Are you spending enough time ensuring that the digital content you produce really will meet its mark? And how do you stand out from the crowd?
I have read a large number of interesting articles on producing good and effective content but the problem with almost all of them is that they are aimed at such a wide range of audiences that it can be difficult to pick out what is useful to us in the legal world and, even more importantly, achievable in terms of time, money and resource.
So my next few posts are going to highlight five points which I think are particularly apposite to those of working in the legal world.
Like Maria in The Sound of Music, I am going to start at the very beginning with The Title.
In the race to produce an article, most authors fail to consider what is one of its most important parts – the title.
- Titles attract readers. Now you might be thinking “well yes, of course they do” but I cannot be alone in thinking that a great deal of the content produced by lawyers has a sleep inducing and/or simply uninformative title like “Fred Bloggs wins major victory in the Court of Appeal” or “Jarndyce v Jarndyce [2023[ EWCA 33”. Ask yourself – would you read/watch something with the title proposed?
- Think of a number. In recent research, the most popular type of headline was one involving a number. This was followed by titles involved addressing the reader (21%), “how to” titles (17%), suggesting a process (eg “Ways to help…”) (15%) and questions (11%).
- Use powerful adverbs, adjectives and phrases. Think about using words that (a) promise the reader will be able to do something easily (eg easy, quick, simple) (b) promise something (eg secret, little known) (c) position your reader alongside experts (eg Like a pro, expert, professional) (d) promise a comprehensive resource (eg ultimate) (e ) warn of a danger (eg “mistakes, red flags”.
- Titles need to anticipate reader interest and searches. Again this may seem obvious but are you thinking about the reader? Too many lawyers simply report on something that has happened (eg a case) rather than consider what will be helpful to the reader.
- Be short and to the point. Remember that Google truncates titles to 60 characters and that your readers’ attention is short!
- Consider using square brackets. Amazingly HubSpot reported that using brackets in titles increases click-through rates by 38%.
- Write one sentence about the point of the article. This will help create a good title as well as provide the starting point for effective social media publicity. What are the keywords you are wanting to hit?
- Titles can help with SEO. Well thought out titles encourage traffic and improve SEO.
David Ogilvy of the eponymous and world-famous advertising agency said:
“On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent 80 cents out of your dollar.”
So next time you create or read content produced by some in your organisation spent a few minutes considering the title. It will be worth it!