Busy schedules and a lack of interest are probably two the biggest reasons attorneys don’t blog. What’s wrong with that? Nothing. While many may disagree with me, plenty of attorneys and other professionals have grown their business’s online presence without blogging on the daily basis. I’m not saying that abandoning the idea of sharing news and announcements online is a good idea. A few newsletters could easily make a decent replacement for blogging, and many professionals will agree.

Carolyn Elefant, a contributor for www.AboveTheLaw.com, recently wrote 6 Reasons Why E-Newsletters Beat Blogging As A Content Marketing Tool for Lawyers. Give it a read to find out how you can start using newsletters to better your firm’s marketing efforts without spending an excess amount of time.

Copyright: 123RF Stock Photo

By Yvette Valencia

If you’re hoping to increase website traffic and generate more leads, don’t hire a wizard.

What does that mean? Anyone who tells you that you can dramatically increase your web leads and boost your site traffic in less than three to six months has to either be a wizard or involved in black hat SEO.

The truth is, content success takes time and continuous effort. Great websites with thousands of hits per day didn’t get that way overnight. They gained their popularity through years of publishing great content.

The Secret to Increase Traffic to a Website

The secret is: there is no secret. There’s no magic formula, no tricks, and no amount of money you can pay to get solid leads and genuine increases in web traffic. There are still black hat SEO marketers who use unscrupulous techniques like link schemes and shady link networks to generate quick web traffic.

While it’s a quick trick to temporarily boost your traffic, what you’re paying for ultimately is a short-lived reign at the top followed by the risk of de-ranking by Google and a low chance of generating good leads.

The plain and simple truth is that truly successful websites and blogs generate leads and increase web traffic through quality content. Just like any publication, gaining traction on the Internet takes time. You have to find your niche and build a fan base, milestones that take time to reach. Spend that time crafting and curating a library of quality content designed to attract and capture potential leads.

Now, how do you set up your content marketing strategy for success?

The Content Saturation Index

Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion hit the nail on the head when he coined the term “Content Saturation Index” or CSI. The estimated time it takes a website to gain traffic and leads through a content marketing strategy depends on the content market you are entering.

In the legal content industry, you can break down the types of content into three levels.

• Broad content that talks about the fundamentals of the industry (what a personal injury attorney does, the benefits of hiring a lawyer).

• Narrow content that deals with the specifics of a type of law (how injury attorneys get paid, the differences between drug trafficking charges and drug possession charges).

• Niche content that talks about information specific to your practice and geographic area (DUI laws in Pennsylvania, Texas divorce laws).

The speed of the success of your content marketing depends on the type of content you’re writing.

Content in the broad category is everywhere; it’s the most highly saturated category of content on the Internet. If you’re writing only at the broad level, increasing your traffic and generating more leads may be almost impossible without paying for clicks and leads.

Writing more in the narrow and niche levels gives your website a better chance to stand out from the crowd and rank faster for the key terms most closely associated with your practice. When you focus on saturating these less competitive levels with your quality content, you’re setting yourself up for a faster – but not overnight – track to content success.

Saturate Your Content

At We Do Web Content, our experienced team of writers, content managers, and editors know how to craft a content plan to safely and honestly improve your Internet presence. To get started, give us a call or fill out our contact form to speak with our sales manager about all of the services we offer to help grow your business through Internet and SEO marketing. Call 888-521-3880.

Yvette Valencia is an expert at writing search engine optimized Web content humans love to read and share. She specializes in helping law firms identify the information their prospective clients are searching for online and developing content strategies that drive the right kind of traffic to their sites.

Through her company, We Do Web Content, Yvette upholds the standard for quality inbound marketing. Her mission is to help lawyers understand this standard by identifying what's important to their potential clients, providing these prospects with information they'll find helpful and trustworthy, and then, seamlessly merging the two with the law firms' business goals. Most recently, Yvette authored a second book called 10 Reasons Your Website Doesn't Generate Leads, which offers law firms advice on developing an effective content marketing strategy.

Prior to co-founding We Do Web Content, Inc., Yvette honed her skills as a presenter and writer when she served as the lead corporate trainer for two major international banks: ABN AMRO Bank (4 years); and Deutsche Bank (2 years).

In addition to managing the day-to-day operations for We Do Web Content, Yvette is passionate about music, fashion, and being a loving wife and mother to two amazing little boys.

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Yvette Valencia is an expert at writing search engine optimized Web content humans love to read and share. She specializes in helping law firms identify the information their prospective clients are searching for online and developing content strategies that drive the right kind of traffic to their sites.

Through her company, We Do Web Content, Yvette upholds the standard for quality inbound marketing. Her mission is to help lawyers understand this standard by identifying what’s important to their potential clients, providing these prospects with information they’ll find helpful and trustworthy, and then, seamlessly merging the two with the law firms’ business goals. Most recently, Yvette authored a second book called 10 Reasons Your Website Doesn’t Generate Leads, which offers law firms advice on developing an effective content marketing strategy.

Prior to co-founding We Do Web Content, Inc., Yvette honed her skills as a presenter and writer when she served as the lead corporate trainer for two major international banks: ABN AMRO Bank (4 years); and Deutsche Bank (2 years).

In addition to managing the day-to-day operations for We Do Web Content, Yvette is passionate about music, fashion, and being a loving wife and mother to two amazing little boys.

By Yvette Valencia

Obtaining website comments about content on your site is a sign that you're writing blogs and articles that make people take notice of what you have to say.

There are many types of web comments that could be submitted to your web content and each type should be handled differently. The one similarity is that comments should never be ignored; even writing a simple "thanks" can let readers know you're paying attention to what they have to say.

Responding to Positive Comments

Positive comments, even brief ones that just state how much a reader liked your article, should be acknowledged and responded to in a timely manner. The purpose of web comments is to engage your readers in dialogue to show that you're not an automated content farm. You're a business that truly cares about what its customers or clients have to say.

In most cases, a simple "thanks for the comment!" will do as a response. But try to respond with something relevant and insightful once in a while, especially if a commenter took the time to leave a long and insightful comment. You can also use positive comments as an opportunity to find out what you're doing right.

In your response try asking questions like these.

• What part of the blog/article did you like the best or was most helpful?
• Was there anything I didn't talk about or explain that you'd like to see covered in a future blog post?
• Is there anything I can do to help you with (topic of article)?
• What other similar topics would you like to read about?

Your positive commenters can be a great source of inspiration for future article and blog topics if you take the time to respond and track their comments.

Responding to Negative Comments

The first thing worth mentioning about negative comments is that you should almost never delete them to hide them from your page. The only time you should do this is if they are full of inappropriate language or content. Otherwise, they should be handled just like positive comments by issuing a full and engaging response.

If the comment brings up a specific issue with your web content or company, address that issue as fully as appropriate in a public forum. If the comment is sensitive or personal in nature, ask the commenter to send you a private email or call your office to discuss his or her grievances.

Above all, be civil. Getting angry at rude or childish commenters will do nothing but harm your reputation. Responding with dignity and patience and asking what the problem is rather than yelling, is a much better response in the eyes of other readers.

Responding to Spam Comments

Believe it or not, you should respond to spam comments, just not on your actual site. If you're using a platform such as WordPress to post your web content, you should install an anti-spam measure such as Akismet. If you do not manage your site, talk to your webmaster about automated spam controls.

If you manage spam manually, keep your comment queue clear by deleting spam comments every few days. If you receive a high volume of spam comments, you may want to implement a comment approval system where you must approve the comments before they appear on the site.

Comments on your web content are a great sign for site owners. It means that human readers are coming by and engaging with the content they're offering. Google picks this up by tracking the time spent on pages and uses that as a ranking factor in the search results. If you have quality, relevant content that's easy to read and gives readers something to talk about, you should be getting comments worth replying to!

At We Do Web Content, Inc. our goal is to provide our clients with the kind of quality content that inspires readers to share and comment. Just give us a call or fill out our contact form to learn about our content marketing services and ghostwriting options. Your comment sections will thank you! Call 888-521-3880.