You may have heard the terms ‘content’, ‘fresh content’ and ‘content is king’ from your digital or marketing agency or from your more marketing-savvy friends, but what does it mean and why is it so important to your firms?
Well search engines and in particular, Google is a stickler for fresh content. You can fool many people in life, but Google is not one of them, so if you’re not updating your website with fresh content then Google will know and it won’t make it easy for future clients to find you. 

Google works by ranking pages based on a number of factors and one of these factors is whether you are updating your website with content. This helps remove defunct websites from search results but it does mean you have to keep adding information to your website. In fact Google recently highlighted that it is now putting more emphasis than ever on fresh content and so failing to follow this simple rule could mean your once high ranking sinks below your competitors.

The fresher the better

Like with most things in life, the fresher the better. Quality and freshness are key when it comes to the content on your website. One of the best ways to make sure that you are doing this is to write regular blog content at least once a week.  This could be as simple as providing top tips for a specific legal matter, offering advice, or talking about new legislation or court rulings that have been in the news. Above all be pro-active and topical, try keep up too with what is happening in the legal sector and you’ll easily find something worth talking about. 

Two-fold

While writing content for your website is essential, for search engines, you also need to write for your audience.  Your content should be just as much an enjoyable read for your potential clients as it is for search engines to pick up key words.  Don’t write content just for the sake of it, write something of interest.  Think about your website visitors.  Don’t write stuffy, corporate content packed full of legal jargon if that’s not the way your clients speak.  Use a friendly tone about topics that they will enjoy and benefit from reading.

Here are a few do’s and don’ts for getting the right balance when it comes to website content:

DO write regularly

Pushing out good content on a weekly basis will really help to boost your website rankings and to let your visitors know that you are active.

DON’T forget to add images

Images will break up your text and make it look more appealing to the reader.  Everyone is drawn to a nice image.

DO stick with your tone of voice

If your business is a warm and friendly place to be then don’t all of a sudden start writing really formal and stuffy content, or vice-versa  Stick to what you know and who you are and always be professional.

DON’T forget to edit

Although Google isn’t a massive stickler for grammar and punctuation it can put your visitors off if your blog posts are full of mistakes.  Make sure that you, and other colleagues, give it a good proof read before you put it online. 

DO encourage your visitors to share

If your content is interesting enough then people will pass it on, giving you the chance to reach more potential clients. Make sure that you add social media sharing buttons to your blog posts too, encouraging readers to share on their own social media accounts and make sure you do the same.  If you write a blog post then share it on all your company’s social media channels, especially Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and any other social media accounts.

Your content should be coherent, consistent and interesting.  Give your readers something of value.  By doing this you will be able to drive more traffic to your website and see your Google rankings rise.  Think of it like doing well in class at school and watch as you rise to the top of the class!

Ciara Sarkar is content manager for mmadigital