By Ben Dahl

Take a look at this search result for “what to do after a car accident.” Notice anything?

1.   Everyone has the same content.

On a quick scroll, what would stand out to you? Probably the only unique result.
User focused headlines are stronger than SEO focused headlines. Sources that provide checklists and solve problems for people who need help are the winners. So how exactly do we do this?
If we are going to make your firm’s content truly stand out, then we need to follow a proven format. We follow Larry Kim’s “ridiculously smart” strategy for increasing organic click-through-rate. If you’re sacrificing billable hours to write articles, we want people to click on them!
Here is Larry Kim’s proven format:

Number + Emotional Adjective + Content + Subject

7 Urgent Steps To Take After A Car Accident

A little more convincing, don’t you think?
So if we can get people to your site, what’s stopping them from actually picking up the phone or filling out a form?

2.   You need a heavy dose of WHY Power!

How often do you talk about why you practice not what you practice? We see firms mention their mission on their home page or maybe once or twice on their “Our Firm” page or “About Us,” but that’s the end of it. The rest of the site is all practice areas, SEO-focused blog posts, legal resources, etc. The why doesn’t permeate the brand.
People hire people. We have talked a lot about this in our recent posts/webinars about millennials. You know that new generation on the block? We tell stories to help people that care in a way they can consume. Right now, video is the best content. The story brings them to the solution, your firm. Tell a story in whatever area of law you practice that people want to hear.
A great starting point is embedding a “Firm Overview” video on your home page and pinning it to the top of your social accounts to better communicate your mission.

3.   Charging $0/hour is insanely profitable!

There is a reason that Avvo rewards attorneys that actively answer questions. People want to engage with a real person to get answers to their questions. Why else would someone opt to post a question on Avvo instead of doing a quick Google search?

You can see that many of these are not complicated questions. Answer them! When you give first, people trust and respect you. You become the expert. On Avvo, you can help real people, and when they need to hire a lawyer you “just so happen” to handle those types of cases. An easy win-win.
Community engagement is one of the most underrated forms of “marketing.” Local businesses can benefit from answering questions online for just 30 minutes per week, especially attorneys and law firms that can answer pressing, high-importance questions.
When you answer enough questions and provide enough value, you become a respected expert. You can leverage this to build your audiences on your social pages that have stagnated out around 150 followers.