One way to get more links pointing back to your law firm website is to write guest posts/blogs on other sites. Increased links back to your site is one of multiple benefits of guest blogging for lawyers. Before you dive in, however, you need to consider if this strategy is right for your firm.
In this blog, PMP defines a guest post, explains the potential benefits and downsides, and discusses how to get started. We answer questions such as:
- What should you write about?
- What types of websites should you post on?
- What are some of things you should do and not do?
- And more
If you are looking into guest posting, link building and other strategies to improve SEO, contact the accomplished marketing professionals at PMP. We have a proven track record of improving SEO for law firms by securing more backlinks and employing a variety of other proven strategies.
Contact us to find out about the benefits of working with a marketing company and discuss a custom solution to your website needs.
What Is Guest Posting/Guest Blogging?
Guest posting or guest blogging means writing content that will be published on another business or organization’s blog or website. Guest posts cover the kind of information you might include in a blog post on your law firm website, but the content is also relevant for the other business or organization.
While guest blogging can help boost your law firm website’s SEO, you still need to write useful, high-quality content. Google tends to downgrade low-quality content that is written for the sole purpose of helping your site move higher on search engine results pages. Google favors content that answers users’ questions or provides useful information that people want to know.
If you are not sure why you are writing something or how the information could benefit someone else, there is no reason to write it. Google’s algorithm seems to have a similar point of view.
How Could Guest Posts Help Your Digital Marketing Efforts?
One of the main benefits of guest blogging and the main reason law firms do it, is to get backlinks to their websites from high-authority domains. Most guest posts include a link back to the law firm’s website, such as to a practice area page or the homepage.
While Google likes to promote the idea that “content is king,” you also need high-quality backlinks to rank higher in search results. Backlinks from high-authority domains help boost your domain authority.
You can think of backlinks like votes for your website. Backlinks are a signal to Google that your website is providing useful information. Why else would another site be linking to yours?
If you want the SEO benefits of a backlink, make sure the site where you are posting allows a dofollow link. Nofollow links do not pass along any SEO benefit to the website where they are linking.
These are some of the other benefits of guest posting for lawyers:
Reaching More People
Guest blogging puts your content in front of more people, extending your reach. Even if you do not get a backlink, or the backlink is a nofollow link, you can increase traffic to your website.
If you limit guest blogging to high-authority websites, they are likely to have significant traffic. Increased traffic means your guest post could be seen by a significant number of people.
Sometimes this outcome may lead to media interviews or requests to be a guest on podcasts. These opportunities can help you reach even more people.
Building Trust and Authority
Guest posting can help establish your authority on your area of the law. Establishing authority helps build trust with potential clients. When people search for lawyers, they want to find one who they feel has the experience and knowledge to manage their case and pursue a favorable result.
Networking Opportunities
While some people who see your guest posts may be potential clients, you are probably going to reach a much broader audience. Some people in the audience may be other lawyers or legal professionals. Your posts could help establish relationships with these people.
These relationships could open the door to a variety of opportunities for you and your law firm. For example, other lawyers may refer cases to your firm. You could also refer cases to their firm. Networking could also result in speaking opportunities to further demonstrate your legal knowledge.
The Do’s and Do Not’s of Guest Posting for Lawyers
While there are many aspects of guest blogging for lawyers, you can narrow things down to a simple list of what you should do and what you should not do:
When Guest Blogging, Do:
- Provide Unique, Valuable Insights: New content should add something new to the conversation on an issue.
- Understand the Website’s Guest Posting Guidelines: Follow their guidelines, so your post fits in with the other content on the website.
- Promote Your Posts: You should share guest blogs on social media and your website to reach more people.
When Guest Blogging: Do Not:
- Compromise on Quality: Poorly written or superficial posts can hurt your law firm’s reputation and have a negative effect on SEO.
- Ignore SEO Best Practices: You should optimize your content for search engines, but do not stuff in too many keywords. Users can tell when content has been overstuffed with keywords and they do not like reading this type of content.
- Neglect Your Author Bio: Your author bio is an opportunity to introduce your firm and direct readers to your website. Take the time to write a well-structured and informative bio.
Is Guest Blogging the Right Strategy for My Law Firm?
You need to consider various factors before using any digital marketing strategy, including guest blogging. If your website needs more high-quality backlinks to move up in search rankings and you have already optimized your site in other ways, guest posting may be the next logical step.
Guest posting can also be a useful strategy if you are more interested in showing thought leadership and trying to network.
However, you need to be committed to producing high-quality content, and this takes time. That is why many law firms entrust actions, like link building and guest posting, to marketing companies. Poorly-executed guest blogging can hurt your website, as Google penalizes websites that produce low-quality content.
What Should You Write About in a Guest Post?
Your guiding principle with content is to produce content that offers real value to readers. For law firms this often means creating content that provides:
- Tips and advice for common legal issues faced by the types of clients you work with
- Commentary on new laws or changes or updates to existing laws
- Case studies or success stories that show what it is like to hire your law firm
- Practical tips for navigating the legal process
These are the same kinds of things you should write about on your law firm blog. Providing people with the information they need to make informed decisions is always valuable.
How Do I Decide Where To Do a Guest Blog?
Law firms often post guest blogs on other legal websites or on websites for related industries. For example, a personal injury law firm may do a guest post on a physical therapy website or a website in the automotive industry.
Another relevant place for a guest post might be the website for a company that produces software used by those in the legal industry. You could also do a guest post on a news site that covers legal topics within your practice areas.
In general, you want to find websites whose audiences overlap with your target audience. That way you know your content is reaching people who could benefit from it.
Some of the other factors to consider include:
- Quality of content on the website – You should stick to posting on websites that publish informative, high-quality content. Posting on low-quality websites makes your law firm look bad and it is probably not going to convey much of an SEO benefit.
- Reader engagement – How engaged are readers with the content on this website? If people are actively commenting on content or sharing it to social media, that is a good sign.
- How often the site publishes content – Websites that routinely publish content are probably going to have more readers than websites that publish more infrequently.
How To Find High-Authority Domains for Guest Blogging
While all the tips discussed above are well and good, there is a technical aspect of deciding where to do guest posts.
Guest blogging is often part of a backlinking strategy designed to move a website higher in search engine rankings. A critical element of the strategy is finding high-authority domains that can provide a link back to your website.
There are various tools marketing companies can use to determine domain rating or authority, such as Ahrefs, Moz or Majestic SEO. You can look up a website’s domain authority to determine if it may be a good candidate for a guest post.
Part of an effective backlinking strategy is looking at the websites that are ranked higher than yours and determining what pages are linking to those sites. You may be able to do guest posts on those websites to get backlinks to your site.
What About Links From Local Businesses?
While domain authority often guides a lot of decision-making about guest posting, there is an exception for guest posting on the websites of local businesses. While links from high-authority pages are beneficial, links from local sources could be just as important.
Local links help your firm get in front of more people in your local area. This focused reach is critical for local SEO.
If you are considering guest posting or other strategies to improve SEO, reach a broader audience, or network with other legal professionals, PMP may be able to assist you in your efforts. We have more than 15 years of experience managing digital marketing strategies for law firms across the nation.
Contact PMP to discuss your marketing needs and custom solutions to help your firm reach its full potential.
