It's funny that as I'm writing this post I'm thinking that there might never be a time that anyone reads this. And strangely, I'm okay with that. Why, you might be asking, would I be okay with no one ever reading my
law firm internet marketing blog, ever? Simple. I'm not writing this for you (though if it helps you out then I'm okay with that), I'm writing this for me. This post, believe it or not, along with many other things, is going to get the maximum
law firm internet marketing return for my practice areas possible. How, you might be asking. Good question.
Before I get into the plan, let me give you a little bit of background on what you are facing and what you are up against.
It's Not About How Many People Read Your Law Firm Blog
So stop writing trying to get social traffic to your law firm blog. It doesn't help your pocketbook, so just don't focus on that. What you should be focusing on is Google searches that reach your site for the keywords that you want. Have no idea what I'm talking about? Let me give you an example - and we'll use me as an example.
I am a Seattle DUI attorney and Seattle criminal defense lawyer. People get to me in two primary ways I've found over time: (1) referrals; and (2) internet searches. No one uses the Yellow Pages anymore. It is a dinosaur. And if they do use the Yellow Pages to find you I can almost guarantee you will find they have one major problem - no money to pay you. So why invest your money to get people into your office that can't pay? You don't.
Back to the example. When people find me on the internet, they find me by searching Google or Bing or Yahoo for various search terms. Terms like: Seattle DUI lawyer, Seattle DUI attorney, DUI attorney Seattle, DUI lawyer Seattle, DUI defense attorney Seattle, criminal defense attorney Seattle, drunk driving attorney Seattle, etc. They never find me because they've been reading my blog about DUI law or my blog about criminal law and have just been waiting to get in trouble so they can use my services. People just don't operate in our line of business (the legal business) like that. They have a problem, they look for someone to solve it. We Americans are not good at planning for disasters - we are more of a fly by the seat of our pants type of a people.
Because people are looking for me on the search engines not by finding my blog or my site and then following me for a long time (like you might for the blog that has information on your favorite sports teams or your hobbies, etc.) I need to focus on learning how to maximize my exposure for that means of internet use (and just trust me when I say they are very very different). This is why I don't care if anyone ever reads this site, because Google doesn't care how many readers I have, they just care whether or not when people search for terms on this site, like "law firm search engine optimization" or
law firm website SEO, they are going to get helpful information.
I hope (if there is someone actually reading this) that if you've read this far you're now asking yourself the question "what do I have to do to get Google to like me enough to put my law firm website on page one of Google?" And to get the answer to that, you're going to have to just keep on reading.
Step One to Law Firm Website Domination - On Site Optimization
We've all heard about optimizing our website for Google and things like that, either from digging around on google or from telemarketers telling us how important it is (which I get at least one phone call a day - in a later post I'll tell you how I deal with them which really throws them a curve ball). But what do we really have to do to get it right? Are metatags necessary? What about keywords?
From my perspective, there are only four things you need to focus on to optimize your law firm website or blog to make Google really like it: (1) content related domain name; (2) content related header; (3) rich and diverse content; (4) keyword optimized links within your site to other pages on your site. Four doesn't seem like much, but after making that list I am dreading what I am about to have to write. :)
First, let's talk about your domain name. If you have no law firm internet experience, the domain name is what you type into the address bar at the top to get to where you want to go. For example, Google's domain name is www.google.com. For most practicing lawyers, because they just don't know any better or love to see their name out there on the world wide web, their first instinct is to make their domain name the name of their firm or some abbreviation of that. This is just plain wrong. Why? Let me explain just a little bit.
Google and Bing and Yahoo don't have people actually come through and read your website. There is just too much content out there to read every new thing that is coming up and check every old site to make sure it is still delivering what it is promising. But, because the goal of the search engines is to get people the best content at the number spot of their search results, they have to have some way to keep tabs on what is happening out there in the Internet world. They have decided the best way to do this is with computer programs that scan sites to find out what they are about based on their site content and other factors. The more information (and words) you have on your site about a specific topic, the more Google assumes your site is about that topic.
For example, for me, as a
Seattle DUI defense attorney, I could use the name of my firm as my domain name, but Google would have no idea what that meant. Or I could use www.seattleduiattorney.com (which isn't my domain name) to let Google, and the world, know what they could expect when they get to my site. Google gives weight to this because it makes sense - you wouldn't go around calling your site www.seattlebankruptcyattorney.com if you practiced criminal law or family law. So, step one is picking a domain name that reflects what your site is about.
Second, you need to have a content related header (I think you are quickly going to be seeing a pattern forming here with content). The header is what shows up when you get to your site and quickly describes the site at the top of the page. For example, on this site, if you look up at the top of the screen you'll see something that says: "Get your Law Firm Website to #1 on Google." That is the header, and is another way to tell Google what your law firm website or blog is about.
Third, rich and diverse content, kind of speaks for itself. If you are unsure of what to do, just write about the kinds of cases you handle and the kinds of work that you do. Tell people what you can do for them and how you operate. After you do that, think about what people will be searching for when they are trying to find you and work those keywords into your content. But don't overdo it. The more natural it is, the better. When the search engines scan your site they will see those words and presume that your site is about what you say it is about.
Finally, keyword rich links to the other pages on your site. This is probably one of the most important steps you can take to get your law firm website ranked number one on Google, and is one of the things people miss out on the most. If you have a website (I hope) you have several different pages for people to go to. You probably have a contact page, some practice specific pages, and an attorney profiles page. To get people to those places, most people write something like "to learn about criminal defense options, click here," and "here" is the link to the next page. Instead of doing that, say something like "If you have been charged with a crime, you need a good DUI attorney to help," and make "criminal defense attorney" the link to the next page. This tells Google that the page you are pointing to is about "DUI attorneys" vs. "here." Think that makes a difference on your site? You bet it does.
Try to make every link around your site keyword rich (assuming it is pointing to your stuff and not someone else's - there is no reason to blindly give someone else the Google Juice you so desperately need). Once Google starts crawling your site, it will make a huge difference.
Off Site Law Firm Website Optimization - Backlinks
The second factor in working to get your law firm website to #1 on Google is off site optimization, or the stuff that happens that is not directly on your website. Here, there is only one term you need to know, and after you get the content up on your site, it should be your only focus for online marketing - backlinks. You have probably heard about backlinks before, particularly if you are hit up by internet marketers (though, honestly, they don't bring this up that often).
Backlinks are the links from other sites out on the internet to your site. These are so important because Google treats every one of these links to your site like a vote for your site (I call it Google Juice). The more "votes" you have, and the more votes from sites Google has established have some credibility, the more credibility Google thinks your site has, and the faster you climb up the search engine ranks to number one.
And, the more of your links that have keywords related to your site (DUI lawyer, DUI attorney, drunk driving, etc.), the more weight Google gives your site for that type of content. It's the same reasoning behind the links on your own site. Google uses the words that make up the link to help it determine what the site it is pointing to is about.
So, as you move forward trying to get people to see your law firm website, remember that you need keyword rich content, and you need keyword rich backlinks to get your legal website to number one on Google. Stay tuned for more posts on exactly how to do that.
Related Posts:
Law Firm Internet Marketing | Google Pyramid
Law Firm Internet Marketing | Strong Call to Action
