12 Law Firm Blogging Mistakes to Avoid

The best bloggers make writing seem easy – but it’s not. Blogging is a crucial component of digital marketing, but writing blogs doesn’t come naturally to many people. Many legal marketers begin to blog and end up thinking, “This is harder than I expected!” We’ve compiled a list of mistakes that are common with newer bloggers. Browse these frequent law firm blogging mistakes and learn how to avoid them. 

1. Only Exploring Ideas That Interest You

It comes more naturally to write about things that interest you. Are those subjects of interest to other people? It’s important to focus on what your audience wants, and even more than that, to align topics with your larger firm goals. Think about your law firm’s growth goals and what content can contribute to those. 

2. Forgetting About the Personas You Created

Well-performing blog content resonates with your audience and compels them to take action. Your blog content is unlikely to be effective if it’s not created with your specific audience in mind. Review your client personas and the challenges associated with them – and then create content that addresses those issues (and solutions). 

3. Writing Too Formally

Legal marketers often start out writing blogs in the same tone as legal documents (because that’s what they have experience with). The problem is, that’s not how people talk and it won’t feel relatable to readers. Try to be conversational and approachable in your writing. Don’t use too much legal jargon that your audience may not understand

4. Digressing Away From Your Main Point

Anecdotes and stories can add some context to your blogs, but diving into too many of them can divert a reader’s attention. Restate your points in each section of your blog and add evidence where it makes sense. In order to have success with law firm blogging, try focusing on one main topic in each post without getting too off-topic as you digress.

5. Focusing on Topics That Are Too Broad

It can be tempting to want to generate content on expansive topics. However, writers often find that their original topics are far too broad. More specific topics tend to attract smaller but more targeted audiences. 

6. You Don’t Align Topics With Your Audience’s Pain Points

You already know that you need to understand your readers and their wants and needs. That means with law firm blogging, you should be able to help them see how their pain points relate to your general concepts. Demonstrate that you understand what individuals are going through and that you can aid in finding a solution legally.

7. Not Following a Structure

A brain dump is fine for an early draft, but effective blogs should follow an outline. Organize blogs with a template, outline, and section headers. Will you be creating a guide? A bulleted list? The type of blog will dictate the template that you want to use. 

8. Leaving Out Examples

Even the best ideas need to be fleshed out with examples, visual aids, and additional context. Your audience may be unfamiliar with certain legal cases and principles, so providing additional background information on topics that aren’t common knowledge can help your blog become a valuable asset. 

9. Not Taking the Time to Edit

Even when you’re on a tight deadline, it’s important to take the time to proofread, read the content objectively, and perhaps even have others read the blog. 

10. Blogging Inconsistently

One of the biggest tenants of a successful blog strategy is to publish consistently. Even if that’s only once per week – choose a realistic schedule and stick to it. Make a commitment to your subscribers that you will publish blogs regularly, and they will start to look forward to it. 

11. Focusing on the Wrong Metrics to Measure Success

Your blog will provide both short and long term benefits, and you need to monitor metrics that reflect that. Immediate traffic (from email subscribers, RSS feeds, and social shares) is a good reflection of some goals, but longer term traffic should also be considered. The real ROI of your blog is the aggregation of organic traffic over time. Given enough time, traffic from certain blog posts will grow from being found online via search engines. Evergreen content is a powerful tool for generating traffic in the long-term. 

12. Being Passive About Getting Visitors

If you aren’t growing traffic over time, review your process for generating it. You should be promoting your blog via other channels like email and social media to draw in more blog visitors. 

Takeaway: 

Chances are you’ve made one or two of these mistakes throughout your law firm blogging life. Don’t worry – everyone has. The more you blog, the better you’ll get at it, and the more benefits your firm will experience. If you need help crafting a blog strategy that showcases your expertise, drives traffic, and generates conversations, reach out to us.

Our experienced team within the Legal Writers Bureau is ready to help.