6 Steps to Writing a Law Firm Blog Post?

It seems so easy that anyone should be able to do it, right? Wrong! Writing a quality law firm blog post is about more than putting words to paper. You need to understand the law, writing for the average American, and SEO best practices. This type of writing is nothing like preparing legal arguments, a brief, or a contract. Instead, the writing needs to be more engaging and approachable. These are the steps that I follow when writing legal content for law firms.

The first step is to choose a topic and create a title for the article. This gives me a direction to move in. Otherwise, I would have no idea what to write about, and it would be a long rambling, and incoherent piece. 

There are two ways I go about this. The first is the topic approach. I decide on a topic. From there, I create a title and find a keyword to target. This method is good if there is a particular topic that I want to write about. Try Googling the topic and seeing what ranks well. This is top-performing content and typically includes the type of information people are looking for. 

An alternative approach is to know the keyword I want to target first.  I then use that keyword or phrase to craft a title and topic. This method works well if there is a specific keyword that the law firm wants to rank better for. It can help to Google the keyword and see what blog posts rank well. Don’t copy them, but get inspired by them. 

With either approach, I always use the keyword in the title. 

You can’t write about the law unless you know the law. The biggest mistake that content writers make is not actually learning the law. Because they have no experience, they do not realize that each state has its own set of laws. Or that those laws can vary significantly. Then there are a set of federal laws that apply to all states. They may also not understand that some laws are criminal and others are civil. 

These basics don’t begin to address that the law is always changing. For example, an inexperienced writer could unknowingly write a law firm’s blog post referencing laws that are not outdated. 

This is why even if I think I understand the law; I always review it before writing. I want to ensure I know the latest law and any recent developments. I can then take note of them in the blog post. 

Now that you have a title, keyword, and the law, it’s time to create the skeleton structure of your blog post. I always include the keyword in the intro, so I copy and paste the keyword into my document first. 

I then create an outline using H2, H3, and sometimes H4 headers. This is the main structure of the blog post. Each section should be a manageable size. If one section is too long, that is when I use the smaller headers to break it up. 

The goal is to make the final blog post easy to scroll through. A potential reader should be able to scan the headers and know what the blog post is about. Headers also make it easier for someone to find what they are looking for. 

It may seem strange that we are already on step five, and we are just starting to actually write. However, with the right prep work, writing is easier and better. Think of it like going to trial or mediation. Sure, all of the attention is on the main event. But the heavy lifting is done in the weeks leading up to it. Without the proper prep, you aren’t ready to perform your best. 

I typically write the body of the post first. This is the part between the intro and the conclusion. Once I’ve done this part, I move to the conclusion. This is where I wrap up what I’ve written in the body. Finally, I bring it all together and craft a call to action. This is the action statement at the end that tells the reader what I want them to do. 

The last piece of writing that I do is the intro. I try to look for a relevant statistic or fact. If that approach doesn’t fit, I get creative with an engaging or attention-grabbing first sentence. The idea is to engage the reader right away to capture their attention and keep them reading. 

After the intro paragraph, I include a sentence that transitions the reader to the rest of the article. This sentence tells the reader what to expect if they keep reading. 

The work isn’t done when the blog post is written. The final step is proofing. This ensures the post is free of spelling errors, grammar mistakes, and anything else that would make reading the blog post difficult. It also ensures that your law firm blog posts look and sound professional. My proofing process consists of several steps. That way, I can reduce as many errors as possible to produce the best content possible. It may see time consuming, but the extra effort now saves for embarrassment and going back multiple times to make corrections later.

One extra step that I take is to input the text into a reader. It sounds a bit mechanical, but it allows me to hear my writing. This is the best method for finding awkward sentences. As the writer, you won’t notice them. As the reader, they are glaringly obvious. 

As you can see, the process for writing a law firm blog post is labor-intensive. It can also be time-consuming. As a lawyer, you have court dates and clients to address. You shouldn’t take time away from your legal career to write blog posts. Instead, hire an expert that you can trust to get the job done.