Using a Freelance Writer for Your Law Firm Blog with Laura Pennington Briggs
7 Tips on How to be Successful Through Blog Posts
1. Why You Should Hire a Writer
A lot goes into a blog post, like:
- Coming up with the title/topic
- Researching the material
- Writing the article
- Adding outbound and inbound links
- Adding pictures with alt tags
- Adding meta descriptions
As a law firm owner, you don’t have the time to learn and do all these steps. By hiring a writer, they can take care of all your content (blog posts and website content) with just a little bit of guidance from you.
Some writers will also help you in other areas to improve the impact of your blog. Those writers will guide you through those processes or will offer suggestions and referrals to other people that can help you. They’ll give you a few choices of ideas so you can pick one more easily. They’ll hook you up with the people you need or speak to someone who is already helping you.
2) Your Firm Website Needs to be Up to Date and Running Properly
Your website needs:
- Proper SEO
- To be mobile friendly
- To have relevant content
- Content should be about whatever your potential clients are thinking about and searching for
- To have longer content (Google favors that)
- To be clear who you serve - location, type of case, person
- Some blog posts that are specific to your area (but not too many or it’s spammy)
- Good to have some multimedia sprinkled in there on some posts
3) Choosing a Writer Based on the Price of Service
The price says a lot about the writer:
- Beginners (but still good) usually charge $50 per page (500 words).
- Anyone charging less than $50 won’t have quality writing or will use duplicate content and they will harm your website that way.
- Experienced writers (top-notch) charge $300 - $500.
Price also depends on how long you’re hiring the writer for and the volume of content you need.
Hiring someone long term might get you a discount.
4) Be Patient While You Wait for Results
The amount of time it takes to start seeing results will depend on how long your posts are, how often you’re posting, how competitive your market is, etc.
Ways to get results:
- Be consistent with your posting schedule
- Minimum 1 post per week when it’s over 800 words
- Minimum 2 posts per week when it’s less than 800 words
- Blog will only be effective if everything else is in order (website look and loading pace)
- It can take google up to 2 months to notice you, so hang in there
- Has to be a long term strategy, have to be committed to see it through
- Make sure you have enough money to invest in this for a few months before you start seeing results
5) Set Goals
Whether you’re doing it in house or hiring a freelancer, sit down beforehand and determine your goal and plan of action.
How will you be most effective?
Think about how you’re going to get your content out there:
- Do you have an email list?
- Are you sending an email with new content to those people on your email list?
- Are you putting it on social media?
- Do you have a Facebook page for your firm?
- Do you have a Linkedin page for your firm?
Make sure you’re not missing any opportunities. With anything you use, it’s always good to repurpose your content.
The most important goal is connecting with your end reader.
Write to the readers first then to Google second.
Writing for the reader means you have to:
- Get their attention
- Hold their attention
- Highlight your firm’s unique proposition
When writing the content you have to think about what the end reader is thinking and what emotional state they are in when Googling for the service you provide. After that you can stick in the uniqueness of your firm and SEO.
6) How to Find the Right Freelance Writer or Writing Agency
The first thing you should do is decide if you want to hire a freelance writer or a writing agency.
Choosing which one comes down to personal preference.
- How personalized do you want your content?
- Agencies can be pricey because they offer many services - can you afford that?
- There are some good agencies, but generally they’re better in some areas than others and they have the same approach to each client.
- You also may want to know the person who is writing your content rather than an agency having 50 different people writing for you.
7) Finding a Quality Freelance Writer
- You can start by asking colleagues from law school who are in different locations or practice areas for referrals.
- Look on Linkedin
- Do a Google search
- Stay away from job board sites like Fiverr because legal is too specific a topic to hire just anyone.
- Always start with a test project - see if they communicate, follow directions, meet deadlines and write good content.
A few things to look for:
- Are they professional?
- Are they experienced?
- Do they have a background in law?
Now Go Out and Find Yourself a Writer Who Can Make Your Blogging a Success
Resources
Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business: The Complete Guide to Starting and Scaling from Scratch (Startup) by The Staff of Entrepreneur Media, Inc. and Laura Pennington Briggs
https://www.amazon.com/Start-Your-Freelance-Writing-Business/dp/1599186454
Laura’s Website
http://www.legalseowriter.com/
Laura can also be found on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurapenningtonwrites/
Stay connected with news and updates!
Author
Moshe Amsel
Author
Moshe Amsel the host of the Profit with Law podcast is not an attorney. As the owner of a successful accounting firm DreamBuilder Financial and Law Firm Growth coaching organization Profit with Law, Moshe has proven that there are better and different ways for a law firm to do business and be successful.
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