8 Reasons Why Lawyers Shouldn’t Write Their Own Website Content
All lawyers are great writers. This is something we’ve probably heard all too often. Professionals with a legal background are indeed good communicators and have their way with words. Regardless of the area of law that you practice, you probably use written-word on a daily basis. When that time comes to launch a new law firm website, should you be the one to come up with content for your web pages? Certainly not! Here’s why we think SEO content for lawyers should be left to professional website copywriters.
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You don’t have time
As a lawyer, you probably have better things to do with your time than coming up with content for a website. Most of the time, when lawyers make website copy, it tends to be shorter than it should be or comes in late and doesn’t really entice the reader. Furthermore, you probably lack the interest to develop website copy for your law firm. Perhaps you need to spend that time focusing on your clients, following up on court dates and returning phone calls. There’s just so much to get done before you decide to take on another career as a web copywriter.
You probably won’t be consistent
High-quality SEO content for lawyers needs to be published on a regular and ongoing basis in order for it to have an impact. SEO is not magic and hence it doesn’t happen overnight. It is a long-term effort that only an expert can have the drive and remain consistent. Web users are constantly looking for up to date, relevant and helpful information and they need it to be well written and easy to read. If your law firm website doesn’t update content regularly, you risk losing that high page rank. Legal services are very competitive on search so you need to remain aggressive with your content in order to stay on top of the game. As an attorney, you probably don’t have the drive and time to write your website content on a regular basis.
You can get someone to do it better
Lawyers have great writing skills, most of them do. However, web users are often attracted to content that’s written by a professional. There are copywriters that have spent years perfecting their use of written-word. There are better writers who have extensive experience writing for legal clients. It’s certainly a skill set that you may not possess but that’s okay. This is what copywriters do and by allowing them to do it for you, you create time to handle the bigger and better cases these write-ups will attract once published on your law firm website.
It takes skill to write for the web
Not all kinds of content will perform well on the web. It takes a substantial level of skill and experience to write for the web. For a start, you need to know how to attract different kinds of readers. Remember that the ultimate goal is to create content that is valuable to readers and also ideal for web crawlers. There are certain guidelines on the structure, style, and flow of writing that you should follow if the copy is to perform well on the web. Therefore, when you allow an experienced website copywriter to come up with content for your law firm website, you’re almost always assured of a copy that will perform well on the web.
You can’t stay away from legal jargon
Should you decide to write your own lawyer content, some people may find it hard to read because it may contain too much “legalese”. The best content is simple and effortless to follow through. In fact, the content on your law firm website should be professional and personable. Readers are looking for an authoritative voice but at the same time need to understand what you’re talking about. Great content will be brief, informative and valuable to your readers.
You probably haven’t done keyword research
While stuffing your content with too many keywords is something you don’t ever want to do, it’s important to pay attention to keywords when writing content for your law firm website because they still play an important role in search rankings. As a lawyer, you may be tempted to pick random keywords from nowhere and write your content based on them hoping to get some search traction. However, professional copywriters don’t do any guesswork. They take time to research on the best keywords to use on your copy and then use them naturally ensuring the content is easy to read, relevant and informative to users.
You might end up showing off what you know
When writing legal content, you can slowly drift away and start showing off everything you know. Your website is certainly not the platform to show off all the legal jargon you know. It happens to the most modest attorneys in the business. Professional copywriters can help to put things in the right perspective and prevent you from making mistakes that will quickly push users away. They know just how to come up with the best SEO content without going overboard in terms of giving users unnecessary information.
You might bore users with too much information
It’s not easy to summarize a blog article on a subject matter that you know too well about. This is the dilemma that lawyers who want to write their own website content often find themselves in. You know too much and you probably find yourself sharing all the unnecessary information with your users. You want to highlight all the rules, exceptions and interesting cases on your landing pages. While this may seem informative, sharing too much can eventually overwhelm your users. Your website is not the right avenue to overwhelm clients with information that is not very necessary.
Work with an expert who can craft the best SEO content for lawyers. We’re happy to help you excel in our copywriting as you focus on your practice.