I have a potential client that is extreamly focused on good rankings with google. He currently has his site with FindLaw. I have done some research and google searches anf FindLaw is consistantly ranked high on the firat page results. I have also noticed that close to every search I did there were either no or only one or two listings on the 1st page results that were not a law firm (or lawyer) directory. Is it that hard to get an individual law firms site good rankings with google? I have had success with other industries but have never optomized a site for a law firm. any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks!
It would depend on the specific keyword terms and phrases for which intend or wish to attempt to rank. Your question is near impossible to answer on a broad basis. But is it possible yes; it would depend on the KW and budget to minimize the answer.
How was the competition in the other industries you had success in? What did it take for you to succeed there? In general, everything is doable, and you can beat just about anyone, if your budget is big enough, and you try hard enough. SEO is not a set of simple tricks, it's hard work Do your research, and KNOW what you are doing.
Well, this whole SEO thing is still a bit new to me. The biggest success I have had thus far is for a company that has an old colonal style house where they hold weddings, receptions and business functions. They are between Atlanta, Ga and North Georgia. They wanted to focus on atlanta wedding packages and all in clusive wedding with the word Atlanta incorperated. for both of those searches I have gotten their home page listed near the top of the first page results of Google. The wedding industry, especially in Atlanta, I feel is very competative. So I am proud of myself for that one. I was able to do that mainly with key words and a few links. With the law firm site I simply want to get high Google placement. I don't care about PPC or any other type of marketing...just rankings(not page rank). The firm has a diverse practice so they cover just about any legal field you can think of. So if someone does a Google search for Greensboro DUI lawyer there is only one website on the first page results that is not a directory. I get the same results if you replace DUI with any other law field such as ciminal Defense, Estate Planning, Personal Injury or Civil Litigation. (Greensboro is our city - NC) They Pay $20,000 or more for their FindLaw site and rankings. I have eluded to the fact that I do not like business directories. I was honest and also told them that that may simply be due to the fact that I am on the web all the time and I know better ways of finding what I need. And that most people are novices and they may very well use the directories. I have also mentioned to them that I use some web design directories with little to no results. My main goal would be to get their site good rankings simply through design, keyword density, and some linking from other sites. I am just worried that the law firm market may just be too tough for a newbie like me. I have been completely upfront and honest with them from the get go and I would only optomize their site properly and legally. I guess my main reason for this post is that I am VERY client oriented. I would rather pass up some business (and good money) than not be able to deliver. I recently did two sites for one of the lawyers wives. wait a minute, let me rephrase...I recently did two sites for a client and she is the wife of one of the lawyers in this firm. So you see, I get alot of referall business and I do not want to jepordize that. Wow, this is getting long. Maybe I should start a blog.... I guess one of theother things I am interested in it finding out how effective a FindLaw type directory really is. My potential client has not tracked how their clients found them. So without that info he can only tell me his FindLaw stats: site has had 1815 page views since July 1st. 108 people visited the "contact us page". 82 people visited the individual profile. How much of that translates into actual business I don't know. Oh yea, and they feel like they are paying way too much. I may have overstepped here with this plethera of information, . Please forgive me and ignore the unnecessary parts.
The fact is that they are paying too much for their site and listings at FindLaw, but there in lies part of the problem with the legal profession ... ego, laziness and copycatting all in one. I'm not picking on your friend / client per se .... Ego - they want they names plastered everywhere that their potential competitors are, need to have a bigger ad than their adversary in the yellow pages, and so on. Also, they tend to think (like many professions) that if you throw a lot of money at something, it'll work or be worth the cost. A VW Jetta is the preferred chase vehicle for most agencies performing PSD, but a doctor or lawyer thinks a BMW or Bentley is the way to go for example. Laziness - this kind of goes back to the latter part of the earlier comment. A lawyer will pay excessive money for a cookie cutter site that's full of duplicate content that will never rank; realtors are good for this too ... doesn't work. They'd be better off going through the pains of giving solid, unique content to a designer to design a unique site indicative to them alone. Copycatting - if it's good for Joe and the thousands of other lawyers, I need it too; it must work. To achieve your goal, I would suggest that for this project that you team up with a reputable SEO who has a proven track record. This will help you help your client and learn along the way. To obtain geographically-keyword specific rankings for an attorney site is possible, but it won't be as easy as doing some on-page SEO and doing a few backlinks.
If they're not already, they should be tracking the leads that Findlaw sends them. It shouldn't be difficult for them to find out if that $20k is bringing in enough business to justify the cost. From what you wrote, it sounds like they're not tracking it at all, and that's just silly it should be easy enough to setup a system to track it.
The question is still a bit broad but it is possible to out rank other sites with the following criteria. 1. Ensure site content is tightly mapped to the targeted keyword(s) Make a single page for each keyword if necessary. Title tag and H1 and H2 tags are the most important. 2. Analyze the competition. a) try to get links from sites that link to them. Focus on PR4 and higher sites. Note: If possible ensure the URL link is for your keyword instead of just the firms name or website name. 3. $20K? They should really test pay-per-click to see if it would yield similar results.
Just to up date, after looking back at some of the figures I have from my potential client, they are actually paying about $12,000 a year. Thanks for all of your feedback. I actually fell a bit better now about the situation. One more thing. This is the first time I have posted on this forum and compared to many of the other forums I visit, You all gave me VERY fast replys that were extreamly helpful. Thanks again...and I'll be back soon...