Attorneys and legal marketers know by now that the best way for a law firm website to be found in a Google search is via content marketing. The most effective way to execute an SEO (search engine optimization) campaign is to write fresh, informative content.

The three top priorities of content professionals are to demonstrate expertise and authority, to generate leads and to educate the market, according to Content 2018: How Top Businesses Approach Content Creation.

Yet 54% of businesses say they are not effective at creating high-quality content, because of a lack of staff, budget or disorganization.

The three most important factors for creating successful content are:

1. High-quality, error-free writing: 31% of respondents
2. Giving how-to advice or instruction: 19%
3. Providing thought leadership: 12%

Success was measured in terms of leads, sales, share, and likes. The most common types of content produced are articles, blog posts, presentations, technical documents, newsletters video, websites, how-to guides and case studies. Less common types of content included infographics, FAQs, white papers, eBooks, checklists, research reports, SlideShares and user-generated content.

Only 39% of companies said they have enough professional writers in-house to handle all their content creation needs. The other 61% rely on agencies, freelancers and companies like LawLytics.

Interestingly, 47% of companies say they have documented "personas" for which they create content. A client persona is an imagined individual (or individuals, in some cases) created to represent the ideal client. For more see Why Client Personas Help Law Firms Do Better Online Legal Marketing.

48% of respondents said they used content creation and optimization software like Acrolinx, which sponsored the survey. It included 253 content professionals, mostly marketing and technical communicators, from small businesses to enterprises in 17 industries like software, manufacturing, financial services and insurance.

To find out more that will prompt Google to find your site, download the 25-page E-book just published by LawLytics: SEO Basics for Lawyers. Download it for free today.