Submitting Legal Articles on HG.org
How and Why
Article Publication is one of the best ways for an attorney or law firm to market their services. Legal Articles is one of HG.org's most popular sections, which shows that potential clients use publications to help narrow their search to those firms they feel can best meet their current need. Premium registered law firms can publish as many articles as they want for free on HG.org.
Why Submit Articles
Where Your Articles Will Appear
How to Get the Most From Your Articles
Tips for Writing Effective Articles
Duplicate Content Articles
Editorial Guidelines
How to Submit Articles
Example of an article in our directory
Make Your Law Firm Visible to Searchers
As a registered Premium subscriber with HG.org, you increase your chances of being seen and selected by qualified clients and networking partners when you publish articles in our directory.
Through the use of short, pointed articles on a single subject you can accomplish the following:
- Help potential clients learn what you do best.
- Gain credibility as an “expert” in the eyes of potential clients.
- Help potential clients see how your law firm fits their needs.
- Allow prospective clients to locate your listing and your website, from each article, long after publication.
- Demonstrate your expertise in a subject area and/or area of practice.
- Improve your networking visibility with potential national and international attorney clients.
Where Your Article(s) Will Appear on HG.org
- On a page that lists all of the articles submitted by your law firm (Example for Angela Wang & Co, Intellectual Property Firm).
- In the searchable Legal Articles Directory – Your article will remain in the directory as long as your law firm is listed on HG.org, allowing prospective clients to access your website from your article, long after you write it.
- On the HG.org Law Pages (e.g. Intellectual Property Law, Corporate Law, etc.) under the Articles on HG.org Related to section.
- A Published Articles link, to the page that lists all of the articles submitted by your law firm, will appear in your listing heading in the law firms directories. (Example for Gordon & Elias LLP, Jones Act Attorneys).
- Selected articles are posted on HG.org's home page under Recent Law Articles.
RSS Feed
HG.org now allows visitors to subscribe to an RSS feed of our Law Articles. RSS is a type of format which delivers content as a web feed. This is most effective for content which is updated regularly, such as member-submitted articles on a website.
Make the Most of Your Article Marketing Exposure
Focus your article:
Write many short, focused articles dealing with one area of your practice only, rather than one long article that tries to cover everything. Between 500 and 1,000 words is a good average length for each article. Your potential clients are searching for help in just one area. The more closely you appear able to solve their particular issue, the more likely they are to click through to learn more about your firm and eventually hire you.
Include this in your article body:
Write a concise one to three sentence excerpt of your article that answers the question “who should read this article and what major benefit will they get from it if they do?” Use the body of your article to demonstrate your expertise in the subject area, not to “sell” your services. Show potential clients how you have solved problems like theirs, or what your firm represents instead.
Include this in your author biography:
Use your author biography as a chance to sell readers on the idea of clicking through to learn more about your firm by including these basics:
- Your name and title.
- One to three sentences on your unique expertise in the area of the article.
Submit to the correct categories:
Although HG.org allows you to submit each article to a maximum of five categories, if you believe your article fits more than five areas of practice, consider splitting it into two or three shorter articles that are more narrowly focused. Remember, your reader is searching for an answer to a very specific issue. The more closely your article matches his needs, the more you both will benefit.
Promote your article:
Advertise on your website, or in emails sent to current clients to alert them when one of your articles has been approved and published on HG.org. This “third party” endorsement increases your credibility in the eyes of potential clients and gets them back to your listing where they can learn more about the services your firm provides.
Article marketing has proven to be a long term business builder for law firms in all practice areas and in all countries of the world. You and your law firm can reap the benefits of listing an unlimited number of articles in our directory at no cost.
Include your Google+ Link:
You may include a link to your Google+ profile at the bottom of your article, allowing you to add Google authorship to articles published on HG.org. Make the most of this valuable social networking marketing tool, while adding authenticity and giving your articles an authoritative nature. Providing a link to your Google+ profile can give your article more credibility. And it gives you another opportunity to provide visitors with even more information to help them choose you to help with their legal issue.
Duplicate Content Articles
HG.org now allows you to publish legal articles you may have published elsewhere. If the article is a duplicate, it will not be indexed by the search engines, but will appear throughout HG.Unique Articles - Editorial Guidelines
When writing your article, please do not copy/paste an article already submitted elsewhere; instead, we invite you to post original content. HG.org provides legal information to visitors worldwide. When you submit an article to our site, it benefits your law firm to create unique content that has not been published elsewhere.Please adhere to the following editorial guidelines when submitting your unique legal articles to HG.org:
- Duplicate content
Do not repost articles or submit content that is simply reworded/rewritten. Instead, update the content of articles that have been previously published elsewhere. - Spamming content
Refrain from repeating keywords. Keep in mind that your article needs to be informative, written for the visitor and potential client, not search engines. Articles that attempt to manipulate search engine results with use of repetitive keywords will not be published. - Submit to correct categories
You may select a maximum of five categories in your article submission form. - Article format
Enter your article content as plain text, properly formatted. HG.org does not support hyperlinks, charts, graphs, images or any other "non-plain text" content within the body of your article. Additionally, after saving your article, please take a moment to preview it and make any necessary edits should you determine that the format of the text is obviously incorrect or otherwise unwieldy.
Do not add a website URL, address, phone number, nor email address to any of the article fields, including About the Author. - Article Length
We accept normal length articles. No novellas, mini-books or the like. We ask that you keep the article to one or two pages (preferably one) and no shorter than three good-sized paragraphs. - Article Content
Your article must be on a legal topic and should be written to be informative to the lay person. Please do not include the names of any individuals, with the exception of public persons (such as celebrities, politicians, etc.) - Self-promoting article
If the sole or main purpose of your article is to directly invite readers to contact your firm, it will be considered self-promoting and will only appear on your listing's article page and will not be posted in the HG.org law and articles sections.
Each article is reviewed by our editors and may be removed or may undergo minor edits without notification. If an article needs more extensive review, you will receive an email inviting you to make changes. You can then request that the posting be removed from your list of publications.
How to Submit Articles
- Sign in if you are a registered user or list your firm if you do not have an HG.org account.
- In Account Management, under "Promote your Firm", please click on the Submit/Update an Article link.
- On the Article Management page, click on the Submit an Article button.
- Type your Article Title in the Title field. (Maximum 110 characters. Please capitalize all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.)
- Type your first paragraph into the Introductory Text field. This text will be bolded in the article. (Maximum 500 characters)
- Paste your plain text article (minus the first paragraph), into the Body field.
- Enter the name of the author(s), either the firm name or the attorney name(s), whichever you prefer. (Do Not enter a url or email address in this field.)
- Include a link to your Google+ profile in the applicable field.
- An Author Bio is optional, but bear in mind it's another great opportunity to "sell" your firm.
- Enter a URL to link your article to a relevant page on your website (Optional). Please note a link to your website home page is already added automatically at the beginning of your article.
- Select up to 5 areas of practice that are related to the article.
- Click once on the Save this Article button.
Articles are reviewed by our team before publication and are posted online within 5 business days after submission.
Log In or Register to Submit an Article
HG.org screens all listing applicants for validity and reserves the right to refuse to post your listing or to remove your listing, at our discretion, if you do not adhere to our editorial guidelines, or should we determine your law practice is not legitimate or misrepresents its business, services, etc. in any manner. By submitting a listing to HG.org you confirm that you are authorizing HG.org to publish your information and that you own the copyright of the text, logos and pictures posted on HG.org and on your own website.