As blogging has become a more central part of marketing efforts across industries, average post length has steadily increased. Some industry experts now recommend writing well over 2,000 words for each blog entry to optimize search engine performance.
There is a certain value to this kind of comprehensiveness. However, it's pointless if you can't get the basics right. Nobody is going to read thousands of words of your legal marketing content unless they know it's going to be worth their while.
When you're trying to convince readers (and potential clients) that your blogs are worthy of their time and attention, the first thing to do is craft a good heading. Law firm blog titles aren't hard to get right, but they're easy to get wrong if you don't know how to approach them.
1. Answer the Questions Your Clients Are Asking
Legal content marketing is all about providing information, and there's not much point in sharing knowledge nobody wants. When you're thinking up topics and titles, you must first consider the most common legal issues you encounter in your practice.
Law firm marketing is inherently different from other kinds of content marketing and SEO in that your business, by and large, is localized. Unlike, say, an e-commerce website, your firm won't benefit from blog clicks unless the person doing the clicking is based near your office. So, focus on the legal issues that arise most often in your local area.
2. Become Familiar With Popular Legal Marketing Blog Title Formats
Aside from its relevance to search engines, the main function of your title is to grab the attention of potential readers. You don't have to reinvent the wheel to get this right; there are several tried and trusted strategies for writing catchy titles.
One such strategy is using numbered lists, just like this one. Marketing gurus in every industry have spoken about the effectiveness of numbers in titles; they don't know exactly why these titles perform better, but their data confirms that they do.
You must make sure your title is grammatically correct. Avoidable errors in your titles in terms of spelling or capitalization will quickly damage your brand. Remember, if you share your posts on social media, a lot of the people who don't click on your blogs will still see their headings, making them the most visible part of your content.
3. Keep Keywords in Mind for SEO
Optimizing legal marketing content for search can be something of a headache. Your main goal is to provide value for your readers, not game Google into sending traffic your way. Unfortunately, if you don't keep SEO in mind, you'll have far fewer readers for whom to provide value.
Luckily, optimizing titles for SEO is fairly uncomplicated. The first and most important rule is that you need to use your primary keyword. Otherwise, Google won't know what your post is about and won't direct searchers to it.
There is a balance to be struck when it comes to keyword selection. The more common your search term is, the more people you'll target with it. However, common search terms are more difficult to rank for (especially for newer publications), which means you're less likely to perform well on search engines for such a term. Sites that appear on Google's first page of results can account for as much as 92% of click volume; if you can't make it onto the first page, the efficacy of your SEO strategy will be severely reduced.
Phrases that balance reasonably high search volume against low competition are known as "long-tail keywords." Law firms are localized businesses, which makes it far easier to target these keywords; including the name of your city or borough in your legal blog title will instantly make your post far more relevant for searchers in your area.
You can further increase the relevance of your titles by being specific about the type of service you provide. This will decrease your targeted search volume, but the people who do end up seeing your post will be actively trying to learn about the exact subject you're discussing.
So, rather than having "personal injury lawyer Florida" as your keyphrase, consider something like "bicycle accident lawyer Miami." Remember, stop words ("a," "the," "to," "at," "in," and so on) don't affect the SEO value of your keywords, so you can alter each iteration slightly to avoid sounding repetitive.
If you're still unsure about keyword selection, there are software tools that can help. I use Ubersuggest Pro to generate keyword suggestions around a certain topic and provide data on search volume and competition.
4. Aim to Provide Value, Rather Than Make Sales
One of the unique challenges of content marketing is creating the impression that you're not really marketing at all. People don't like to feel like they're being sold something; therefore, you need to self-promote by creating valuable posts, rather than trying to close a deal with every sentence.
Remember, a lot of the people on your blog are there because they're already looking for legal help. You don't need to persuade these readers to hire a lawyer; you just need to persuade them to hire you. The best way to do that is to establish yourself as an expert in the relevant area with clear, helpful, informative content.
This all starts with your title. I've seen too many blog posts with headings like "Why You Need to Hire a Lawyer After a Car Accident." Not only is this insensitive, it's also likely to be ineffective from a legal marketing standpoint. If you make it that clear to your leads that their suffering is only of interest to them to the extent that it might financially benefit you, they'll look elsewhere. Also, to double down on the point above, someone who's been in a car accident is probably already looking for a lawyer. Something like "Who Is at Fault When a Car Hits a Pedestrian?" is a much more suitable title, as it provides the information your prospective clients are looking for and doesn't come across as "salesy."
Coming up with titles isn't the most difficult thing about legal content marketing. As long as you're creating valuable posts that your clients will want to read, the words at the top should almost write themselves. That said, there are plenty of ways to ensure your blog titles make the most of your legal marketing efforts rather than taking away from them.
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