The Artwork of Running a blog: Methods for Legal professionals

Effectively-written (and promoted) weblog posts might help usher in new purchasers for years. Ruth Carter analyzes Orbit Media’s annual blogger survey for suggestions that will help you grasp the artwork of running a blog.

One of many takeaway messages I obtained from Content material Advertising World was the vast majority of efficient advertising is content material advertising. Probably the most efficient methods for content material advertising is to have a weblog.

I can attest to this. I fell off the running a blog horse and have barely revealed a weblog put up in years, however my posts are nonetheless getting me enterprise. Previously month, I’ve had no less than three potential purchasers contact me about serving to them transfer their company from California to Arizona primarily based on a weblog put up I wrote.

Running a blog is a advertising tactic the place, in the event you create efficient content material, you may create as soon as and proceed bringing in enterprise for years.

Orbit Media’s Running a blog Survey: 10 Years of Outcomes

If running a blog is a part of your advertising technique for 2024, you’ll want to see Orbit Media’s 2023 Running a blog Statistics: 10 years of Tendencies and Insights from 1,000+ Bloggers. That is the tenth version of its annual blogger survey that exhibits what sorts of weblog posts are yielding the most effective outcomes for corporations.

The survey exhibits that running a blog continues to be an efficient advertising technique. Simply over one in 4 bloggers reported “robust outcomes” from their weblog. (In fact, the definition of “outcomes” varies from blogger to blogger, however it was good to see that individuals who weblog are getting optimistic outcomes from their efforts.)

(For recommendation on find out how to create weblog posts which might be helpful for purchasers whereas protecting your search engine optimisation tight, learn “Greatest Practices for Your Regulation Agency Weblog,” by David Arato.)

It’s Official: Making Time to Weblog is Exhausting

The battle is actual: half of the respondents reported that they battle to seek out time to put in writing weblog posts.

Full disclosure: I used to be one of many respondents to this survey, and I listed this as one in all my largest challenges as a blogger. It’s even exhausting to make time to put in writing my column for Legal professional at Work. Many due to the AAW editors for being affected person and understanding with me.

On common, in line with this survey, a weblog put up takes slightly below 4 hours to put in writing. That’s half a workday! In case you invoice $300 per hour, that’s $1,200 of consumer work you’re not doing. Nevertheless, if that one put up will get you six purchasers a yr, who every want $1,000 price of price, the upfront value of your time is effectively price it in the long term.

And I’m nonetheless a proponent that the lawyer who wrote the weblog put up that introduced within the consumer ought to get a lower of the revenue from the work, even when they don’t work on the matter in query.

Moreover, the survey outcomes present that investing extra time in content material creation produces stronger outcomes. Thus, if you end up brainstorming what to put in writing about, or sitting right down to put fingers to keyboard, deal with creating high quality content material and the outcomes you need will come.

(Caught? Learn “Unlock Author’s Block: Content material Advertising Ideas.”)

How Lengthy Ought to Every Weblog Put up Be?

The survey confirmed that the majority weblog posts are between 500 and 1,500 phrases lengthy, with the typical being 1,427 phrases. Bloggers whose typical posts had been longer had been extra more likely to report “robust outcomes” from their blogs. Yr after yr, this is without doubt one of the strongest correlations in Orbit Media’s examine.

This is sensible from a authorized running a blog perspective. When you have got “cornerstone” posts that present a complete overview of a subject, it needs to be longer to cowl the scope, and since you have got offered a lot worth to the reader, they are going to be extra more likely to need to rent you.

How Steadily Ought to You Publish Weblog Posts?

Individuals who reported running a blog each day and a number of instances every week reported the most effective outcomes; nonetheless, in case you are each lawyer and marketer in your agency, that might not be possible. Creating and publishing content material on a weekly foundation yielded good outcomes, too.

Talking for myself, creating and publishing a weblog put up as soon as every week is a considerable problem. One of many benefits attorneys have on the subject of advertising is that the majority different attorneys suck at it. Releasing a brand new weblog put up every week will put you forward of most of your counterparts and provide you with a bonus in natural search outcomes.

Extra Visuals = Higher Outcomes

Nobody desires to learn a wall of textual content. I groan internally when a potential consumer sends me a novel of an electronic mail as an alternative of the Reader’s Digest overview of their state of affairs. The identical is true in your viewers. You want visuals (photos and movies) to interrupt up the textual content of your weblog posts into digestible chunks. Moreover, your visuals ought to improve the general story you might be telling.

The survey outcomes replicate this. Bloggers who added many photos and embedded movies to their posts had been much more more likely to report success.

That is notably true for longer posts. You want extra visuals to interrupt up the textual content to maintain your viewers’s eyes from glazing over.

Sure, this implies you’ll want to commit time to discovering or creating photos and movies to incorporate together with your posts or coordinating with a 3rd celebration to do that for you. That is additionally partially why it takes practically 4 hours to put in writing a weblog put up.

What About Utilizing AI to Write Weblog Posts?

Synthetic intelligence (AI) can create generic content material inside seconds, however that will not result in robust outcomes out of your weblog as a result of AI can’t create content material that differentiates you from the pack. Your distinctive voice, insights and tales will try this.

That being mentioned, 65% of respondents reported utilizing AI to various levels. Listed below are the highest 3 ways bloggers use AI:

• 43% use AI to generate concepts
• 29% use AI to put in writing headlines
• 28% use AI to put in writing outlines

Full Disclosure: I used ChatGPT to assist me write the headline for this put up.

The fourth hottest approach bloggers use AI is to revise what they’ve written. Earlier this yr, I used a few of its ideas after I wanted an out-of-office message that made me sound like a sassy evil villain. That obtained me quite a lot of optimistic responses from purchasers and opposing counsel who appreciated my non-boring auto-reply.

It’s finest to consider AI as an intern. It could possibly assist you to, however it may possibly’t change you.

Thus far, the analysis exhibits that bloggers who use AI usually are not extra profitable than different bloggers. Nevertheless, since AI is comparatively new, we are going to see if this adjustments in future editions of this survey.

Running a blog Does Not Finish When You Hit “Publish”

One among Orbit Media Co-Founder Andy Crestodina’s finest sayings is, “One of the best content material doesn’t win; the best-promoted content material wins.” It’s not sufficient to create high quality content material.

Posting hyperlinks to posts on social media, sharing them through electronic mail advertising, and utilizing search engine marketing (search engine optimisation) are the most typical methods bloggers promote their work. These choices are often free or comparatively cost-effective.

Bloggers who pay extra consideration to key phrases are additionally extra more likely to report success. Bear in mind, your key phrases are the phrases your viewers is on the lookout for, not essentially the legalese we use.

I additionally need to promote the effectiveness of search engine optimisation for attorneys. Most potential purchasers don’t want us on daily basis. We have to be simply discovered once they do want us. A well-written weblog put up utilizing key phrases and tags can present a prospect that you just perceive and might help with their drawback. They may determine in the event that they such as you from what they’ll glean about your persona out of your writing fashion. In consequence, once they contact you, they’re already able to signal an engagement settlement.

One other factor you are able to do after you hit “publish” is replace older posts. You may revise the textual content to make it extra reader-friendly, replace out-of-date info, and add visuals. Updating older posts may assist your website with its rankings in search engine outcomes. If you end up creating your content material calendar, carve out time to look again at beforehand revealed posts to see how one can enhance them.

For recommendations on writing evergreen content material, learn “Compounding Returns for Content material: An Evergreen Technique.”

Running a blog is Exhausting Work, However It’s Value It

I’m not going to sugar-coat it. Running a blog is tough work. It wants as a lot thoughtfulness because the work we do for our purchasers. When carried out successfully, it may be the driving pressure that constantly brings new enterprise to your desk. I hope the insights from Orbit Media’s Running a blog Survey assist you to fine-tune your running a blog technique this yr.

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