Posts Tagged ‘Content’
Intuitive Navigation for Legal Experts
The design of your website can influence whether or not a client will choose you. One problem I often find is poor navigation. If someone has trouble or gets confused when searching through your website, they will likely leave your website and search for another legal expert. Think about when you go to a website and you can’t find what you are looking for… you leave. If you can’t find the information that you are looking for within the first 8 seconds, you are likely to leave that website and move on to the next site that appears in the search engine. You may have the more relevant content, but if the user can’t find it, then it doesn’t matter.
Intuitive navigation is important to create a lead. If you do a search for bankruptcy law firms in Dallas you come across the website for Dallas bankruptcy lawyer, Harriet Langston. The navigation for her website is intuitive and easy to use. She has a column on the left side with her core pages listed at the top and the areas of practice links listed underneath.
Having a good navigation isn’t hard to do. Before you design your website, think about the topics you want to discuss and what pages you need. Then arrange them into categories and subcategories. A quick way is to create index cards with each topic and create an outline. Decide on a few core Pages (Home, Practice Area, Our Firm, Contact Us, etc…) and work from there. Click here for more information about web standards for your website.
Writing Good Content for your Legal Website
Good Content
A website is only as good as its content. You may hire an SEO expert to write page titles, keywords, and meta tag descriptions which target your location and area of practice, but without valuable content all the SEO work you do will be for nothing. The benefit of good content incorporated with SEO guidelines will improve your rankings in search engines.
What do I write about?
Of course you can’t jam your whole entire law practice into one website. However, you can map out the important areas and what you want your readers to know about you. You can start with about ten pages, and then add articles and newsletters at a later time.
Types of Content Pages
Most lawyer websites have standard pages, which are:
Home Page
About our Law Firm or Mission Statement
Attorney Profiles
Areas of Practice
Contact Us
Directions
Areas of Practice Pages
If your law office handles multiple areas of practice such as real estate, wills and probate, and business, separate pages should be written for these topics. Then, these areas of practice can be further broken down into additional pages such as residential real estate, commercial real estate, wills, probate a will, forming a business, and bankruptcy. In this scenario, nine pages of content were added. They are:
• Real Estate
o Residential Real Estate
o Commercial Real Estate
• Wills and Probate
o Wills
o Probate a Will
• Business
o Forming a Business
o Bankruptcy
Elements of Good Content
Content should be unique and not duplicated from another internet site or another page on the website. The writer needs to be aware of writing for search engine optimization and use headings which include target location and area of practice. There are tools provided by Google which would show the value of certain keywords for a certain area of practice. Valuable links can be incorporated into the content from reputable government or educational websites, which would give your content more value to a search engine. Pages should be at least 300 words and include a paragraph with the law firm’s contact information.
After the content is written, a good practice would be to check it for spelling, grammar errors, and plagiarism. You certainly wouldn’t want to seem unprofessional if a reader read a slew of typographical errors, and you wouldn’t want to be sued for duplicating another website’s content.
It is easier to outsource the content writing unless you have a professional writer on staff that can use the SEO practices to create good content.
Remember, gaining in rankings will not take overnight.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO and search engine marketing (SEM) is the best long-term solution for getting your law firm’s website or blog to the top of organic search results and keeping it there.
SEO and SEM involve many different approaches to web content and design, plus external methods, that all come together to ensure that you’re providing helpful information to the right people (your local clients) and generating as many promising, legitimate leads as possible.
Link-Based SEO
Providing links to your content and website from external sources such as other websites and blogs tells search engines that your site is popular and relevant. This helps you achieve higher rankings and visibility in organic results.
You can participate in link and article exchanges with colleagues or other relevant establishments, which also boosts your rank.
Keywords in Your Content
Keywords, keywords, keywords. They’re everywhere, and you can’t overlook them if you want to be successful in the online market and get the leads you want. You can try to compete with the millions of others who are going for a slice of the same keyword pie, or you can do a little research and find some niche keywords that apply more uniquely to your particular area of practice and geographic location.
A skilled marketing professional can work the right keywords into natural and useful copy to not only attract users, but deliver worthwhile information. Having good optimized content on your side is great for your online and offline reputation.
Optimize Your Social Media Content
If you actively share updates and law information on a micro-blogging site, consider utilizing (or having your marketer utilize) SEO for this type of communication, too. You can make these posts keyword-rich and encourage them to be picked up in search results.
Social media content, such as a regular full-length blog, needs to be optimized too. Clients can find you via your blog or website if you use keywords (especially geographical ones), exchange links, and emphasize words, among other methods. Attempting to gain attention on a social bookmarking website can have its advantages, but over the long-term, simply putting in the effort to optimize your social content as well as your website’s content will pay off and consume less time.
This blog covers but a few of the many possibilities that come along with SEO. There are quite a few solid approaches to the process that all work very well together and yield the desired results. Utilizing the knowledge you have about your client base, you can use the right keywords to attract the attention of the leads you want.
Websites
The Power of a Good Website
As broadband internet becomes more widely available, free wireless networks crop up in cities and towns, and laptops, net books, and PCs become more affordable for everyone, more and more of your law clients are looking to the web for legal information and to find an attorney for their needs.
Having a content-rich website that utilizes Web 2.0 marketing techniques can set you apart from your competitors and give you the edge in the internet marketplace. There are tons of options available that allow you to provide helpful advice and information to leads in order to establish yourself as a trustworthy resource. This blog will explore some of the methods a marketing professional can utilize for you to increase your web visibility and reputation.
Good Content
Having informative, helpful content that incorporates search engine optimization keywords in a natural way can be a great asset for two reasons: it keeps your clients coming back, and it boosts your organic search results on popular search engine sites so you can be sure that new leads will be able to find you.
Targeting your Local Market with Keywords
Using geographically-specific keywords is a great practice for law firms. Clients need an attorney who practices in their city or county, and there is usually less competition for keywords isolated by location. You’ll have to compete with fewer lawyers, and ensure that the leads you obtain via this method are people you will be able to help.
YouTube & Video Content
People respond well to visuals, and seeing a video of you explaining your practice area or accomplishments can incline them to feel more comfortable with selecting your firm for their needs. On a deeper level, your client is looking for someone to represent them and speak on their behalf in a case that is likely very important to them. Being able to hear and see you address them will give them a better feel for your style and make them more likely to choose you for their needs.
Keywords & Functionality
Your site should also incorporate keywords on the technical side, in HTML coding such as title and Meta tags. This is another way of ensuring you rank highly in organic search results and that search engines are able to describe your site and services accurately.
Functionality is a big concern. Ensuring that your navigation and layout appear correctly, that all links and forms work appropriately, and that all of the content is logical and easy to understand can provide your clients with a positive experience that will encourage them to come back and recommend your firm to their friends and colleagues.