I had a comment to one of my earlier posts about getting backlinks for your law firm website that I thought I'd take the opportunity to answer today. The post that was commented on was basically stating that you want to have good content (it will make your sales pitch to potential clients much easier and will drive them to pick up the phone and call you) but if you want to start moving up the search engines you need good, quality backlinks from others with your targeted keyword as the anchor text.
I didn't even take the time to read the post again, but the comment asked how I get people to give me links. And the short answer is, I just ask. I send an email (usually to the named attorney of the website or blog I'd like to get a link from), let them know who I am, what I do, and why I am writing, and ask them for a link. Because most people don't understand the power of links, I give them a two or three sentence summary of why we'd want to do a link exchange. Then I move on and ask the next person. Law firm internet marketing is all about numbers.
Most people don't get back to you. But when they do, the links you get will be as good as solid gold for your practice. I set a goal for myself to ask three people a day for a backlink exchange. The easiest way to find people to ask is to take a look at Google. If you do a search like this "inurl:blog DUI" it will return you results for all URLs that have the word blog in them that then also have the term DUI on their page. You immediately have thousands of people to ask for links.
Another thing I've considered doing is opening up the comments, maybe even on this post, for people to ask for links. All you have to do is say what kind of practice you have, and leave some way for people to get in touch with you. And I'm always open for link exchanges. Just send me an email and ask. I'll exchange with pretty much anyone. There is almost no situation where a link can hurt your site.
So, leave a comment, let others know you want to do an exchange, and help each other out. Just make sure you are getting the right anchor text for your keywords. For example, I'm a Seattle DUI attorney, I want all of my links to be some form of Seattle DUI attorney, just like this link. If you have just your website address or lawyer, or here, or something like that, it doesn't hurt, but it's much less effective.
2.23.2010
Law Firm Internet Marketing | Content vs. Links
As you begin your law firm internet marketing journey, you will likely find that you are unsure whether or not your plan is working. After all, if your keywords are as competitive as mine (Seattle DUI attorney) then there is a lot of work to do before you will see much progress. But, it is important to stay the course, and it is important to always remember which is more important between content and links.
For most of us, creating content is the easiest part of the job. We can turn on our internet browser, write down some stuff about what we do, and then post it on the web. We feel like we've accomplished something and we feel like we are making some progress. The only problem is, without Google around to check it out, your plan is going to take years to come to fruition.
If you couldn't tell by that last paragraph, in the grand scheme of things, links are king. Content is great, but you can have a blog with five posts on it, post once a month after that, and if you are getting a lot of backlinks to it, Google will rank it high in the search results. This is for obvious reasons - Google wants to put the best content at the top, and it's found the best way to tell who has the best content is by how many links make it to a site and how powerful those links are.
For example, I've been asking people for link exchanges for a long time. When I get them from people who's sites aren't related to Seattle DUI attorneys or Seattle DUI law, I still take them, because they count. But when I can get a link from a Kansas City DUI attorney or from any other DUI attorney, I consider them gold. Google will give them a lot of weight.
In the end, if you must create content, do it in the form of articles that you link to your blog and website. People will still find it and you'll get the benefit of a link pointing to your site. In no time your law firm internet marketing plan will be paying dividends, and you'll need more staff to answer the phones.
For most of us, creating content is the easiest part of the job. We can turn on our internet browser, write down some stuff about what we do, and then post it on the web. We feel like we've accomplished something and we feel like we are making some progress. The only problem is, without Google around to check it out, your plan is going to take years to come to fruition.
If you couldn't tell by that last paragraph, in the grand scheme of things, links are king. Content is great, but you can have a blog with five posts on it, post once a month after that, and if you are getting a lot of backlinks to it, Google will rank it high in the search results. This is for obvious reasons - Google wants to put the best content at the top, and it's found the best way to tell who has the best content is by how many links make it to a site and how powerful those links are.
For example, I've been asking people for link exchanges for a long time. When I get them from people who's sites aren't related to Seattle DUI attorneys or Seattle DUI law, I still take them, because they count. But when I can get a link from a Kansas City DUI attorney or from any other DUI attorney, I consider them gold. Google will give them a lot of weight.
In the end, if you must create content, do it in the form of articles that you link to your blog and website. People will still find it and you'll get the benefit of a link pointing to your site. In no time your law firm internet marketing plan will be paying dividends, and you'll need more staff to answer the phones.
2.15.2010
Targeted Backlinks | Seattle DUI Attorney Example
You all know what this site is about - law firm internet marketing and getting your law firm website ranked number one in Google for your targeted keywords. If you are hear, I hope it is because you are trying to learn how to maximize your internet marketing potential.
This is true even if you are paying for most of your law firm internet marketing work. Understanding how the process works, what is easy and hard to do, and what is possible will give you a tremendous advantage when you are talking to people about doing some marketing work for you. You will know what sounds fishy and what you actually need to outsource.
One of the things I talk about a lot here, and that you need to ingrain in your head, is the idea that keyword targeted backlinks are the most important thing there is to ranking high in the search engines. If you remember, keyword targeting backlinks are links from other sites to your sites with the keyword you want in them. These act like votes for your site. Get enough votes for your site and Google starts giving you some street cred, and moves you up the rankings.
But all too often I see people with backlinks that say things like the name of their law firm or "here." Those links aren't worthless, but you are leaving so much on the table that it is extremely frustrating. And I know this because I am constantly looking for people to exchange links with. When I tell them I want Seattle DUI Attorney and a link to my site and they tell me they want "Law Office of Joe Smith" it irks me to no end.
If you don't get it yet, the reason I want Seattle DUI lawyer as my backlink is that is tells google that the person giving the link thinks my site is a good resource on Seattle DUI lawyers. It knows this because the words linking their site to my site are, you guessed it, Seattle DUI lawyer. If it was Seattle chiropractor Google would think I was getting a vote for that. If it was "here" I'd get a vote for that. That is why it is so important to get backlinks that have your keywords in them.
On that note, I am pleased to announce that I have finally made it onto page one for Seattle DUI attorney, my number one targeted keyword. As I move up the search engines it just makes me want to work that much harder on my law firm internet marketing efforts to get all of my targeted keywords to number one in Google.
This is true even if you are paying for most of your law firm internet marketing work. Understanding how the process works, what is easy and hard to do, and what is possible will give you a tremendous advantage when you are talking to people about doing some marketing work for you. You will know what sounds fishy and what you actually need to outsource.
One of the things I talk about a lot here, and that you need to ingrain in your head, is the idea that keyword targeted backlinks are the most important thing there is to ranking high in the search engines. If you remember, keyword targeting backlinks are links from other sites to your sites with the keyword you want in them. These act like votes for your site. Get enough votes for your site and Google starts giving you some street cred, and moves you up the rankings.
But all too often I see people with backlinks that say things like the name of their law firm or "here." Those links aren't worthless, but you are leaving so much on the table that it is extremely frustrating. And I know this because I am constantly looking for people to exchange links with. When I tell them I want Seattle DUI Attorney and a link to my site and they tell me they want "Law Office of Joe Smith" it irks me to no end.
If you don't get it yet, the reason I want Seattle DUI lawyer as my backlink is that is tells google that the person giving the link thinks my site is a good resource on Seattle DUI lawyers. It knows this because the words linking their site to my site are, you guessed it, Seattle DUI lawyer. If it was Seattle chiropractor Google would think I was getting a vote for that. If it was "here" I'd get a vote for that. That is why it is so important to get backlinks that have your keywords in them.
On that note, I am pleased to announce that I have finally made it onto page one for Seattle DUI attorney, my number one targeted keyword. As I move up the search engines it just makes me want to work that much harder on my law firm internet marketing efforts to get all of my targeted keywords to number one in Google.
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