Your law firm uses its online content to answer popular questions about legal issues and to attract prospective clients. But there could be a problem in your firm’s cyber world: a content gap. A content gap is the difference between what people are searching for online and what they are actually finding. Your law firm’s website needs to contain the information potential clients are looking to find. You need to ensure you do not have any content gaps that leave your potential clients without answers, and without your firm’s website in their search results. So, how does your law firm tackle this mysterious gap? How do you even know if you have a gap? By doing a content gap analysis.

What Is a Content Gap Analysis?

A content gap analysis involves a series of steps used to examine what your firm’s potential clients need, inventory the content you have, and fill in the gaps where necessary. While a content gap exists across all fields and businesses, you only need to fill in the gap that exists in your law firm’s sphere of influence and expertise, including your website, blog, emails, and all social channels. This process will help you discover content you are missing, including relevant topics your competitors are covering. 

Why You Need to Conduct a Content Gap Analysis

There are two important reasons for a content gap analysis: to reach potential clients on their “purchase journey” and to use search engine optimization (SEO) to your fullest advantage.

Reach More Potential Clients

The content gap is a void between firm and potential client, where you are not addressing the client’s needs. One of the primary goals for content is to help clients with relevant information so they stay loyal to you and away from your competitors. Engaging in a content gap analysis will allow you to fill in the holes so that potential clients find you easier and remain on your website longer. The analysis will also help you learn if your content is converting quality leads into new clients.

Use SEO to Your Fullest Advantage

In order to use SEO to your benefit, your content needs to rank higher on search page results than your competitors’ content. You can identify your best ranked content with a content gap analysis, and learn how to improve other topic rankings. Content gap analysis allows you to clearly see how your keywords are performing. It also shows you:

• Which keywords are working for your rankings, and whether or not your competitors rank well for these.
• Which keywords are missing from your content and should be added to provide better visibility for your firm.

Benefits of a Content Gap Analysis

Creating quality content for your firm takes a lot of time so you want it to accurately highlight your brand, educate your audience, and help your potential clients. To be most effective, your content needs to answer your visitors’ typical questions and address their needs. Plus, you want it to turn visitors into clients. Conducting a content gap analysis can improve your content marketing efforts in powerful ways and helps you discover:

• Information about your ideal client and target audience.
• If your keywords are working well.
• How you can position yourself as an online authority in your field.
• Whether or not your content is sufficiently customized to meet client needs.
• If you need a better connection between marketing efforts and closing sales. 

8 Steps to Effective Content Gap Analysis

The main goal of a content gap analysis is to obtain more clients. The best way to attract potential clients is to provide them with the knowledge, resources, and answers they need. The eight steps of a content gap analysis will help you learn exactly what they need:

1. Identify your goals. What do you hope to achieve?
2. Know your target audience. What kind of client needs your services? What are their pain points and issues?
3. Map your client journey. How does a potential client hear about you? List all the touchpoints including your website, blog, ads, social media, emails, and the like. Typical client journeys may include initial searching, followed by goal refining and focused browsing, and continue until they reach a hiring decision. 
4. Conduct a content audit. A content audit is the ideal way to take inventory of what content you currently have and what content you may need to add. 
5. Perform a content match. This is the point where you match your content to each stage in the client’s journey, and see where you have gaps. The gaps are the places where you need new content.
6. Examine competitor content. Your competitors may be ranking higher for valuable keywords than you. This matters only if those keywords are connected with your ideal client’s journey. Focus your attention on ranking for those keywords.
7. Fill the gaps. Develop your stash of content by creating it or outsourcing to a professional. Then deliver your content to one or more platforms where your target audience will find it. 
8. Measure results. Gauge whether or not your newly developed content meets consumer needs by measuring the analytics associated with your new content.

How to Create Effective Content

Once you have completed a content gap analysis, and examined your keyword research, it’s time to start developing new content. When writing content yourself or hiring a content writing company, always keep your content gap analysis results in mind. Also ensure you or your writer considers the following:

• Identify the unique services your law firm offers. Your unique brand or niche is where you want to focus content because you offer specific value where your competitors do not.
• Write to your ideal client. When creating content, write to your client persona or personas. Use jargon-free language and discuss topics they need to know.
• Map your content to the client journey. When creating content, determine where the material fits within the client lifecycle. Are you writing to attract casual browsers? Tackle specific problems? Or retain loyal clients?
• Write compelling content. Create something worth reading. Make it conversational, and include client stories to support your words. 
• Schedule your content. Once you have produced the content you need, develop a schedule to publish it at strategic times and places. 
• Track content performance. As you publish your gap-filling content, track it to see how your audience connects with it. See which pages are getting the most views and how long users spend on each page. This gives you the data you need to produce the most effective content going forward.

Conclusion

You cannot go wrong when you give your potential clients what they need. The challenge is figuring out what they need. A content gap analysis can show your law firm how your content and brand are connecting with potential clients and where it is not. A content gap analysis is not only about driving more traffic to your website. Rather, your primary goal is to answer visitors’ questions and convert them into clients. Once you understand the client journey, you can take key steps to help your potential clients and boost your business in the process.

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.