Some lawyers are concerned that if they give away too much information–through a blog or newsletter or other means–the people who consume that information won’t need to hire them.
“I’m paid for my knowledge and experience and I’m not going to give that away,” they say. “If they want information, they need to hire me.”
But here’s the thing.
It’s true that some people will take your information and never hire you. They’ll use that information and do the job themselves. But that’s a very small percentage of the whole and those people are unlikely to ever hire you anyway so you lose nothing.
Some people will do the job themselves, mess up–because they can’t do what you do even if you tell them how to do it, and hire you to fix their mess. You’ll get more business this way, not less.
And some people will see that it would be too difficult or time-consuming or risky to do the job themselves and hire you. They might not have done that had they not seen your information.
In other words, giving away information helps you get more clients because:
It educates prospective clients about the scope of their problem, the risks of ignoring it or trying to handle it themselves,
It demonstrates your knowledge, experience, and ability to help them solve their problem,
It distinguishes you from other lawyers who say, “If you want information, hire me,”
It attracts people who find your information through search or sharing, thus increasing the pool of prospective clients for your services, and
It sells them on choosing you because they get to hear your “voice” in that information and see what it would be like to have you represent them.
If you’re smart, and I know you are, you’ll give away lots of information, and let that information do most of your marketing for you.
What information you should put on your website
