Create an Awesome Attorney Bio With These 7 Content Secrets
By PaperStreet on May 8, 2018 in Attorney Bios
Services: Law Firm Website Design . SEO . Internet Marketing . Law Firm Marketing Guide . Content Marketing . PPC
The most important part of your company’s website is your attorney bio. This is your opportunity to make an impression and tell your hero story – the one that will make prospects choose you over your competitors and existing clients tell their entire network how great you are. To create this awesome bio, you need a blueprint and we’ve got you covered. Here you go:
- Create your bio for your ideal client. Ask yourself what information you can provide to let that person know you are the best advocate for their needs. Pro tip: Before you start writing create an outline of your client persona, that way you can refer to this persona as you create your bio.
- Tell your story in paragraphs and put the facts in bullet points. The name of your law school, the year you graduated and any honors you received (cum laude for example) are important facts, these do not however tell me your story. Why did you choose to practice in the field you are in? Did you take part in a law school clinic that convinced you of your natural aptitude in your chosen specialization? Did a professor inspire you? These are some questions that can help you tell your story. Most of the time attorney’s will discuss their outside interests but fail to tell their clients, why they do what they do. Your bio is a can’t miss opportunity to do just that.
- Use active verbs that appeal to the senses: seeing, feeling, hearing. There is nothing wrong with a couple of lines of philosophical musings to humanize your profile. Tell your audience how you spend your free time walking your one year old daughter around in a nearby park and find the sound of her laughter amongst the sounds of the birds to be priceless. There is no need to be verbose, the quality of your statement matters more than the quantity of words, the more thoughtful and personal your sentiment, the more your audience will remember you long after they leave your profile.
- Give your audience the gift of information within your profile. This can be information that appears directly on your profile or a link to useful articles on your website. For a patent attorney, for example, a prospect would likely be very interested in 5 things you need to know if you want to file a patent. You can tell your audience that you are always interested in hearing from them and if they want some informational reading before they contact you, here are a few good articles. Be sure to include the name of the articles as well as the links. Additionally, include any helpful contact information that applies to this particular attorney. For example, do they have online consultations, allow you to book an appointment or offer video conferencing? Listing out these contact options can prove that you are flexible and available to meet with them as needed.
- We now live in the world of “I”. People expect to hear from you and not read a piece that was written about you. Writing in the third person will only separate you from your audience and should generally be avoided. That being said, for smaller practices, there may be some value to creating that separation and setting the expectation that your client may be in communication with anyone in your office. If you choose to write in the third person, you should have a very clear reason for doing so.
- Keep it short and sweet. Your paragraphs should be 2 to 3 sentences, your clients are not expecting a literary masterpiece, they are just looking for information.
- Get help. That’s the advice you give to your clients and that’s the advice you should take for yourself. There are some excellent tools available to help you spruce up your writing as well as catch mistakes like Grammarly, HemingwayApp, RelatedWords.org, WordHippo and of course the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. After you create your first or second draft, get a fellow attorney, a friend or significant other to review your profile and give you honest feedback.
If you follow these tips you will be well on your way to creating an awesome profile. If you need help writing your profile or would just like a second set of eyes, we’re here to help – here we have a list of our content writing and editing services. If you’re just looking for inspiration, here you will find some pretty awesome bios to help get your creative juices flowing. Thanks for reading – until next time!
