The Three Gorgons of Legal Content Writing

In Greek mythology, the Gorgons were three monsters so hideous that anyone who looked at them turned to stone. The most famous one was Medusa, whom Perseus slew, and he was only able to accomplish this without turning to stone by looking at her reflection in his sword to see where she was instead of looking directly at her. Cision’s recently published Global State of the Media report identifies the 20 words most detested by journalists, and fortunately, they don’t occur frequently on law firm blogs, so lawyers everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief.

Law firms don’t describe themselves as “best of breed,” they don’t claim to be able to “disrupt” the United States Constitution, and they don’t say that they are “thrilled” that you are getting a divorce or acting as the personal representative of a family member’s estate. Meanwhile, the staff of Content Marketing Institute has attributed the overuse of those 20 words to three bad habits so hideous that they immediately cause readers to disengage, and the bad news is that law firm blogs are not immune to these habits. Behold the three Gorgons of legal content writing and how to avoid them in your legal blog content.

Lazy or Rushed Writing

Updating your blog frequently is a sound content marketing strategy, and to do it successfully, you must create content quickly. Writers tend to use annoying buzzwords when they are not putting much thought into their writing because they have to get it done quickly. Since you, as a lawyer, are always busy, the best solution is to hire a legal content marketing firm to create your blog content.

Brand Identity Vanity

Your law firm’s blog should be a venue for educating your audience about statutes and court decisions related to your practice area. It should not be a place to boast about how great your law firm is. Brand identity is important for law firms and your website offers plenty of opportunities to show your readers your accomplishments and values. In your blog posts, you should focus on the audience, namely, people in your state who have questions about personal injury law (or estate planning, or whatever your practice area is) and not on how awesome your law firm is.

Trying Too Hard to Sound Sophisticated

The fact that you graduated from law school means that your efforts to become proficient in legal terminology have been successful. Legal briefs and oral arguments in court that are jam packed with Latin phrases and little-known historical allusions may make a good impression on the judge, but the audience of a law firm’s blog is people with no professional knowledge of the law. Focusing on your audience’s frame of reference, not on insider knowledge of the legal profession, will keep readers reading. Do connect legal concepts to popular movies, current events, or old news stories so famous that readers probably remember them, but don’t use terms you didn’t know before law school unless you explain what they mean.

Who Has Time to Write Blog Posts?

Choose the legal content writers at Law Blog Writers to create blog content that is free of hideous writing habits and packed with useful, empowering information for your clients.