Why You Should Be Optimizing Your Web Site Right Now
Posted by guest blogger, Kevin Kaiser, of SuretyBonds.com
If you're reading Sogn Consulting, I'll already assume that you're familiar with some of the concepts and applications of SEO and PPC methods of driving people to your site. But when they get to the site that you've spent countless hours working to get them there, did you expect that the work is over for you and people will just start using your service. Well it's not that easy, so optimizing your conversion rate is an important part of an overall online marketing campaign.
Conversion rate optimization is the process of turning all those hard earned visitors to your site into leads, and ultimately, success for your business. It's free (just requires your time), easy, and usually there is an immediate effect. Here are a few tips to make sure your site is bringing in all the clients it can.
Continue Reading...SEO Tip #10: "Click here" is SO 1999
I was just on a web site and it seemed like every few lines said, “click here for more information” and it got me thinking about 1) how distracting it was when reading the content, and 2) what a missed SEO opportunity.
There was a time when people needed to be guided as to where they needed to click for more information. But that time has passed. Now readers know that when the text is a different color and/or underlined, it means that it’s a link to more information. What’s more, search engines pay more attention to word and phrases that are hyperlinked. As a double bonus, these words and phrases are easy to visually scan and will draw people’s attention. See, made you look didn’t I?
Continue Reading...SEO Tip # 9: Check your link popularity
I know, I know, we all thought we outgrew the popularity contests in high school but those darn search engines are bringing us right back. To a search engine, it’s all about how popular you are and you can’t be popular amongst the dorks, you need to be popular with the cool people or it doesn’t really count. To determine if you’re cool, search engines look at how many sites are linking to yours and the quality of those sites – the more popular the sites that like you, the more popular you become by association. It’s a high school e-deja vue (only former high school nerds are now often the cool people so who's getting the last laugh now…)
How do we know how many people are linking to us?
Continue Reading...Lawyers: Facebook's Friend, Foe or Frenemy?
I know, I know, I’m writing about Facebook AGAIN. In my defense, I clearly stated that I was addicted to both Facebook and Twilight so it’s either I write about Facebook AGAIN or yammer on and on about Edward, my vampire crush. I’m choosing Facebook in order to save “face” (pun intended).
This time I want to focus on lawyers in particular. How can you encourage your lawyers to join Facebook (or other social networking sites)? But, even more important, should you encourage your lawyers to join Facebook?
Continue Reading...SEO Tip #8: Attorneys v. Lawyers
You say tomato, I say tomahto. You say potato, I say potahto. Okay, that’s cool but what do we call ourselves? Attorney? Lawyer? Does it matter?
Yes, it does to search engines. Many firms prefer the term “attorney” because it somehow feels more palatable than the word “lawyer”. I mean, you never hear someone tell an attorney joke, it’s always a lawyer joke (and I have quite a few good ones, btw). So we call ourselves “attorneys” to distance ourselves from these jokes and images conjured up. But what do search engines look for?
Continue Reading...SEO Tip #7: Naming your URL
Your URL, which is essentially the filename and path of a page on your web site, is an opportunity to enhance your search engine optimization efforts. Before you start adding pages to your web site, take a few minutes to plan your naming conventions and keep the following in mind:
- Your URL should be relevant to the page, and if you can add a targeted keyword in the name, great.
- Don't add spaces in your filenames, instead use "-" or "_" in between words.
- Keep the names short and clean.
SEO Tip #6: Get a Blog
This tip is important enough to warrant its own posting, and I’m not just saying that to suck up to my friends at LexBlog. There are many reasons that a blog is a good idea including:
- Search engines love blogs and therefore rank them higher because the content is timely, relevant and updated often.
- Anyone (with a username/pw) can update the blog any time from any computer with Internet access making it easy for attorneys to post entries themselves whenever news breaks in their practice area.
- Blogs are informal and conversational in tone taking some of the pressure off of creating a literary masterpiece. If you see a typo after it’s been posted, no biggie, go back and fix it.
- People can sign up to receive updates either via an RSS feed or by email.
- Blogs are cost-effective.
- Blogs target-driven.
- Blogs establish your attorneys as experts in their field. Once your blog gets rolling, you can expect to hear from reporters asking for quotes.
SEO Tip #5: See yourself through search engine glasses
If you’re thinking about getting serious about SEO you’ll want to start off by analyzing your existing traffic to see your strengths and weakness. Most likely your goal will be to increase traffic to your site but that alone is not going to determine the success of your campaign. You’ll need to look at the big picture.
For example, what search terms are people using to get to your site? If the first 20+ search terms used to find your site are all variations of your firm name, that will show that people who find your site are trying to find you. It’s nice your clients, family, friends and high school crushes were successful in finding you but new clients will not be searching for your firm name or your name. You need to attract your potential clients by optimizing for your keywords and having enticing descriptions.
Continue Reading...SEO Tip #4:Invite people to your site
The best way to get people to your site is to invite them there. There are many ways to do that online but if your audience isn't active in social media but addicted to email, you can invite them to your site via an e-Newsletter. E-Newsletters are incredibly effective if done well. And by that, I mean that the content needs to be timely and relevant to the audience. Don’t just tell your clients about an issue that will affect them, tell them specifically how it will affect them and what they need to do about it. A good practice is to create a generic “newsletter” and then have your attorneys forward it on to their clients with a quick note saying how it affects them and what they should do. Your clients will be flattered that you thought of them and will take notice of your advice.
Continue Reading...SEO Tip #3: Page titles
The Title Tag displays at the top of your browser window (blue bar) and it is also the linked text that appears on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Additionally, the content of the Title Tag is indexed by all search engines, especially Yahoo and MSN. It is very important that your Title Tag be descriptive and compelling in order to get people to click on it. Your title should be 5 - 7 words and/or less than 64 characters.
The tendency is to put the firm name up there and keep it the same for all pages but, let's face it, that's really not very compelling and you're also missing out on a chance to improve your SEO rankings.
Continue Reading...SEO Tip #2: Alt tags
Search engines also look at the behind-the-scenes content called meta data. This comes in several forms. For example, every graphic on the page should have a short description known as an “alt tag” assigned to it. The original purpose of alt tags is for ADA compliance. Site-impaired visitors can have their computers read them the alt tags. The SEO advantage to alt tags is the provide an opportunity to repeat key phrases. If you’re using a graphic for an article, use the alt tag to duplicate the article’s title, giving search engines two opportunities to find your phrase.
SEO Tip #1: Content is King
It might sound simple but it's true. The best way to get people to your web site is to make your web site relevant to them. You know your clients and the issues that are most important to them, so write about those topics and update your web site often. Or, better yet, get a blog so attorneys can update it themselves anytime, anywhere. Make sure to include terms people may use when using a search engine and try to get those search terms in the title, hyperlinks and first paragraph. Repeat the terms as often as you can without it becoming distracting to the message or just plain annoying. The goal with content is to make it engaging, relevant and timely. Having someone sign up for your RSS feed or bookmark your site is the ultimate victory.
