Lawyer Website Search Engine Ideas to Produce More Clients
By Bob Schwartz, CRS, GRI co-owner of websitetrafficbuilders.com
Copyright Promotions Unlimited
84.8% of web surfers use search engines to find sites like yours!
(Source: GVU Center, College of Computing- Georgia Institute of
Technology) Millions of people use Internet search engines every
day! Simply submitting your site to the Internet search engines is
not enough! If your site does get indexed (listed) by a major search
engine, it will just be one of millions. So, just being listed, has
nothing to do with making sure you get a good position. Positioning
is what matters most!
The secret to obtaining this huge number of potential clients is a
search engine position on the first three pages of the returned
keyword search results. If your keywords rank below page three, your
share of this potential traffic will be practically non-existent.
There are many ways to increase your site's ranking. The most
effective of which would be hiring a company that not only
specializes in site positioning, but guarantees their results.
With the forceful demand to achieve a top search engine position,
the cost to achieve it is not exactly cheap. However, it is usually
much less than what you would end up spending on a bid-for-position
search engine. Attaining a high ranking on the search engines is the
best advertising "bargain" on the Web today. The reason is simple:
Millions of searches are conducted everyday. The thousands of Web
sites that appear near the top of those search results essentially
get free advertising. People must be able to find your site on one
or more keywords when they do a search!
This article focuses on what you can do (without knowledge of HTML
coding) to improve your site's chance of getting its fair share of
Internet search engine traffic:
#1. Be sure each page of your site has the correct Title, Meta
description & content tags. Often only the entry page of sites has
proper tags, leaving the other site pages with incomplete/improper
tags. Do not just copy your entry page tags
over to your other pages.
To be effective, the tags should be unique to the content on that
page.
#2. To continue on with tags, you should check any framed pages used
on your site. Here you need to ensure that you are using good
NOFRAME tags. Not all search engines correctly index framed pages.
Without the correct NOFRAME tags here, your framed pages may not be
properly indexed.
#3. Finally, sites that are graphic intensive should be utilizing
the ALT tag to properly describe each graphic. No search engine
reads or indexes graphics. Therefore, the ALT tag is extremely
important.
#4. Do not use “Under Construction” text or images on any page. This
is practically a sure way to not be indexed on a lot of major search
engines. If your page is not complete, do not publish it!
#5. You should apply for web site awards. Some awards are more
difficult to attain than others, but all are always free. The only
requirement from the award issuing sites is a link back to their
site attached to their award graphic. Awards add creditability and
also enhance the time spent on investigating your site. An excellent
graphic accompanies the Legal Excellent Content Award.
#6. With the algorithms of most search engines factoring in link
popularity, your site should have a links page. To be efficient,
this page should be linked to your site's front page. Use this page
to trade links with other sites in related (but non-competitive)
industries. For example, legal sites handling accidents could link
to other legal sites that do criminal or family law for example.
Real estate sites could trade links with home
improvement/maintenance sites, lenders, lawyers, financial planners,
etc. Keep in mind, the key is not to just link these sites, but to
exchange links with them! Note of caution: There are some sites that
will offer you free membership in a link exchange service. You are
required to host a number of pages on your site that list the other
participant’s links. Though the thought was good, and somewhat
effective in increasing your link popularity, the search engines
have caught on to this scheme and as one of our prospective clients
recently realized, will de-list your site for this practice. Plus,
the importance of links to achieving a better ranking for your site
is correlated with the standing of the site linking to you. So, a
link from a site highly ranked will be worth more in the search
engines eyes than lots of links from low/non-ranked sites. Do not
fall for the quick-fix instant promises of these services. Building
effective links takes time and perseverance.
#7. Recently, there have been changes in search engine submission
policies. Today to get your site indexed quickly, the most cost
effective, and in some cases, the only way to be listed on certain
search engines, is to pay for a guaranteed site review. The two best
places to apply are through the Looksmart network, as well as the
Yahoo directory. The price for the Yahoo review is $299, recurring
annually. rated, just that if accepted, it will be indexed. Finally,
keep in mind your fee of $299 is NON-refundable if your site is not
accepted. Here is part of an email site rejection notice received by
a local site from Yahoo: “Dear Business Express Client, Yahoo! has
reviewed the URL you submitted with Business Express order #. We're
sorry to report that we've decided not to include your site in the
Yahoo! directory at this time. We base our evaluation of each site
solely on the content it has on the site at the time of evaluation.
When we reviewed your site today, we found that it did not have
enough content to support a listing through the Business Express
program.” The Looksmart search engine has changed to a pay-per-click
system.
#8. To decrease the potential for your site submission being
rejected, and to insure your share of the Internet search engine
traffic, you can hire a company that specializes in positioning. The
most cost-effective things to consider with this approach (in order
of importance) are:
A. A guarantee that YOUR particular keywords will achieve a position
on page one, two or three of the search engine results.
B. A written
outline of the total program.
C. No charge should be made for any
positioning not above page three.
D. There should be a sliding fee
charged that is based on real results.
E. There should be a maximum
charge stated.
F. Before hiring any firm you should verify their
actual prior results.
#9. With a a small amount of time and a modest investment you can
achieve some very reputable results yourself. There are a few
programs available, but the best one, which we utilize in our own
business, is IBP.
They have a thirty-day free trial program you can download. Plus,
their the extensive help section, alone, provides invaluable
insights into top search engine positioning. There will always be
skeptics and site owners who do not dedicate the time or place the
investment into their sites to earn top rankings. No matter how
completive the keyword phrase, with the application of the proper
techniques top search engine positions can be obtained. In
conclusion, websites can be very productive in achieving huge search
engine keyword directed traffic. For additional insights into the
Internet search engines, software programs noted above and web site
promotion, visit:
http://www.websitetrafficbuilders.com/ Bob can be contacted at:
seo711@gmail.com Copyright 2007 Promotions Unlimited
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