are intimidating to readers. 
  • Bullet points call attention to listed items. 
  • Bold and italicized text creates emphasis and draws attention.  

This content is viewed on social media. You need to be aware of how your content displays on various social media platforms. If your content is hard to read or doesn’t display well, people will move on. 

3. Legal Content Must Connect with the Intended Audience

Unlike legal writing, legal content writing does not have a captive audience. The words on your law firm’s website need to be written so that it attracts the attention of the people who need your legal services. Knowing who these people are and what is important to them is critical to getting your message where it can do the most good for both you and your potential clients.

Determining how to get your content to connect with the people who most need to see it is part science and part art. Your content has to earn the trust of your audience and instill the confidence that your law firm is the best option for getting to the solution they seek. 

You must explain what is involved in a particular legal problem and then demonstrate how you can solve it in a way that makes clients more likely to click your link and provide you with their contact information. 

Your content needs to make readers feel good. People remember the things that make them feel. And people choose the things that make them feel good.

Legal content writers have to be able to connect with the right audience.

4. Legal Content Needs an Optimization Strategy

How will your potential clients find your content? Google search, of course. And how will Google decide to show your content to your potential clients? Google will take the search criteria and scan the web for the content that best matches the search inquiry. 

Legal content needs to anticipate the words that people will use in their searches and strategically incorporate them into the content. Keywords and phrases must be included so that Google knows that your content is what the searcher is looking for. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of getting content to appear higher in the search results that are displayed to the searcher. The higher your content appears in the search results, the more likely your content will be seen and read – giving you the best opportunity to land new clients.

5. This Writing Requires a Fresh Perspective

If you want to stay ahead of your competition you have to keep a consistent flow of quality content in front of your potential clients. That requires a lot of new ideas about subjects you’ve written on many times. 

You have to find new ways to present similar information so that your audience believes they are receiving additional value from your content every time they read a new piece.

After a while, you may run out of ideas and your content will lose impact.

Trying to write about the law in ways that are fresh and engaging can be a challenge even for those of us who specialize in legal content writing. But it’s all we do, we’ve had a lot of practice at it and we have fun doing it.

Would You Counsel a Client to DIY When You Know You Can Help?

There are many legal situations people find themselves in that do not require the services of an attorney. But the lack of knowledge and experience in dealing with the legal system puts most people at an extreme disadvantage when trying to resolve legal matters. The knowledge and expertise you offer helps people achieve a much better result faster than would be possible without using your services.  

Producing good legal writing is an important part of your law firm’s marketing efforts and requires proficiency in digital marketing practices. Some attorneys are really into marketing and enjoy creating their own content. But there are many who don’t want to take on law firm marketing in addition to representing clients. So they leave content creation to those of us who specialize in legal content writing and marketing.

At Blue Seven Content, we aspire to write excellent legal content – every piece, every time. Our team creates engaging, original content that is thoroughly researched and optimized to get you results. 

We prefer to establish long-term relationships with our law firm clients because it allows us to get to know our firms and the clients they serve and enables us to write compelling content that performs well. Blue Seven Content can create any of the following tailored to meet your firm’s specific needs.

Your clients want to work with you because you’re among the best at what you do. Don’t let bad legal writing keep you apart. To find out how Blue Seven can transform your law firm’s website, contact us here for a free strategy session or call us at 843-580-3158. 

Written by Mari Gaines, JD – Legal Content Writer

Published by Blue Seven Content

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