Law Firm Marketing BLOG

As head of the Search Engine Optimization department, I get a lot of phone calls – both from clients and from solicitors.  What I really find so amusing is when I get calls or emails from companies saying that our own website is not showing up well in the search engines and that they would be happy to help us for a fee.  In fact, I already got one phone call and one email about it today – and that was before 9 AM.

And, of course, I feel the need to respond since they were so kind as to solicit me.  I point out a few things to them.  First, how did they come upon our information were it not for the search engines?  This one always gets the email-ers because the email address that our consultation forms go through is not my usual email, so I can track where the inquiry comes from.  Second, I point out that one of the most important terms for us is “law firm internet marketing” and our website is on page 1 for that term.  So, how can they do better than page 1?  Needless to say, I rarely get responses back from emailers (if I bother to respond at all) and I quickly get hung up on from the telephone solicitors.

Now, this is something that I can deal with; however, when these people call my clients to give them the same spiel, I get pretty annoyed.  I explain the same logic to my clients and then point out places that they are showing up well.  If they weren’t coming up, these companies would not be able to find them.  So, before you doubt your law firm’s marketing firm’s efforts, consider how you were found in the first place.

As I search through the Internet for videographers for my Dallas wedding, I have found many beautiful, artistic websites.  After meeting with several of them, I realize how much the website reflects the personalities of the videographers.  However, what I have also noticed is that the videographers that come the most highly recommended to me from family and friends are the same ones with great-looking websites that do not show up in the search engines.  A simple search for “Dallas videographer” or “Dallas wedding videographer” does not result in any of these recommended vendors.  When I asked one couple last night why I could not find them in the search engines, the answer was pretty much that they wanted to focus on the artistic look of the website and sacrifice the need for content that Google requires.  My thoughts are that it is great that their referral base is so large that they don’t need to do internet marketing, but what if that dries up or what if they have a slow period?  It’s nice to be able to turn clients away; it’s not so great to be desperate.

What I told them is the same thing that I tell so many of my clients when it comes to lawyer marketing: you do not have to sacrifice the look and feel of a great attorney web design to be able to rank well in Google and other search engines.  While it is hard to get around needing homepage content since that is the most viewed page on your website, you can still put content on plenty of other pages in effective ways.  For example, if you have a video of a deposition, jot down a quick summary of what it is about off to the side; this helps the video come up in the search engines and it helps make your visuals a little more clear.  Or you can put in more content pages that are not listed on your main dropdown menus.  While surfers can get to these pages from other links, the fact that they are not on this main list means that you can put more content on these pages without sacrificing the look of the website.

We will be the first to admit that Google’s need for content has meant changing the look of websites, but it does not have to limit your firm’s creative feel.  We can work with your firm to create the website that you envision that will still help bring in more business.

Domain names can be tricky. You want everyone on the Internet to know who you are or what law firm you belong to, but does a firm name domain really help them find you when they do a search?

Not really. If they knew the name of the law firm, then they could find you. How about those people that are just looking for a law firm and don’t know where to start? This is where an attorney marketing agency such as Attorneys Online can help. We know that the average person seeking legal help will put in the ‘type’ of lawyer they need, such as ‘San Diego divorce lawyer’.

If you domain name happened to be sandiegodivorcelawyer.com, you’d most likely be near the top of the search results for them to find you, and they didn’t even know the name of your law firm

Attorneys Online helps you from start to finish to be sure that all the steps are taken for those that want to find you, to be able to find you. From your domain name, to your law firm’s web design, to your .law firm’s Internet marketing, we strive to be sure the work to work together to give you the strongest web presence possible.