How do I get my law firm’s website listed better in the natural listings of major search engines? Search Engine Optimization.
Law Firm Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a common term being thrown around a lot. Many companies have fancy names for it, but the service goal boils down to the same thing: increasing your law firm’s website rankings in the natural (aka organic) listings of the search engines.
What are the natural/organic listings? If you go to www.google.com and type in a phrase, such as bakery, you will get approximately 29,700,000 listings. Why are there so many? This word is very generic and is going to show you results for all websites that mention that word. But, let’s say you are looking for a bakery in Seattle. Type in Seattle bakery and you are down to 2,000,000 listings. While that is still a lot, you’ve all ready narrowed down the focus immensely and can continue to do so – maybe you want a wedding cake baker or a cookie bakery or a dessert place. The more targeted your keyword search is, the more likely you are to find the most relevant search results.
Now, as an attorney, you may be asking yourself how you get to the top of the millions of listings that you find when you type in a keyword that someone may use to find you. Well, unfortunately, I could write for days about all the ways that you could do this and, even if you followed every one of them exactly, there are still no guarantees. But here are a few:
- Narrow your focus. Come up with a list of keywords that is specific to where you are located and what practice areas you focus on. Think about how a general consumer would search for you. Based on our historical data, the general public does not type in the term “wrongful death” very often; instead, when looking for a wrongful death attorney, the consumer will be more specific, such as medical malpractice or negligence, amusement park injury, etc. Your website can’t be all things to all people, so be as focused as you can.
- Timely, relevant content. The search engines are looking for websites that regularly update their content. Why? The logic basically goes that if you are updating your site regularly, it must be keeping up with recent news. For example, our immigration attorneys have had a whole flurry of updates to make due to new laws (or lack thereof). This is a good thing. The second part of the equation is that the search engines want the content to be relevant to the keyword. Sure, it is great that you talk about your dog Chula on your site (or maybe that is just me), but what does that have to do with your practice? It’s great to add these tidbits, but they should be minor in comparison to the information you give about your practice areas.
- Behind the scenes programming. The search engines don’t just read the content on your site. They are also interested in the Meta Title (if you open up an Internet window, it is the very, very top bar – if you look at the top of this blog site, our title is Law Firm Marketing BLOG – Attorneys Online, Inc.), Meta Keywords (the specific keywords that you are trying to target on each page – max is about 10 words total), Meta description (the phrase about what your web page is about), and a few other things. This isn’t rocket science; it’s a matter of showing the search engines what you are targeting and hope that they agree.
- Linking campaigns. The more websites that link to you, the better. The reason is basically because if a website thinks that you are good enough to “endorse”, that should be a sign that your site is good enough to notice. Now, here’s the catch – these sites need to be good on their own. If you have your website listed on a Japanese porn site, you may not like the kinds of endorsement and inquiries you are going to get. But a link from your local bar association can really help.
There are a million more things that you can do for your law firm SEO. But, just remember, no company can ever guarantee placement (and I would run as quickly as possible from anyone that says otherwise). How do I know? Because the search engines (namely Google) are smarter than all of us and you can’t beat their system. We can follow all of their guidelines and then they may come out with something new tomorrow. Once we “crack their code”, they will beat us back. That said, over time, you can prove to Google that you have a good site, but it is up to Google as to where your site remains.
If you would like to discuss how to start the process on your law firm website, please call today for a free consultation.
Attorney Vs. Web
Man vs. Wild is a fairly recent show which depicts the personal expeditions of a lone man carrying, at most, a water bottle, flint, and knife, and is placed in a wilderness location from ice to desert and anywhere in between. He then has to find his way to some sign of civilization—people, a building, a road etc. It is about how he can stay alive off the land with little resources and, in turn, prepares the viewers who might ever become lost in a wilderness setting.
The show’s host, Bear Grylls, makes the most of very little. With little resource he manages to build fires, construct shelters, and live off the land for a few days until he reaches some sign of civilization. Attorneys Online, Inc., likes to think of itself in somewhat the same way. It is our goal to make the most of the resources we are given as we set out to seek the potential client and even flourish in what can sometimes be a hostile lawyer internet marketing environment.
It can be difficult to stay alive in the big world of attorney website design and law firm marketing, but with skills that come from years of learning from experience we are capable of doing just that and more. By determining a good keyword mix and by working steadily toward search engine optimization (helping your lawyer website appear high on the natural internet listings), we make the most of the budget and the areas you wish to focus on so that we might arrive at an area populated with many potential clients.
Attorney website marketing does not have to be the wilderness that it seems to be. There are ways to stay alive and flourish among other law firm websites and lawyer marketing strategies that will set you apart and give you the results to eventually thrive in the desert that leaves so many others wasting resources in futility. Ask Attorneys Online, Inc., how you can make the most of your attorney internet marketing budget.
Getting Political at AAJ
The most recent AAJ (formerly ATLA) convention will definitely go down as one of my most memorable.
While I am either too young or too musically naive to have really appreciated it, we got to see a live, personal concert by the band Chicago. Though I didn’t think that I knew any of their songs, I did recognize several once I heard them. My aunt said that dancing to “Color My World” live was a very incredible experience for her; that song meant a lot to her when she was in high school. Well, whether I knew them or not, it was still fun. Plus, we got to meet Nancy Pelosi (and take a few obligatory pictures) when she gave a speech before the concert – very fun.
But the real highlight for me came from one of my most favorite clients, Greg Jones. He managed to get me a ticket to a lunch that feature Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. Each presidential candidate had 20 minutes to give a speech and answer pre-screened questions. Not only was it really neat to be there, but it definitely changed by perception of some of the candidates. Some were surprisingly weak and some just took the stage by storm and left very strong (good) impressions. Definitely something I will remember when I go to the polls.
Other than that, it was another successful convention. Stan Davis from Memphis, Tennessee hired us on the spot for his law firm marketing and we are looking forward to working with his firm. Fortunately, I was not stranded in Chicago this time; though Cheney’s flight was cancelled. What is it about O’Hare that just screams travel stress?
