Coming Up With Content Ideas for Law Firms
To expand on the wonderful content that my content team made regarding coming up with page and blog ideas (check out our article about 3 of our favorite tools for researching blog topics or read ahead), I wanted to add some of my own approaches that have worked over the past decade of doing content marketing, most of which was in the legal space.
Content plans come naturally to us at this point, but it took brainstorming and creating a knack over time to get where we are today. Admittedly, it can be daunting to come up with dozens of topics each month that are not only unique, but will also produce qualified traffic. Through this list of 10 methods (and really, three main approaches), you’ll no longer have any issues with figuring out how to creatively and meaningfully come up with additional ideas for pages and blogs for your website.
Forums and Message Boards
This has been an approach we’ve been using since day one. I believe that, although engagement on Avvo has diminished in recent years, there are still plenty of archived answers.
You can see from here a breakdown of the thousands of questions people have asked, perfectly narrowed down by practice area and even state. See more here: https://www.avvo.com/topics/criminal-defense/advice?question=1
Other places, like Quora and Reddit, have dozens of threads of people having their questions answered, with feedback that can certainly inspire you to take action and modify some topics into content that is truly unique and answers questions your potential clients may have. This is among the best ways to get highly-qualified traffic to your website.
Social Media Groups
This approach was presented to me recently by Shondell Varcianna of Varci Media. Facebook and LinkedIn have literally thousands of niche groups about any topic or lifestyle, and many of the posts are questions for the community. While this may not apply to criminal defense and personal injury matters, think about finance, estate planning, and professional groups (B2B). People in financial groups may ask questions pertaining to wills, trusts, probate, and related topics. On LinkedIn, Intellectual Property and Small Business lawyers may have endless topics to write about while people converse about their issues and obstacles.
Also, once this content is created, it doesn’t hurt to be able to post a link to their answer directly in the thread.
Clients and Potential Clients
Every time you talk to a potential client, doesn’t it seem like they have the same questions as many of your previous clients had when they first approached you? Most individuals go through different experiences, but it doesn’t mean their initial questions aren’t the same (or in the same ballpark) as everyone else’s. Have your team keep a list of common questions that your incoming and current clients have. Answers to single questions may not fill in an entire blog, but they can still be featured in FAQ pages or digestible “listicle” articles.
Google News
A great way to research current events and trending topics is by combing through Google News. While not all news articles apply to our clients’ services, it can be insightful to learn what the media is highlighting. Readers are often interested in popular topics and breaking news. I like to change the tools around to view recent news articles posted anytime between the last month and last year while alternating between only blogs or news articles.
To view news articles within a specific time frame after searching for a topic in Google, click News > Tools > Recent > select a time frame or choose a custom time range.
To see only blogs or news articles after searching in Google News, click Tools > All News dropdown option.
Related Searches
Related searches are perhaps the least-considered method of developing blog ideas, but they can be helpful when you’re not sure where to start your research. In case you haven’t noticed, almost every time you conduct a Google search, the search engine will produce a group of related keyword searches below the last page result. These keywords may be invaluable in learning what your audience is looking for when searching topics associated with your industry.
There are a few websites that also aggregate these types of results effortlessly. Answer The Public is a great tool that lays out easily the different ways people ask questions and variations on how they do so. UberSuggest was great until it was purchased by Neil Patel, but maybe it’s still worth a look.
Competitor Research
Competitor research is a great way to discover why clients are drawn to some businesses over others. In addition, competitor research can help you search through topics that have large amounts of research already covered by your competitors or companies providing services like yours and find out why these topics are getting more buzz from particular audiences.
Blog Topic Research Strategies That Produce Results
Using these techniques, our content team has been able to create engaging blog topics that speak to our client’s audiences and stand out on search engine results when potential customers search for solutions to their problems. The next time you’re tasked with crafting fresh online content, try these methods, and you’ll soon have your own list of exciting topics that boost traffic, rank on Google, and attract fans.
At Market My Market, we’re thinkers, writers, and learners who love coming up with fresh ideas for our clients. To learn how we can boost your content marketing game, contact us for a free consultation.