Writing an article for your law firm

How to write an article that lands for your law firm

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Writing relevant, effective articles has become essential for law firms that want to stand apart in a competitive market. Publishing quality content lets you demonstrate your legal expertise, attract new clients and strengthen your firm's reputation. In this article we take you through the stages of building a compelling piece, with the focus on goals, distribution, the writing process, optimisation and performance tracking.

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The goals of the article for the law firm

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Before you start writing, it is essential to define the goals of the article clearly. Those goals vary with the needs of your firm, but here are some key points to consider:

• Demonstrate legal expertise: the article has to reflect the deep knowledge your firm holds in specific areas of law. Give precise, current information to establish your credibility as an expert.
• Attract new clients: the article can be an effective way to attract new clients by highlighting the solutions your firm can offer to common legal problems.
• Retain your existing clients: by publishing informative, useful content regularly, you strengthen the trust and loyalty of your existing clients

Thinking about how the article is distributed

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Distribution plays a crucial role in the impact and reach of an article. A few important considerations:

• Publish on your website: your website is the best place to host your articles. Build a dedicated blog section where you can publish legal articles regularly.

• Share on social media: use social media to share your articles with your audience. Identify the platforms where your potential clients are, LinkedIn for business or Facebook for individuals, for instance.

• Work with partners: you can contribute to the publications of other companies, or work with bloggers and influencers who have a relevant audience.

• An email marketing strategy: email marketing is a powerful way to distribute your articles straight to your existing client base. You can send regular newsletters containing your latest articles, tailoring the content to what each recipient is interested in. Make sure you include links back to your blog or website so readers go further.

• A newsletter sign-up: offer visitors the chance to sign up to an email newsletter focused on the legal subjects that interest them. That builds a targeted, engaged mailing list, ready to receive your future articles.

• Content syndication: you can syndicate some of your best articles on specialist platforms. Make sure you keep a link back to your website so the traffic comes to your firm.

Bringing several distribution channels together raises the chances that your content reaches your target audience. Keep an eye on how each channel performs, so you can see which ones generate the most engagement and interest in your firm.

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The writing process

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Writing an article breaks down into a few key stages:

• Choosing the subject: identify subjects that interest your audience and connect to your expertise.

• Thorough research: base your article on precise, verified information from reliable sources.

• Structuring the article: organise your content clearly, in sections with relevant headings and subheadings.

• Writing: write clearly, concisely and in accessible language. Avoid complex legal terms unless you explain them first.

• Including examples: illustrate your points with practical cases or concrete examples, which makes the article more tangible and easier to follow.

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Optimising the articles of your law firm, for SEO and readability

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SEO and lawyers (Search Engine Optimization)

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• Keyword research: research the keywords relevant to the subject of your article and to the areas of expertise of your firm. Use keyword research tools to identify the terms your target audience searches most. Work those keywords naturally into the title, the subheadings and the body of the article.

• HTML tags: use HTML tags properly to structure your content. Use heading tags (H1, H2, H3 and so on) to organise your titles and subheadings. Search engines use those tags to understand the structure of your article and judge what matters in it.

• Meta description: write a concise, engaging meta description for your article. That short summary appears in the search results and has to make people want to click your link.

• Friendly URLs: build short, descriptive URLs that include the article title or the main keywords. Avoid automatically generated URLs full of meaningless numbers or characters.

• Internal and external links: include relevant links to other articles on your website (internal links) and to reliable external sources (external links). Internal links strengthen the structure of your site, while external links show search engines that your article is well researched.

To see what our SEO agency for lawyers offers, go here.

Readability

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• Short paragraphs and sentences: use short paragraphs to make reading and understanding easier. Short sentences are easier to take in too.

• Use subheadings: break your article into sections with relevant subheadings. That lets readers scan the content quickly and find what interests them.

• Bulleted and numbered lists: use bulleted or numbered lists to present important information clearly and in order.

• Accessible language: avoid overusing legal jargon. Use simple, understandable language so your article reaches a wide audience.

• Illustrations and media: include relevant images, charts or videos alongside your text, which makes the article more attractive to look at.

• Account for reading on mobile: make sure your article is optimised for easy reading on mobile devices, because more and more people reach content on a phone or a tablet.

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Tracking performance

Watch how your articles perform, so you can judge their success and improve:

• Traffic analysis: use web analytics tools to track the traffic and engagement the article generates.

• Reactions and comments: take reader comments and reactions into account, to understand how it landed.

• Adjust where necessary: from the data you gather, adjust your writing and distribution strategy to reach your goals.

For that, do not forget to add GA4 to your websites, or another analytics tool.

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For help with your editorial strategy, or simply with building the website of your law firm, book a call.

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