Law Firm Internet Marketing - 5 Steps to Search Engine Success

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by Brandon Cornett

Spend some time in an online forum for lawyers, and you will soon realize that search engines have become a hot topic.

It's only natural. With so many consumers researching legal topics (and law firms) via the Internet, every lawyer wants his or her website to rank well in the search engines. It is, after all, a great channel for client acquisition and business development.

Better Website Ranking in 5 Steps

But there's a lot of information floating around on the Web (and worse, misinformation) about how to improve a website's search engine visibility / ranking. It can be confusing and overwhelming. So to help you get grounded in the world of search engine optimization (SEO), I offer the following outline for success.

Step 1 - Research and Choose Your Key Phrases

The first step to proper search engine optimization is to find out what kinds of phrases are most valuable to you. These are your "key phrases" — those words and phrases your prospective clients would use when searching for the legal services you provide. For instance, if you were a lawyer in Dallas, Texas, one of your key phrases would be "Dallas lawyers."

Here's the key to success with key phrase research. Don't ever guess at your key phrases. Research them using a tool like WordTracker.com (or have somebody do it for you). Key phrase research is too important to be based on guesswork.

Step 2 - Evaluate Your Law Firm's Website

It's time to step into the technical weeds for a moment, in order to address the all-important element of website development. You may not fully understand what I'm about to explain, but you will still benefit from reading it. If, for example, you hire a website designer, you will be able to speak intelligently about your search engine aspirations (as they apply to your website's design).

A lawyer or law firm website with clean, well-structured coding behind it will have an easier time climbing the search engine ranks — as compared to a website with overly complex and poorly structured HTML code.

The major search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, will rank your law firm's website partly based on the content they find on the site. If your website's structure, coding and navigation are overly complicated, then it will be harder for search engines to find what you want them to find ... your content.

You can avoid this problem by hiring a professional website designer, and telling him or her you want a properly built website that's primed for search engine visibility.

Step 3 - Create Quality Content for Your Website

Having a lot of quality, original content on your website will go a long way toward your search engine success. Content helps the search engines determine what your law firm's website is all about, in the first place. This is a crucial step, obviously, because a search engine has to understand the theme of your website in order to list it under relevant searches.

Here's one of the best ways you can "cover your bases" regarding website content. Revisit your list of key phrases that you created in Step 1 above. Now create at least one page per key phrase, for the top 10 - 15 phrases on your list. Incorporate those phrases naturally throughout your content.

This might sound complicated or difficult, but it's really not. For instance, you could write a helpful article for each of those key phrases / topics — let's say 300 - 500 words long. Then you can integrate your key phrases in a natural way throughout each article. Good for search engines, and good for your readers!

Step 4 - Obtain Links from Quality Websites

Another way search engines evaluate your website is through the number (and quality) of inbound links you have. An inbound link is exactly what it sounds like — a hyperlink on another website that link to yours. If I link to your website from this article page, then you have gained another "inbound link."

When it comes to such links, quality matters more than quantity. It's better to have a dozen inbound links from quality, well-ranked sites than from 100 "starter" sites with low ranking. Relevance of the linking site is important as well. Inbound links from relevant websites (similar in theme and content to your own) will boost your rankings more than links from irrelevant websites.

Truly great websites attract links without even trying. Other bloggers and website owners will link to a site they think their own audience would enjoy, and they do this without being asked. But in the "early days" of a new website, you will have to go out and acquire some links to get the ball rolling.

For instance, you could add your law firm's website to web directories to gain some links. You could publish articles and press releases online (with a link back to your site). You could even exchange links with a few relevant and legitimate websites. Just know that the more quality links you can obtain, the better your search engine ranking will be.

Step 5 - Be Patient and Persistent

Search engine optimization takes time. If an SEO company tells you they can get your website on Page 1 of Google quickly — for competitive phrases — they are either (A) lying to you, or (B) trying to sell you a service that will do you more harm than good.

A law firm SEO program requires time, patience and persistence. Is it all worth it? Well let me ask you this. What would it be worth to have a handful of new leads from potential clients coming in week after week, just from people finding your law firm's website? Could you even put a price on that kind of "passive" lead generation?

Conclusion

Your law firm's Internet marketing program will only be complete when it brings search engine optimization / SEO into the fold. The five steps above will help you improve your search engine ranking, and thus improve your Internet marketing program as a whole.

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