How to Write Engaging Law Blogs

Lawyers have an incredible advantage when it comes to blogging, and yet, few are doing it.

“26.9% of law firms have legal blogs; 10% of individual lawyers have blogs” – LexisNexis | Business of Law Blog.

If you’re not blogging, consider starting, that is, if you want to take advantage of these statistics:

• 39.1% of blogs resulted in clients or referrals – LexisNexis | Business of Law Blog
• Small businesses that blog generate 126% more leads than SMB’s that don’t blog. – Matt Romas, LocalVox
• Companies that blog also have 97% more websites linking to them well. – Matt Romas, LocalVox

On the contrary, lawyers that are blogging are not necessarily blogging well.

Lawyers are well educated, have a vast vocabulary, and are part of an eternally relevant and evolving industry. Translation? Lawyers have every opportunity to consistently write new, unique, and high quality content.

However, the nature of a lawyer’s writing style is often similar to that of a legal brief. Many lawyers fill their blog posts with jargon, link to legal resources, and quote laws, acts, and judge rulings. This is great for the courtroom, but not for your blog.

Tips for Writing Engaging Law Blogs

1. Stop writing case summaries

If you’re going to do it, cut to the chase. How can your audience relate to this ruling and what lessons can they learn from it?

2. Write from your point of view

Don’t write behind your firm’s name. Write behind your name. Give your audience your personal opinion based on your industry experience and knowledge.

3. Show personality

Ditch the stiff and professional voice that makes your audience’s eyes glaze over. Show your unique personality through your writing. People will relate to you as a person and trust you as a professional.

4. Speak in layman’s terms

Drop the long and fancy legal terms and referencing style. Write the way you would talk to someone in real life.

5. Use visuals

It’s imperative that you include at least one high-resolution photo in each blog post. Consider other visual elements as well, such as SlideShare presentations, videos, infographics, ReplyAll, click-to-tweet, to keep your audience intrigued.

6. Hook, line, and no sinker

What do you want your audience to do after reading your post? Share it with their friends? Ask their burning questions? Consider hiring you for representation? Schedule a consultation? Make your call-to-action clear and easy to fulfill.

7. Links

Keeping your blog post short and punchy is essential. Link to other articles that elaborate a topic in greater detail.

8. Mix it up

Try new types of content, and try them on a regular basis. Here’s a list of 101 types of content to try by Thomas Armitage.

9. Listen & Respond

Listen for likes and shares and respond to comments on your blog and on social media. Show your appreciation.

Use these tips in your next blog post and leave me the link in the comments here. I’d love to give it a read and offer my feedback!

• About
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Natalie Waddell

Founder and President at LawyerLocate.ca Inc.

Natalie was spirited to start this company after a frustrating and poor personal experience when searching for a lawyer back in the late nineties. “I quickly realized that the tools available to assist someone in finding the right lawyer were grossly inadequate. Not only inadequate for the individual in need of a lawyer, but also inadequate for the lawyers in search of new clients. There had to be a better way to connect clients and lawyers in a more efficient manner – without wasting everybody’s time and effort”, explains Natalie.

Natalie brings a passion to the business that ensures the entire LawyerLocate.ca team strives to improve the service for both lawyers and the general public. To that end, she is committed to ongoing communication with our members and welcomes and relies on clients’ input to continually evolve the service to make it better for all.

Latest posts by Natalie Waddell (see all)

• LawyerLocate.ca’s #Clawbies2016 Canadian Law Blog Nominations – December 17, 2016
• Canada’s #1 Legal Referral Service is Coming to the UK! – January 29, 2016
• Facebook Glitch Displays How Popular Your Posts Are – October 16, 2015