Search Engine Optimization for Lawyers - Practicing the 3 P's
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by Brandon Cornett
This article pertains to search engine optimization (SEO). In this article's usage, law firm SEO is the act of improving a lawyer's or law firm's website for better search engine ranking, online visibility, and overall success.
When you read an article about search engine optimization (SEO) for lawyers, you often get the technical side of things — key phrase research, inbound linking, website structure, etc.
These elements should certainly be part of a lawyer's SEO program, but there are three less-mentioned (but equally important) characteristics of such a program.
In fact, I would go so far as saying that the following three elements will seperate the "Page 1" lawyer websites from those buried in the search results. I refer to these elements as the 3 P's of search engine optimization.
The Three P's of Search Engine Optimization
P for Patience
If you are serious about improving the search engine visibility of your law firm's website (and you should be), you must "pack your patience." Many lawyers mistakenly believe that their website should appear in search engine results immediately after its creation. But this is not the case.
It can take days or weeks for a search engine to find your website in the first place — depending on your link building efforts — and it can take months for decent ranking in the major search engines. And that's assuming that you're proactive in your online publishing, networking, and other aspects of SEO.
Earning "Page 1" position for your key phrases takes time and patience. Anybody who tells you otherwise is lying to you. That's just the reality of SEO.
P for Persistence
You should think of search engine optimization as a prolonged campaign, not a short-term battle. The sooner you adopt this line of thinking, the better off you'll be. Developing search engine visibility for a website requires an ongoing effort. I don't say this to discourage you, but only to set your expectations properly.
Earning first-page search engine position can change your entire business model for the better. SEO is a venture worth pursuing ... you just need to realize the persistence involved with that pursuit.
P for Progress
Here's the advice I give to clients after I've helped them boost their search engine ranking. Keep learning, keep advancing and keep at it. You should seek perpetual progress in your search engine optimization, and your online success in general. Commit yourself to perpetual progress, and you'll commit yourself to success.
Conclusion
Most people find lawyers through one of three methods — referrals, online search, or the Yellow Pages. Referrals will always be a good source of business. But the Yellow Pages are slowly losing ground to online searches through Google, Yahoo, MSN and other major engines.
So as a lawyer or law firm in the modern age of information, you need to make search engine optimization a regular part of your marketing strategy. To truly "climb the charts," you should also practice the Three P's of real estate SEO -- patience, persistence and progress.
Of course, if you don't have the patience, persistence and progress needed for good search engine ranking, you could always sign up for my SEO services.