Mind The Gap! (The Content Gap!)

The online world is filled with content, and your law firm (hopefully!) uses its content to answer popular questions about legal issues and to attract the attention of prospective clients. But there is a problem in the cyber world, and it is called a content gap.?A content gap is the divide between what people search for online and what they are actually finding. The content that needs to fill the gap is what your law firm should be producing to meet the needs of your potential clients. So, how does your law firm tackle this mysterious gap? You can fix the content gap by doing a content gap analysis.

What Is a Content Gap Analysis?

A content gap exists across all fields and businesses, but the gap you want to fill is the one that exists in your law firm’s sphere of influence, including your website, blog, emails and all social channels. A content gap analysis is a series of steps your law firm can take to examine what your potential clients need, inventory the content you have and fill in the gaps where necessary. This process can help you discover content that you are missing, including the relevant topics your competitors cover but you do not currently address.?

Why Conduct a Content Gap Analysis?

There are two powerful reasons for a content gap analysis: to reach potential clients on their journey and to use SEO to the fullest advantage.

Reach More Potential Clients

The content gap is a chasm between company and potential client, and the gap represents where you are not addressing the client’s needs. One of the primary goals for content is to provide relevant information, keeping clients near you and away from your competition. A content gap analysis helps your mission by filling information holes so that potential clients stay focused on your website longer. The process can also help you determine if your quality content is converting leads into new clients

Use SEO to the Fullest Advantage

Your content needs to rank higher than your competitors’ content. A content gap analysis identifies your best content and shows you opportunities where you can improve other topic rankings. Content gap analysis gives you a clear assessment of how your keywords are performing and it 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 could provide you better visibility if you focus content here.

Benefits of a Content Gap Analysis

Creating content for your business is time-intensive, and you want your hard work to spotlight your brand and bring relevance to potential clients. You want your content to target your visitors’ typical questions and needs, and you’d like that content to help turn visitors into new clients. Conducting a content gap analysis can help boost your content marketing efforts in a powerful way and helps you discover:

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

Steps of a Content Gap Analysis

When you undertake a content gap analysis, your goal is clear (more clients) but you are also going to benefit consumers along the way. Here are the basic steps of a content gap analysis:

1. Identify your goals.?What do you hope to achieve?
2. Know your target audience.?What kind of client needs your services? Where are their pain points? What are their issues?
3. Map your client journey.?How does a potential client hear about you? List all of the touchpoints including your website, blog, ads, social media and emails. A typical client journey may include initial searching, then goal refining and focused browsing until they reach a hiring decision.?
4. Conduct a content audit.?A?content audit?is the ideal way to take inventory of what you have and what you need.?
5. Do a content match.?This is the point where you match your content to each stage in the client’s journey, and decide where you have gaps. This is where you need to produce new content.
6. Examine competitor content.?Your competitor may be ranking for keywords that you do not currently rank for, but this is not the key. Focus your attention on ranking for the keywords that connect effectively with the client’s journey.
7. Fill the gaps.?Develop your stash of content by creating it or?outsourcing to a professional.?Then deliver it to one or more platforms where your target audience will find it.?
8. Measure results.?Gauge whether or not your new content meets consumer needs from beginning to end.?

Effective Content Creation

Once you have completed a content gap analysis, and examined your?keyword research,?you can start writing. Easier said than done, right??

When writing your content or hiring help, always keep your content gap analysis results in mind. Consider also the following tips:

• Identify the unique services your law firm offers.?Your unique brand or niche is where you should focus content, since you may have specific value where your competitors do not.
• Write to your ideal client.?When creating content, write to your client persona. Use jargon-free language and target the issues that 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 concerns? Retain loyal clients?
• Write compelling content.?Create something worth reading. Make it conversational, and include?client stories?to give backing to your words.?Hiring a content writing company?is relatively inexpensive and can be a smart investment that saves your precious time.
• Schedule your content.?Once you have produced the type of content you need, it is essential to develop a schedule to publish it at strategic times and places.?
• Track content performance.?Now that the content gap analysis is complete and you are producing the right content, keep tracking 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 to know how to produce the most effective content going forward.

How Law Quill Can Help Your Law Firm?

To continuously improve your content, you need to know what you have - and what you do NOT have! Law Quill can help you grow your online digital footprint for your law firm by making sure you have the right content on your website so your potential clients find you! Consider reaching out to?schedule an appointment today, listen to the?Legal Marketing Lounge podcast, or check out the bestselling book?Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms from Amazon today!

Annette Choti, Esq. has over twenty years of combined legal and digital marketing experience. She founded Law Quill, a full-service digital marketing agency for law firms and businesses in the United States and Canada. Annette is a sought-after CLE and keynote speaker for Bar Associations and legal events throughout North America. She creates and hosts the?Legal Marketing Lounge?podcast, and is the author of the bestselling book, Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so far from the law, if we are all being honest.??