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How to write faster blog posts, emails, and articles

June 3, 2020 by David M. Ward

What if writing was as easy (and quick) as opening a template and filling in the blanks?

You’ll still need to edit and polish but you might be able to turn out articles in minutes instead of hours.

Templates make a first draft easier because you know “what goes where”. You’ll know, for example, that after two paragraphs that introduce the subject, you need 3 points or examples, but not 5. You’ll know how many bullet points to include and where to put them. And you can insert a pre-written call to action to close.

Using templates to map out the bones of your writing will allow you to write faster and better because they let you focus on the message, not the structure.

Where do you get these templates? By reverse-engineering existing articles and posts.

When you read an article you like, save it, study it, and figure out why it works. Make notes of the elements:

How many words?
How many paragraphs?
How many headings and sub-heads?
How many bullet points?
What’s the lead or hook?
Why should the reader care (benefits)?
What proof is offered?
What examples or stories?
What’s the call to action?

Create a simple template that incorporates these elements. You can use it for first drafts or to improve a sloppy first draft.

You should also do this with your own writing. Add additional notes to explain why you said what you said, other options you considered, and feedback you got from your readers.

Start with one template. Use it, refine it, and use it again. You may find that one template is all you need to write most of your posts but you can always add more.

The Easy Way to Write a Book

Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Writing

5 ways to build trust

May 26, 2020 by David M. Ward

Marketing isn’t just telling people what you do and how you can help them. Marketing requires targeting the right people with the right problems and providing them with the right message and offer.

One of the biggest hurdles is building trust.

People are scared about their legal situation and skeptical about your ability to help them. They don’t know if you’re competent, honest, or charge reasonable fees.

They may like what you say but if they don’t trust you, they often keep looking.

It usually takes time to build trust, but here are 5 ways to speed up the process:

Referrals. Prospective clients “borrow” trust from the people who refer them, thus making them more likely to hire you. Referral marketing shortens the sales process, saves time and money, and usually brings in better clients.
Content marketing. Blog posts, articles, presentations, etc., allow you to show people what you know, what you do, and how you work with your clients. This works even better when you are published by or interviewed on authority sites or podcasts or speak at industry events.
Social proof. Ask people to share your content with their friends and neighbors, colleagues, clients and customers. Get testimonials and reviews from clients and endorsements from influential people.
Free consultations. Let people sample your advice and demeanor, hear more about what you can do to help them, and get their questions answered straight from the horse’s mouth.
Build a list and stay in touch. A simple email newsletter allows you to build trust over time. It helps you get more clients, more referrals, more people sharing your content, book more free consultations, and get more testimonials and reviews.

If you want to see how to use a newsletter to build your practice, go here

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: building trust, content marketing, Social proof

Writing is easier and more effective if you do this

May 18, 2020 by David M. Ward

Everyone says we should write to and for our reader. We should have in mind an avatar of what they’re like and what they want and address ourselves to that person.

To be more relatable, we should use examples and references that conform to their life experience and world view. To get a higher response to our ideas and offers, we should talk about the benefits we know they need and want.

Yes, everyone says we should do this in our blog posts, articles, newsletter, and social media posts.

Including me.

But while this is generally good advice, it makes writing more difficult and less effective because when we appeal to one person or one ideal reader, we tend to exclude everyone else.

Sounds like a conundrum.

But there’s a solution.

Instead of writing for your ideal reader, write for yourself.

In your first draft, write what you want to write and say it the way you want to say it. Because if what you write resonates with you, it will resonate with others.

If you free your writing this way, you’ll attract your target audience organically. And it will be an audience that relates to you and likes you and tends to trust you.

Because you’re like them.

Then, write your second draft for your readers.

Tailor your message and offers to them. Add relevant examples and stories and use terminology they will recognize and understand.

The first draft is for you. The second draft is for your reader.

In case you’re wondering, the third draft is for your editor. Or someone else who’s got your back.

How to write a newsletter that brings in more business

Filed Under: Blogging, Email, Newsletters, Writing

10 ideas for blog posts that get read (and shared)

April 27, 2020 by David M. Ward

Is your blog post idea machine running out of gas?

No problem. Here are 10 ideas to fill your tank:

“Best of”: Best articles/posts/videos/sites you read of saw this month or this year.
Interviews: A great way to build relationships with influential people and get more traffic to your blog as they promote the interview.
Client success stories: feature a client’s legal victory, business, charitable work, or life’s story.
Surveys: survey your clients or colleagues or bloggers and post the results.
Statistics: Everyone loves facts and numbers. Could be related to your practice area or your client’s industry or your local market.
How-tos: Teach your readers about the law or about general consumer or business matters.
Book reviews: your comments about a book you read related to your field, your client’s niche or of general interest.
Awards: Choose a client or fellow professional who’s doing good things and feature them in a post.
Summaries: Do a “round-up” post that summarizes and links to some of your previously published posts.
Predictions: Who will win, what will change, when it will happen.

There you go.

And yes, you can (and should) share your posts with your newsletter subscribers. Which is what I’m doing as soon as this is posted.

For more ideas for your blog (or newsletter), get this:

Filed Under: Blogging, Email, Newsletters

A simple way to grow your email list

April 22, 2020 by David M. Ward

Everyone loves free stuff and that includes people you would like to have as subscribers to your newsletter.

Which is why one of the easiest ways to get more subscribers is to conduct a giveaway.

Here are the steps:

(1) Choose a prize.

Your prize could be one of your legal services, e.g., an hour of your time. That’s likely to lead to higher quality leads because few people will sign up for your list unless they’re interested in your services.

If you want more subscribers, you might offer a gift card or book, something that will appeal to people who don’t need your services immediately but might in the future.

Another idea is to offer a product or service from another professional or business. A financial planner’s start-up package, for example, or dinner for two at a local restaurant (coming soon).

Better yet, see if the professional or business will donate the product or service.

(2) Set up a landing page for your giveaway, on your website or free-standing.

Describe the prize details and the rules, (e.g., enter once, when the contest ends, how to enter).

You can identify new subscribers by tagging them on the landing page or having them added to second list.

(3) Promote your giveaway. Some options:

Email your existing list and ask them share.
Ask the prize creator or donor to share the contest. They get additional exposure that way.
Promote the giveaway on social media. You can do this with your personal connections and to groups you belong to.
Ask your personal and professional friends to promote the contest to their lists and on social media.
Mention the giveaway on your blog, podcast, interviews, videos, etc.
Add additional emails to your autoresponder asking new subscribers to share the contest on social media.
Advertise the giveaway.

(4) Pick a winner.

Export your list of new subscribers and choose the winner. You can do that manually or you can use a free randomizer tool.

All that’s left is to announce the winner, deliver the prize, and start planning your next promotion.

For more ways to build your list, see my Email Marketing for Attorneys course.

Filed Under: List building, Newsletters, Online Marketing

Blog vs. Newsletter

April 14, 2020 by David M. Ward

I read an article this morning entitled, “How to Write a Blog Post: A 12-Step Guide.”

After reading it, I feel like I need a 12-Step program. It’s too much to do for those of us who can’t (or don’t want to) spend hours and hours writing blog posts.

Which is why, years ago, I switched from being blog-centric to email centric.

I used to write a blog post first (with images, if you can believe that) and then send it to my newsletter subscribers (in html, if you can believe that).

Now I write an email first, then post it to my blog.

Seems like the same thing, but it’s not.

My emails are plain text. And brief.

And they take takes mere minutes to write, send and post.

Yay me.

I’ve got nothing against blog posts. But they require a lot of time and effort I would rather invest doing other things.

What kind of effort? Here are the 12-steps in the article I mentioned:

Understand your goals
Understand your audience
Brainstorm a list of ideas

Sure, we need to do this for every kind of marketing we do.

Do keyword research

Yes, research keywords for your blog. I don’t do that for my newsletter.

Organize your content into an outline

I don’t think of my emails as content and I don’t write an outline. I may write down a few notes about what I want to say but usually, I just let it fly.

(Check Google and) read the top 10 posts for that keyword

Good idea for a blog post you write once a week or once in a while. Not going to happen for a short, daily email.

Write the body of your blog post
Write a killer intro
Write an excellent headline

I don’t spend more than 30 minutes to do this.

Proofread and format your post

I don’t format anything.

Optimize your post

I don’t optimize anything.

Publish your post

Finally! I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted just reading this list.

Bottom line: a blog and a newsletter are both valuable resources for building a professional practice and should be a part of most lawyers’ marketing mix. But I’m sure you don’t want to spend hours and hours of your precious time crafting fine art.

You don’t have to do that, if you use my system.

Which you can learn more about here.

Filed Under: Blogging, Email, Newsletters, Time Management

P.S. I love you

April 10, 2020 by David M. Ward

The other day, I mentioned TV detective Colombo and how, when he was finished speaking to a witness or suspect, when they thought they were off the hook, Coolumbo would turn to them and say, “One more thing. . .”

When he did that, everyone in the room paid attention.

Because people notice things after a break in the conversation.

The same goes for email. People almost always read the P.S. in your email, even if they only skimmed the rest of what you wrote.

Many people read the P.S. first, because they think important things reside there, and they’re usually right.

You can use the P.S. to include more information you want the reader to know, to remind them of something you said in the body of the email, including your offer, or to mention something new but relevant to the subject of the email or the reader’s interests.

If the body of your email is about the need to have a certain issue evaluated and you have offered of a free consultation, for example, your P.S. might remind them to call to schedule it. It could also point out that you’re only accepting a limited number of appointments this week or that time is of the essence regarding their issue.

You could also provide a link to your “contact” page, or to a FAQ page that talks about what to expect during a consultation.

In a follow-up email, you might use the P.S. to recall something they told you, or something you noted about their business or family, or about something you have in common, as a way to strengthen your relationship.

Your P.S. is valuable real estate in your emails (and letters). Give some thought to how you can make full use of it.

To learn how to write an effective P.S. in your email newsletter, slide on over to my email marketing course

Filed Under: Copywriting, Email, Newsletters

Don’t make this mistake with your clients and contacts

March 23, 2020 by David M. Ward

A few months ago I got an email from a guy I haven’t heard from in years. He is the developer of a piece of software I bought five or ten years ago and have long since forgotten.

He name sounded familiar–it’s unusual–so I read the first paragraph of his email and recognized the name of the software.

So, why was he writing? Yep, to sell me something. A new service he was offering, completely unrelated to software.

Haven’t heard from him in years, not even about his software, and now he wants me to fork over $500 for a one-time “coaching session” with him?

Not kidding.

How is he even qualified to offer this service? What’s he been doing all these years? Who are you again?

Yeah, don’t do this with your clients and contacts. Stay in touch with them, build or strengthen your relationship, and then you can offer them something. Even something new.

Otherwise, who are you again?

Now would be a good time to contact everyone. Update them on changes to your office schedule or policies, share your thoughts about social distancing and quarantining, and why you are hopeful that everything will be over soon.

And, if you did this already, send them another email, to update them again, or to share legal information or general consumer or business information they might find useful.

Keep your name in front of them, because some of your clients and contacts need your help right now, or know someone who does, and if they don’t, they may soon.

And you want them to feel warmly towards you when you contact them again, instead of asking, “Who are you?”

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Email, Newsletters

How To Come Up With a Yearâ€™s Worth of Content in One Day. Sort of.

March 19, 2020 by David M. Ward

If you have some downtime right now, a great use of that time might be to create a backlog of content for your blog or newsletter.

If you write a weekly post, you could knock out enough content for at least the next few weeks.

If that’s too much, the next best thing is to use the time to find ideas.

Look at your competition’s content. Look at blogs written by or for your target market. Look at general consumer or business publications for ideas that might be useful or interesting to your target market.

In a few hours, you could come up with hundreds of ideas.

All you need to do is write down a sentence or two, a quote or interesting fact, a few points you want to cover, and a link to the article or post that inspired you.

But don’t stop there. Once you have one idea, think about how you could expand it into ideas for additional content.

Let’s say you come across an article about legislative changes in your field and you want to write about those changes–what they are, what they mean, what you think about them, or what the reader needs to do to comply with or take advantage of them.

You could do a second article sharing feedback about the changes from some of your clients. Or comments about the changes from a fellow lawyer or allied expert.

Another article might be about additional changes you’d like to see that weren’t addressed in the legislation.

If you like this idea but don’t have enough time right now, spend an hour making a list of possible sources you can peruse later. Explore a legal blog directory, for example, and capture links to some that look promising.

Where do you start this process? On your hard drive. Find all of your old content and think about what you could do to reuse or re-purpose it.

You might have a paper or presentation you could republish in your newsletter. You might update an old blog post, expanding on something you wrote before, amending your opinion, or providing additional examples. If it’s been awhile since you first published it, you could even re-publish it as is.

Take some time to dig and find ideas. When things get back to normal, you’ll be glad you did.

For more ideas for content than you can shake a stick at, and advice on how to use them, my email marketing course has you covered.