Law Firm Content Marketing: A Guide for Lawyers

Content marketing is valuable for lawyers. It helps law firms build trust with potential clients, establish authority, and showcase expertise.

Key takeaways

• Content marketing for law firms increases client acquisition and revenue
• Legal content marketing is different
• Content marketing is a long-term asset

Content Marketing for Law Firms

Content marketing allows businesses to attract and engage a target audience. This strategic approach of consistently creating and distributing valuable and educational content helps businesses build trust, establish authority, and rank higher on search engines.

The legal field is one of the industries that proves the significance of content marketing. As a trust-dependent industry, many law firms use content to educate people seeking legal help and stand out in such a highly competitive market. 

The Bates v. State Bar of Arizona 1977 case led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that essentially introduced legal marketing.

By establishing that attorney advertising is protected as commercial free speech, attorneys were allowed to market their businesses, ending years of prohibition on legal advertising. The ruling maintained state bar associations’ authority to prohibit false, deceptive, or misleading advertisements.

Print-based advertising in the legal field emerged with lawyers promoting their services in newspapers, in Yellow Pages, on billboards, and using brochures and flyers. Law firms then started advertising on television commercials and radio spots.

In the early to mid-1990s, with the emergence of commercial web browsers, law firms started migrating to the internet, launching websites. They shifted from traditional marketing to setting up basic informational websites. 

As algorithms changed and search engine optimization (SEO) became popular, law firms began writing blog posts and producing in-depth legal guides to educate clients and catch the attention of potential clients. And they quickly recognized the value of content marketing.

Over the years, legal content marketing has transformed significantly, especially with the continual advancements in digital marketing. Nonetheless, the core purposes of law firm content marketing, which include building trust, showing expertise, and demonstrating empathy, remain fundamentally unchanged.

Writing Queendom helps law firms provide easy-to-understand content without following an overly complicated process. 

Learn more about WQ’s content marketing services.

What is Content Marketing for Lawyers?

Content marketing is the strategic process of creating and distributing valuable and educational content. There are several types of content that businesses use to attract and engage with their target audience. These include blog posts, how-to-guides, ebooks, white papers, case studies, success stories, frequently asked questions (FAQs), infographics, videos, and podcasts.

Law firm content marketing strategically uses these types of content to build trust, establish authority, and increase brand awareness.

Here are types of content that significantly benefit law firms:

Practice Area Pages

Practice area pages are the foundational pages on a law firm’s website. They provide information on the exact legal services a law firm offers. These pages should not be treated like legal briefs or service summaries. They are marketing tools. 

An attorney can use practice area pages to educate prospective clients while targeting certain keywords, including location-specific and service-specific keywords. 

A practice area page should focus on the client- how the firm can help, potential outcomes, and what to expect during the legal process. Ensure you use simple language – dense legal jargon can make a client click out. 

Moreover, consider having an FAQ section to address common client pain points and clear calls-to-action (CTAs). 

Practice area pages capture high-intent search traffic. People who search using practice-area-related keywords are ready to hire a lawyer. Examples of the queries they search include:

• Car accident lawyer near me
• Divorce lawyer in [City]
• Estate planning attorney in [Neighborhood]
• DUI attorney near me
• Top rated [Practice Area] lawyer in [City]
• Chapter 7 bankruptcy lawyer in [Neighborhood]
• [Practice Area] attorney in [City]
• Employment discrimination lawyer in [City]
• Business formation attorney in [City]

You want to create practice area pages that rank for these keywords and are effective enough to convert potential clients into retained ones. 

Blog Posts

Like practice area pages, blog posts help lawyers target keywords and educate clients. However, blog posts target a different stage of the buyer’s journey. They capture informational-intent search traffic – people looking for answers or knowledge; they are rarely ready to hire a lawyer.

Examples of searches from this type of traffic include:

• What to do after a car accident
• What is the average settlement for a slip-and-fall accident?
• How do I file for divorce in [City]?
• How is child support calculated?
• What qualifies as a hostile work environment?
• Can my boss encourage me to retire?
• How do I file a workers’ compensation claim in [City/State]
• When should I update my will?
• Can I challenge breathalyzer results?
• How do I choose between an LLC and a corporation?
• How business partners can solve disputes
• Is bankruptcy the best option for me?

A blog post on a law firm’s website needs to demonstrate knowledge without using heavy legalese. Anyone who reads it should get a clear answer to their question. 

Additionally, it should be readable. Walls of text make it hard for a reader to follow the information. A good blog post breaks ideas into short, digestible paragraphs using subheadings and bulleted lists.

Don’t forget to include CTAs to tell readers what to do next. And include an internal link to the relevant practice area page.

Blog posts target local, long-tail keywords (keywords in the form of long-tail, informational questions) to attract qualified leads. Broad, highly competitive terms like family lawyer attorney in [City] should be used in practice area pages.

Besides deep-diving into niche topics, a blog post can be legal news, updates on laws, how-to/step-by-step guides, FAQs, myth busters, and firm announcements. 

Location Pages

Dedicated location pages on a law firm’s website are designed for local searchers who are about to make a decision by actively comparing local attorneys. These pages are crucial for local SEO, helping a lawyer catch the attention of local clients and rank in location-based queries.

If a law firm operates in several locations, each location should have a separate page targeting keywords related to that specific location. It’s also beneficial for a law firm in a single location to have a dedicated location page to demonstrate local relevance.

A local landing page should have:

• Local signals, including name, address, and phone number (NAP), as they appear on the firm’s Google Business Profile (GBP)
• A Google map
• Localized content, such as mention of proximity to local landmarks/the county courthouse and attorneys’ memberships in local organizations
• Local testimonials
• Local FAQs

Ensure your location pages are unique. Do not use the exact text across multiple pages, only changing the location name and keywords, as they may be considered doorway pages. This can lead to penalties from search engines and a poor user experience. Each location page should be valuable.

Attorney Bios

Attorney bios are not just digital resumes. Research has continually shown that the attorney biography page is one of the most visited pages on a law firm’s website. Potential clients frequently check attorney bios to review credentials, background, and experience. 

Besides, Google actively ranks attorney bios, as they are evaluated when Google is assessing E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Also, Google classifies legal content and legal information as YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics. So, it checks attorney bios to verify credentials and validate expertise. Strong E-E-A-T signals on an attorney bio significantly impact rankings.

So, attorney bios are marketing tools. In addition to highlighting basic details, a lawyer can use it to showcase their specific problem-solving skills, industry expertise, approachability, and awards. It’s also vital to naturally incorporate keywords into an attorney bio. 

Ebooks and White Papers

Ebooks and whitepapers generate leads and demonstrate deeper authority. They are authoritative lead magnets in law firm content marketing. Ebooks are visually driven conversational guides that build broad brand awareness. White papers are data-driven, deeply researched documents that help qualified leads evaluate specific solutions.

While blog posts answer specific questions and increase online visibility, ebooks and white papers allow a law firm to establish deep, specialized authority. They are heavily researched and longer than blog posts. 

Also, blog posts are openly accessible to anyone browsing the web, whereas to access and download ebooks and white papers, one has to provide their contact information, such as name and email address. 

People seeking in-depth legal overviews download ebooks and white papers to get deep, actionable insight into complex regulations or industry trends. These are usually people who understand their legal problems and are researching their options.

Law firms use ebooks and white papers to showcase expertise, build relationships, and increase conversion rates.

Case Studies and Success Stories

These are top-performing assets in content marketing for law firms. An attorney highlighting how they handled a client’s legal challenge offers proof of skills, expertise, and past success.

Typically, a case study clearly details a client’s problem, outlines the legal strategy implemented, and discusses the measurable outcome involved. A potential client looking at a case study is ready to hire. Therefore, it’s important to publish effective case studies that convert. 

Always confirm that a case study or success story strictly complies with the local state bar association regulations and the American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Contact Page

The contact page on a law firm’s website acts as a high-intent content marketing asset. When optimized, it converts visitors into clients. Potential clients should have a convenient way to get in touch with you. A prospective client visiting other valuable pages on your website, only to find it difficult to contact you, can have a poor user experience.

A law firm’s contact page should have a clear page name so clients can find it easily and search engines can know what the page is about. It should have a form that asks for only necessary information – avoid excessive form fields. Also, include NAP details, a Google map/clear directions to the office, and working hours.

If you have more than one location, include the details of all offices on the page. It helps to have alternative contact methods besides phone calls and filling out an online form. You can have live chat or a calendar for directly booking a consultation. In addition, include CTAs and inform a potential client of what to expect next, like “we will respond within 24 hours.” 

Strategically using keywords on the contact page can reinforce local search signals. For instance, as a header or at the end of the page, you can say, “Contact our [City] [Practice Area] lawyers today” or “Schedule a free consultation with our [Neighborhood/City] lawyers.”

Other Formats of Content

Other types of content often used in content marketing for lawyers to engage potential clients are videos, infographics, podcasts, legal resource libraries, and interactive tools, such as calculators and quizzes. 

How Is Law Firm Content Marketing Different?

Content marketing for law firms shares core principles with other industries, such as understanding the target audience, establishing authority, and focusing on customer experience. However, it has its differences.

For starters, it aims to educate and reassure rather than sell. People seeking legal help have deeply personal, urgent, high-stakes issues. They want answers about their situation and need to trust the law firm they choose has the expertise to handle their particular issue.

That’s why educating them is crucial. The target audience of legal services connects with content that educates, directly answers their queries, is empathetic, demonstrates expertise, and offers clear next steps.

Potential clients typically compare a few law firms, spending time on each of their websites scanning for trust signals, experience, and contact information before reaching out to one. They check relevance, professionalism, expertise, social proof, and accessibility. That’s why every page on your website needs to be valuable, from the homepage to the contact page.

Besides focusing on trust, legal content must comply with strict ethical guidelines. A content marketing agency for law firms must understand this factor to protect lawyers from bar disciplinary actions and their integrity. 

A  content marketing strategy for attorneys should strictly avoid false advertising, guaranteeing outcomes, or using unverified statistics. 

It’s also generally unethical and prohibited to use terms, such as “expert” or “specialist” in a practice area where an attorney has not been certified as a specialist by an organization approved by the state bar association, the District of Columbia, a U.S. territory or that has been accredited by the ABA. The name of the certifying organization must be clearly identified in the communication. 

Furthermore, disclosures are crucial in legal content marketing. A law firm’s blog post, landing pages, and other marketing materials should state that it’s for informational purposes only, does not constitute formal legal advice, and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. 

These unique factors make it critical to approach content marketing for law firms differently to optimize it. 

Why Is Content Marketing Beneficial for Law Firms?

Content marketing for law firms offers significant benefits, including:

• Helping people seeking legal services understand their situations and options
• Establishing authority
• Building trust
• Connecting with local clients
• Attracting qualified leads
• Demonstrating E-E-A-T to prospective clients and search engines like Google
• Improving visibility on search engines
• Increasing conversion rates
• Reducing client acquisition cost (CAC)

Publishing valuable content has proven beneficial for many law firms. Learn how to increase client acquisition and revenue using content marketing.

Do Law Firms Need to Post Content Consistently?

Search engines prioritize consistency. The algorithms of Google and other search engines use consistency as a signal that a website is actively managed, reliable, and provides a stable user experience. 

Thus, a website that consistently publishes valuable content, improves its technical performance, and maintains brand information is perceived as credible and trustworthy. Accordingly, it has higher rankings.

Publishing content inconsistently or failing to perform technical site maintenance can stall progress, lead to a drop in search engine rankings, and negatively impact user experience.

Moreover, it can reduce brand authority. If a potential client is assessing two law firms, and one of the websites has fresh content, but the other has an inactive blog section with the last blog post published months ago, they may believe the latter law firm is not actively engaged with its community. Consequently, they are more likely to contact the firm that appears active and engaged.

So, it’s crucial to be consistent. Nonetheless, you have to be strategic. Frequency should not replace quality. You don’t need to post blog posts daily. Without an effective strategy, posting blog posts very frequently can increase the chances of publishing low-quality content and can trigger risks regarding client confidentiality and ethical advertising.

Quality matters more than volume. You can maintain consistency by having a regular schedule. For instance, publishing two high-quality blog posts per week on Tuesday and Friday. 

A law firm can also maintain consistency by updating outdated content, repurposing high-performing assets, creating pillar pages, and updating FAQs.

How Long Does It Take to See Results?

When should a law firm expect results from content marketing?

SEO is a long-term, compounding digital asset. Ranking for a keyword on the first page of search engines can take months. Generally, it takes three to six months or longer to build SEO authority, depending on keyword difficulty and competition.

Thus, content marketing does not give instant return on investment (ROI). A lawyer may pay for content marketing for months and not receive noticeable results. However, a strong SEO strategy builds organic search traffic that compounds, establishes topical authority, and gains relevant backlinks. Well-optimized pages and valuable content can take months to generate leads, but can yield results for years.

While waiting for content marketing to yield results, a law firm can use paid advertising provided it strictly adheres to ethical rules. Examples include:

• Search ads – Pay-per-click (PPC ads), which appear at the top and bottom of search engine results pages (SERPs), social media platforms, maps, and third-party websites.
• Social media ads – Targeted ads that appear on social media platforms.
• Display ads – Visual ads that appear on third-party websites, mobile apps, and social platforms in predefined spaces, such as headers, footers, sidebars, or within the article content.
• Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) – Paid ads that appear at the top of Google directly below the search bar. Unlike PPC ads that charge every time someone clicks an ad, LSAs use a pay-per-lead (PPL) model. A business only pays when a verified lead or contact is generated.

SEO requires months of consistent efforts to generate leads. On the contrary, paid advertising secures immediate leads. Ads appear on top of search results, making them highly visible even within hours of campaign launch. However, traffic stops the moment you stop paying. SEO continues bringing traffic to a website for years without any payments. 

It helps to use paid advertising while investing in organic search to build authority over time.

Tracking in Content Marketing for Attorneys

Tracking is an integral part of content marketing. It provides data that helps in decision-making. A law firm should know which strategies are working and which ones need improvement. Tracking how a page or content performs helps connect it with the revenue it generates.

Metrics also reveal high-performing assets, which inform a law firm about the topics or content formats potential clients resonate with the most. 

Thus, analysis is essential. However, what you track matters. You should not track vanity metrics, as they do not provide reliable information about how to drive effective future actions. Track metrics that focus on lead generation, conversion rates, client acquisition, and revenue.

It’s important to set up analytics before launching a content marketing strategy to establish a baseline. Then, keep evaluating performance regularly to make informed decisions.

Why Choose Writing Queendom for Law Firm Content Marketing?

Law firm content marketing shares core principles with marketing in other industries, but it’s different. Writing Queendom understands this aspect, as it focuses on content marketing for attorneys. You should partner with an agency that’s skilled and experienced in providing easy-to-understand legal content that adheres to strict ethical regulations.

WQ is knowledgeable about increasing a law firm’s online visibility, which, in turn, results in increased client acquisition and revenue. Tracking metrics that allow a law firm to make informed decisions is another way this queendom helps lawyers.

Contact WQ today to receive reliable content marketing services for lawyers in a streamlined process.