With the concept of digitization improving efficiency and workflow in a business organization, it is no secret that organizations in almost all sectors are switching to digitization and the legal sector is no exception in this regard. eBooks have become popular in today’s competitive world as these provide greater flexibility and convenience to readers. With the advent of e-Readers, tablets and smartphones, readers can access any book from anywhere. Providers of data conversion services assist organizations in converting print books into eBooks.
When it comes to the legal sector, creating an eBook is much less challenging than that of publishing a traditional book, and there are several unique benefits attached to it. Regarded as an innovative marketing tool, eBooks are easy to produce and help draw the attention of a law firm’s target audience and potential clients. Consumers are constantly searching for answers to their pressing legal issues. Even though they can find answers on blogs and websites, eBooks offer a more concentrated and valuable source of legal content to their potential clients and go deeper into the topic.
Why Should a Law Firm Create an eBook?
Law firms planning to create a digital version need to establish themselves as thought leaders in their field. Writing high quality eBook content and delivering it to the right group of online audience can bring significant results to a law firm. Setting goals is one of the first things to consider when developing an eBook. It is important to clearly analyze the target audience – whether it comprises fellow attorneys or new clients. Here discussed are some examples of benefits that can come from creating an eBook for a law firm –
- Showcase Expertise – Over the wide span of its practicing years, a law firm may have accumulated a vast amount of legal knowledge and eBook is a great place to show it off. An eBook is a solid medium for lawyers to share their knowledge, expertise and provide evidence of their authority in their field of practice. Providing inside information and offering guidance on a specific legal topic can make clients more confident about the firm’s ability to handle their legal problems.
- Guide Clients through the Legal Process – By providing legal material in a digitized format, law firms or attorneys can show their clients that they genuinely care about informing and helping them through the legal process. Generally, a typical client may be unfamiliar with the legal process and often get intimidated by it. Providing an eBook that describes the process from beginning to end can ease their fears and offer them clear guidance.
- Simplify Complicated Legal Terms – An eBook can simplify complex legal terms, concepts and discuss these in a conversational manner. It provides the space to thoroughly translate and explain legal topics in a manner that the audience can correctly understand. It uses graphs and other visuals to illustrate a valid point. As these books are in digital format, these can be shared on social media and other platforms.
- Confirm Authority within the Legal Domain – In certain cases, law firms may publish an eBook as a unique medium to reach out to other lawyers and legal professionals and establish connections or gain referrals from colleagues. A law firm can use this medium to share expertise in a particular legal niche, or information on how to avoid business pitfalls. An eBook directed at other attorneys can help gain credibility and confirm the law firm’s authority to speak as an expert.
- Gain Contacts and Build Links – Writing an eBook helps to build new relationships with legal peers and develop new referral sources. Offering an eBook for free or as an incentive for visitors’ contact information is an ideal way to grow the legal business and contact list. Submitting an eBook to a social media site or legal directory is yet another way for a law firm to build helpful links that draw people back to their website and blog.
- Remind People Why They Need a Lawyer – eBooks can be used to explain to consumers the importance of having a professional guidance from an attorney right from the very beginning when their legal problems develop. It reminds an average person what can happen to them in certain legal situations if they don’t have a lawyer looking out for their best interest. Use real life examples to make the message more powerful.
- Capture Media Attention – Writing an eBook on an unusual or largely unaddressed legal topic can be a great way to grab the attention of local media outlets. Write an eBook with an important message behind it and this story will be gradually shared or circulated in different mediums like – community newspaper or a local news website.
Writing an eBook – Top Strategies to Consider
Generally, many legal professionals feel that writing an eBook for their firm wouldn’t be that challenging, many of those overconfident people end up being proven wrong.
Here are some top strategies that need to be considered to make the process more manageable –
- Identify the Target Audience – The goal of an eBook (besides building a law firms name) is to provide value for prospects and clients. Identify the target group of audience for whom a specific piece of content is written. As there will be different topics that a law firm may feel passionate about, but identify how the target group of audiences will respond to these topics. The more specific the audience, the deeper the content can dive into the topic.
- Focus on High Quality Content – Focusing on high quality content is important. In most cases, people will take considerable time to go deep into the topic and read fully what is included in the eBook. If the content is subpar, the readers may not think very highly of the law firm. If a law firm is planning to charge money for people to read online content, it is important to offer some really enticing content. Most lawyers will be at an advantage providing their eBook as a free online resource, knowing that the real money to be made is from people wanting to do business with their firm after reading the book.
- Choose a Topic – One of the biggest challenges that law firms face when deciding to write an eBook is to decide on a specific topic to write about. As there are lots of content online, choose a niche topic and provide new information that will make your eBook standout. Avoid repeating topics that’s already being discussed. For instance, if your law firm specializes in family issues, instead of writing an eBook called “The Guide to Divorce” try and be specific like “The Costs to Expect When Getting a Divorce”. Such a specific topic will be more helpful to the target audience than generalizations about the legal processes and costs associated with divorce. Another helpful tip for law firms or lawyers that already have blog material is to combine several blogs on the same topic into a cohesive narrative. This helps reduce the time taken to write an eBook as this involves simply repurposing content that has already being created.
- Draft the eBook– After choosing the topic and the author, it is important to begin outlining the structure of the eBook. Always remember, an eBook is created for both the informative value and interest level of individuals, so write content that people will enjoy reading. Also, remember not to sell the legal services within the digital copy. eBook content lengths vary greatly, often starting at 10,000 words and sometimes more than 25,000 words. Aim for quality over quantity, as the book does not have to be a huge volume of text to provide value to its reader. Keep the content focused on solving problems and providing information. At the end, create a biography page with information about the author and details about the legal firm and its services. Once, the content is finalized, choose a catchy title and a descriptive subtitle that will let readers know what to expect.
- Don’t Ignore Past Work – If a certain topic has been blogged before, never be afraid to review it again for inspiration. However, never ever copy a blog post word-for-word into the eBook. But, certain key takeaways can be brought in to the past blogs.
- Establish a Writing Schedule – Before writing an eBook, set realistic goals for how much content can be actually completed or done each week. Set realistic goals that can be actually reached, even it means just committing to writing a chapter or two a week. The time taken to write an eBook may vary, depending on the specific topic chosen and the writing routine. In short, the entire scope of writing, editing, planning and publishing an eBook can take a few months or more.
- Ask for Professional Help – If a writer simply doesn’t have enough time to commit to writing an entire eBook themselves, hire a professional to provide help with the process. Hiring a professional content writer can help organize work, provide a boost when a writer gets stuck with ideas or help complete large sections of the content. In addition to writing assistance, consider getting a professional graphic designer and editor as the project evolves.
- Request Peer Reviews – Even the best writers out there can benefit from a review from a third party to determine accuracy and readability. Ask fellow lawyers to read over the work to see if additional points can be added, or check if certain legal concepts are being explained in the best possible way. Include non-lawyers in the reviewing process as well, especially if the piece is intended for a consumer audience. Gather up the feedback, consider constructive criticism, and make changes as required.
- Get Published on the Website – Once drafting an eBook is finished, it is important to post it on the law firm website. Make the eBook one of the first things a consumer sees when visiting a website home page. Draft it in such a way that users have to provide their name and email to gain access to the content. This will make it possible to re-market the law firm’s services to that specific client in the mere future. For instance, you can send them a “thank you for downloading the eBook” via email after their download.
- Utilize Email and Social Media Campaigns – eBooks are great pieces of content to share with the existing mailing lists and social followers. Doing so may help a firm to reconnect with former clients or old contacts, and help attract new potential clients that are on the fence about hiring your law firm.
Law firms can gain significant benefits from creating an eBook and having information published electronically. Focusing more on providing relevant and valuable information to the readers assures the credibility of the eBook and helps build authority and improved engagement with the readers. Once, you have decided on the topic and finished writing an eBook, there are many ways – right from social promotion to paid activity – to get it the target group of audiences or readers. Partnering with a reputable document conversion company that offers professional eBook conversion services would enable publishers and authors to create eBooks that are compatible with all major eBook software systems.
