Making a Good First Impression With Your Law Firm’s Content
Date: February 14, 2023
Why a Good First Impression Matters
As the old saying goes, “you never get a second chance at making a first impression.” This rings true for your law firm website as well.
When it comes to facilitating a website for your potential clients that gives a good first impression, provides the necessary information, and stays in good favor with search engine rankings, you need high-quality content that speaks to both your audience and the algorithm.
What first impression do you wish people had of your law firm?
Would people understand that you’re capable?
Would people understand that you’re trustworthy?
Would they acknowledge your reliability and expertise?
After your interaction, would they be more interested in your legal services?
Determine what you want the first impression of your firm to be first. From there, you can determine the best messaging and types of law firm content to invest in.
Regardless of the type of content you decide to create for your website, making a good first impression with your law firm content marketing will always come down to two things: getting your main points across & inviting people to learn more. Through education and an invitation to action, your first impression will be the one that lasts.
How Does a Good First Impression Impact Your Law Firm Website?
A good first impression doesn’t just impact your future relationships with prospective clients; it impacts your SEO score, as well. The same factors that influence search engine rankings will also impact the experience of your website for new visitors. When you make a strong first impression with your website, you provoke more action from your potential clients and give the search engines something to write home about.
Retention Rate. When your website and law firm content marketing speak to your target audience, they are more likely to stick around on your website, either to learn more about you or the legal services you provide. This results in longer times spent on your website, showing search engines that people think lingering on your website is worthwhile.
Motivation to Click-Through. When you are speaking to your target audience right from the start, they will be more inclined to click through your website to see what else you have to say. In the best-case scenario, they’ll find enough answers to their preliminary questions to trust you and want to get in contact with your law firm.
SEO for law firms is crucial for staying top of mind and top of search results. A good first impression affects the SEO bottom line for your law firm website.
Creating High-Quality Content for Your Law Firm Website
Creating content and regularly updating your website is necessary for enhancing your SEO performance. Blog posts are a great way to add high-quality content to your website on the regular.
If you need some ideas to get started writing blogs for your law firm website or need more ideas for marketing for law firms, there are plentiful resources to help you get your footing.
Making a Lasting Impression with Content Marketing for Law
Creating high-quality law firm content is never about just the first impression; it’s about how your potential clients feel before, during, and after their interaction with your law firm. Here are a few law firm content creation concepts that will leave a good first impression (and a favorable lasting impression) on your prospective clients.
Grow where you know.
Creating content for your law firm’s website shouldn’t be intimidating. Start with what you know best. In fact, there is an advantage of blogging from experience. If someone asked you to give an hour-long lecture with only 5 minutes to prep, what topic or highlight would you pull from your expertise to discuss?
Whatever that topic is, speak about it through blog posts on your website. Ideally, this topic would be something you know on a deep level and can speak about naturally.
Create content that your reader is looking for.
There is no better way to make a good impression than to have the exact information someone is looking for ready for them. Part of SEO for law firms is identifying the relevance of the information on your law firm website to your target audience. Keyword and competitor research can help you start writing high-quality pieces specifically for your target audience.
This research can feel a bit trickier, as understanding SEO for your law firm is a more involved and specialized process than the average lawyer wants to undertake. . This is where a marketing agency or SEO specialist can be useful to help generate leads and grow your business by ensuring content creation and SEO opportunities are optimized, bringing a larger audience to your website and creating new, lasting first impressions.
Put your potential clients in the story.
Not only should you answer the questions your potential clients need, but you should include your clients in the story. What law firm content can you create in which they can see themselves, their situation, and their success?
Demonstrate trustworthiness.
Trust is in high demand these days, and that’s especially true when it comes to potential clients seeking legal services. A good first impression would allow prospective clients to understand that your firm is professional and can be trusted, especially during tumultuous and often sensitive times.
Do you have public partnerships that you want to emphasize?
Are you putting extra effort into certain sectors or specialties?
Are you investing in the public good?
Showing or talking about your experience and dedication through a piece of law firm content on your website can help create a further connection with your target audience.
Showcase your expertise.
Evidence is always reassuring for prospective clients. Consider adding a few case studies to your website that demonstrate the range of skills your law firm can provide.
What information from these case studies would your potential clients find useful?
Are there certain areas you concentrate on and want to demonstrate your extensive knowledge and skill?
All of these things give a good first impression to potential clients.
Add awards, accolades, and certifications.
If others are singing your praises, you should be, too – or at least ensuring you’re updating your website with the awards and accolades you receive.
It is always beneficial for law firms to ensure the recognition they have received from the public or through organizations is displayed on their website. This adds to your credibility and provides a deeper layer of trust.
How Landing Pages Can Help You Maintain a Good Impression
If you are running particular campaigns where it makes sense to focus on a specific specialty, service, or even event, landing pages can be a huge help.
A good landing page is the definition of a good first impression. Landing pages are specialized pages on your website focused on information and action. A landing page’s job is to give potential clients the exact information they need regarding a more niche area of expertise. A well-designed landing page would allow prospective clients to understand and take action without having to navigate very far from where they started.
This gives your law firm a better opportunity to turn potential clients into clients.
What’s Your Final Impression?
Marketing for law firms comes with its own set of hurdles. High-quality content creation mixed with the right SEO research can give your law firm website the advantage it needs to rank on search engines and get your firm in front of the right audience.
If you need help getting started, check out these other resources on writing content for your law firm website:
How to Craft the Perfect Piece of Content
The Best Free SEO Tools Every Law Firm Should Be Using
If you have any questions about putting your best foot forward, the 9Sail team is here to help! Reach out with any questions you may have.
