You want to market your business online, so you develop a website, as well as a blog, set up your Local profiles, and the essential social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and perhaps Pinterest.
You’ve implemented a great inbound marketing strategy to get traffic to your site in the hope of generating leads. Everything is set, your inbound link profile is strong, but there seems to be an anti-climactic end to all that hard work and preparation. Why?
Continue reading
Generally speaking, there are two types of search engine optimization (SEO) companies out there. The first company – we’ll call this company “SEO 1” – is the one that randomly gets into contact with you, either by email, filling out a form on your site or a cold-call. The second kind of company – “SEO 2” – is the kind that you find out about yourself, either by doing your own research or from the recommendation of a trusted colleague. Let’s compare…
SEO 1 will frequently make promises that it has no intention of keeping – “No. 1 placement in Google”, “thousands of visitors” or a certain number of “guaranteed sales leads” each month. SEO 1 will often explain to its potential clients that they are not ranking as strongly as they used to and definitely not as strongly as the competition. SEO 1 will then claim to have the necessary know-how to correct those troublesome rankings. Essentially, SEO 1 is habitually prepared to tell you exactly what it is you want to hear. Even though there may be some (we use the word lightly) validity to SEO 1’s claims, such sure-fire, quick fix methods should always be approached with a certain degree of skepticism. Remember what your Mommy always told you… “If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.”
Continue reading
Have you ever heard an advertisement that was more sales-pitchy than informative? For the majority of companies out there, an eye-catching, effective advertising campaign is a necessity, and finding one is often a difficult task. Whether you hire an advertising firm to oversee your campaign or you employ an in-house department to do the same, advertising is an absolute must as far as acquiring new business is concerned.
In the world of legal Internet marketing, advertising comes in no better form than a properly optimized and well designed website. And at the root of the website is the copy, and how well that copy incorporates pertinent information (to sell the consumer) and keywords (to help the website rank well).
Do you know what keyword stuffing is? It’s the act of incorporating as many keywords into your website content as possible, often at the expense of the content sounding natural. Basically, keyword stuffing is a blatant attempt to manipulate content SEO so that a page ranks well. Put even more simply, keyword stuffing is bad.
Continue reading
Have you ever wondered what Google does to improve search results and keep users happy with such a reliable and trustworthy search engine? So have we, and so does everybody else; and with good reason: the Internet is always evolving.
To stay ahead of the competition and effectively promote your law firm or business online, you need to know how the Internet is changing, especially when it comes to search.
This Message Will Self-destruct in 5…4…
It may seem like top secret information, but a recent SearchEngineLand article discusses the most recent Google search results improvements made in December. Some of the highlights, with their respective Google codenames, are as follows:
Where would content on a website be without search engine optimization (SEO)?
Probably lost in cyberspace.
What role would SEO play if it wasn’t associated with relevant, informative content?
Most likely a nonexistent one.
What I’m hinting at here is the balanced relationship between content and SEO for desired search engine results, online success, and lead generation.
With so many Internet marketing strategies out there, it can be confusing as to which tactic is the most effective and worthwhile when it comes to a business’ goals and marketing budget; a thought on pretty much every company’s mind as 2011 quickly comes to a close.
Continue reading
We all have cravings. Whether they are for candy during the Halloween season or success as 2011 closely comes to an end, how can you discipline yourself not to binge?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but it’s important to know what it really means because it’s your key to establishing a strong online presence and achieving desirable search rankings. SEO comes in many flavors and can be viewed as a full course meal with many stages that require extensive planning and preparation. However, you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. Simply, depending on where you’re starting from – an existing website or no website at all, what terms you want to rank for, etc. – it will take time to see and use the results.
Continue reading
In the world of legal Internet marketing, law firms and attorneys are constantly seeking ways to improve their rankings and achieve a solid online authority to surpass their competition and stay on top. Link building for law firms often comes up as a way to do this. However, it is not the only way and it can be harmful to think of it in this regard. In Part 1 of our blog series, we discussed the first 5 myths about link building. Here, we wrap it up with the remaining top myths, 6-10, about building links:
Myth #6: It’s easy to see all the links that count towards rankings– A website can claim to have thousands of incoming links, but these links could be ones that Google has discounted. The links you see through various online tools are not always explicitly “Google approved” links. While you can check to see if a link displays itself in Google, you may only see some of the links that count. Although having an idea of the big picture can be beneficial in understanding your rankings and what next steps to take, you may not know what really counts towards your search engine results.
Continue reading
What you see isn’t always what you get when it comes to links. We know you hear and read a lot about the importance of incoming links and how to get them. In our 2-part blog series, we will cover the top 10 myths about link building that every attorney should know. Here are the first 5 to get you started:
Myth #1: Link building is fast and cheap – This is the big red flag that says, “SCAM.” If a company promises you fast and cheap services to build links, run! Effective link building is not fast, cheap or easy. It doesn’t have to be costly, but it takes time and can be challenging.
Continue reading
With the advancement of the Internet and online marketing capabilities, one of the most valued and protected assets a law firm has is their online reputation. Legal search engine optimization (SEO) plays a key role in helping an attorney and/or law firm rank high in search results for specific terms, also known as keywords. Legal Internet marketing campaigns would not go far without the right SEO and a solid plan.
Law firms, just like any other business, especially those that have been around for years, might resist having a website created or launching an Internet marketing campaign. It makes sense; Internet marketing is still relatively new to some, it’s something different, and you have to learn a new game. However, to make sure you don’t miss out on how your competitors are bringing in more clients, consider some of these benefits of legal SEO:
Search engines are intended to provide Internet users with the most relevant results to the terms, also known as keywords, they enter as search options. While it is true that we may not always find what we are looking for on the first page of Google, it is also valid to say that we may need to enter different combinations of terms in order to seek the information we need. So what role does anchor text play in the ocean of search engine optimization?
Anchor text is considered to be the visible and clickable label of a link on a particular web page, blog post, social media profile, email, or other online medium. For instance, if I were to mention that SLS Consulting was ranked in Lead411’s Technology 500 List for 2010, “SLS Consulting” would be the anchor text. The site that the anchor text is linking to is the landing page, which in this case is http://www.legalinternetmarketing.com/. Rather than including that URL to its fullest extent, I have provided a more visually appealing, shorter, and relevant version by titling the link. When the linked (anchor) text is directly related to information on the landing page, this contributes to the rank or weight of the anchor text determined by search engine algorithms. As rules that concern search engines when they are ranking or weighing a website’s listing within its index, algorithms and their influences cannot be ignored.
Continue reading
Legal Internet Marketing Blog