Consumers are constantly searching for answers to their pressing legal issues. They can find answers on blogs and websites, but eBooks offer a concentrated source of helpful material that goes deeper. eBooks are versatile marketing tools that are easy to produce and deliver to your law firm’s target audience, and an eBook is one more channel of valuable content that a law firm can offer its potential clients. Is it time for your law firm to start boosting your marketing results by writing an eBook?

Why Should Your Law Firm Write an eBook?

Reasons for writing an eBook vary from business to business, and your law firm should set goals before you dive into an eBook project. You may desire to establish yourself as a thought leader to colleagues, or offer your eBook as an incentive to potential clients. Whatever your goals, consider the following reasons for creating and distributing your law firm’s eBook.

Demonstrate Your Expertise

In an eBook format, you can share the knowledge and expertise you have worked hard to gather over the years. An eBook is a solid medium for lawyers to share what they know and give evidence of their authority within their field of practice. An eBook confirms all the other content shared with potential clients through a blog, website and personal conversations. 

Guide Your Clients Through the Legal Process

When you provide material in eBook form, you show your clients you genuinely care about informing and helping them through the legal process. The typical client may be unfamiliar with the legal process and often intimidated by it. Providing an eBook that describes the process from beginning to end can ease the fear faced by your clients and offers them a guide they can trust.  

Simplify Complicated Issues

Your eBook can simplify complex terms and concepts and discuss these in a conversational manner. An eBook has the space to thoroughly translate and explain topics in a way your audience can easily understand. An eBook can use graphs and other visuals to illustrate a point, and another benefit is that eBooks are digital, making them highly shareable on social media and other markets.

Confirm Your Authority

Some law firms may decide to write an eBook as a way to reach out to other lawyers and legal professionals. Your law firm can write an eBook to establish connections or gain referrals from colleagues. Your law firm may be able to share expertise in a particular legal niche, or information on how to avoid business pitfalls. An eBook directed at other attorneys can gain you credibility and confirm your authority to speak as an expert. 

Gain Contacts and Build Links

It is a typical practice to offer an eBook for free, as an incentive for a visitor’s contact information. This exchange is an ideal way to grow your business and contact list. When you submit your eBook to a social media site or legal directory, you have yet another way to build helpful links that draw people back to your website and blog. 

Law Firm eBook Ideas

If you are wondering what to write about at this point, here are some questions to help you start making a list:

• Who are you speaking to and what do they care about? If your eBook is directed toward those who are unfamiliar with the law, what do you need to tell them? If you are planning to write for your peers, what will help them? Starting here will narrow down your topics and will determine if you will best reach individuals in technical or everyday language. 
• What is your law firm good at? You may have expertise in certain matters that others do not know. Have you experienced challenges that now give you a unique pool of business knowledge? Once you have created a list of ideas, decide what you know best. Choosing a topic you know well will cut out hours of added research time. 
• What does your eBook offer to its readers? Your eBook should do more than dispense loads of information and facts. It should teach your audience something they probably do not already know. If you are aiming to teach professional colleagues, offer them practice tips that will immediately benefit their business. 

5 Helpful Hints For Writing an eBook

After you have captured some ideas and realized the future benefits of creating an eBook, here five helpful hints that may make the process more manageable.

Keep a Writing Schedule

Start by picking a spot where you can write down your thoughts without being derailed and distracted. If you make yourself an appointment for writing and accomplish a little every day, you will be surprised how the content adds up over time. How long does it take to write an eBook? The process varies, depending on your topic and your writing routine. The entire scope of writing, editing, planning and publishing your eBook can take a few months or more. 

Aim For Quality Over Quantity

Always remember that you are writing an eBook for both the informative value and interest level of individuals, so write content that people will enjoy reading. eBook lengths vary greatly, often starting at 10,000 words and sometimes more than 25,000 words. Aim for quality over quantity, remembering that your eBook does not have to be a huge volume of text to provide value to its reader.

Ask for Professional Help

Consider involving a freelancer to help you through the process of writing an eBook. Hiring a professional content writing company can help you organize your work, give you a boost when you get stuck, or complete large sections of content. In addition to writing assistance, consider getting a professional graphic designer and editor as your project evolves. 

Request Peer Reviews

Your eBook will benefit from an outside pair of eyes to examine it for accuracy and readability. Ask a non-lawyer to read your work to confirm that you have explained legal concepts in a way that is clear and understandable. Request a professional peer to read your material to discern if you have fully covered the material. Gather up the feedback, consider constructive criticism, and make changes as needed. 

Get Published, Get Marketing

Finishing an eBook is a huge accomplishment, but this part is just the beginning! Your digital files need to be converted into the proper format, then published, and finally promoted. The best and most important thing to remember is the ongoing value of your eBook, because once it is finished, you can post it on your website, or exchange it for visitor contact information. Small law firms can offer an eBook as a way for visitors to join your email list and become future clients and potential referral sources. An eBook can enrich your social media channels or become content for a series of blog posts. If you someday choose to publish your eBook into a hard copy book, you can give it away at speaking engagements or networking events. Although an eBook takes an ample amount of time, it is one of the most beneficial content sources for any marketing strategy.

This Week’s Digital Marketing Action Step: 

• Take stock of your content and brainstorm a list of possible ideas for your eBook.

Annette Choti graduated from law school 20 years ago, and is now the CEO & Owner of Law Quill, a legal digital marketing agency focused on small and solo law firms. Law Quill is the only legal digital marketing agency that provides unique, SEO-optimized content, pre-packaged content, and courses for lawyers to learn SEO themselves through Law Quill Academy. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so different from the legal field if we are all being honest. Annette can be found on LinkedIn or at annette@lawquill.com