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Hi. This is Corey Burke. Thank you very much for your request. I‘m grateful for the opportunity to provide you with information about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and help you choose an SEO company that can get your law firm the traffic and leads it deserves.
I‘ve been deeply involved with SEO for over 7 years and in that time I‘ve learned that Search Engine Optimization is the subject of much confusion. In fact, people have so many misconceptions about SEO that I decided to offer this consumer education message. That way, when you‘re selecting an SEO expert to work with your law firm, you can make an informed, intelligent decision.
Over the last few years, having a strong internet presence has become essential for law firms hoping to gain and maintain clients. In order to help consumers find exactly what they are looking for, search engines such as Google continuously refine and alter their algorithms. Given this ever-changing landscape, you can no longer simply throw up a website and expect to show up on the first page of search results.
A need to improve visibility prompted the growth of the Search Engine Optimization market. Good SEO companies help clients gain better rankings in search engines and thus increase those companies‘ sales and revenue. If you want your law firm to be successful online, at some point it will become necessary to utilize SEO for your website.
In just a moment, I‘ll share with you how to avoid 4 SEO rip-offs, detail six costly misconceptions about SEO, and offer six mistakes to avoid when choosing an SEO company. Plus, I‘ll give you four recommendations and seven questions you should ask an SEO expert before you invite them to be an integral part of your law firm.
Please call the Legal Marketing Advantage team if you have any questions about
SEO—our number is 1-800-234-5998. We‘re fully committed to educating lawyers about the benefits and rewards of ethical, effective, and consistent Search Engine
Optimization. We‘re happy to help you in any way we can, especially if that means getting you onto the top of page one search results!
Warm regards, Corey Burke President
Legal Marketing Advantage
Toll Free: 1-800-234-5998
www.legalmarketingadvantage.com
How to Avoid 4 SEO Rip Offs!
Rip Off #1 “Unbelievably Low Price”
When someone is charging a low fee, there may be unexplained add-ons on the final bill. The last thing you want is to be taken advantage of by an illegal bait and switch scheme.
Rip Off #2 “Ineffective Link Building”
Link building is the cornerstone of effective SEO. But if an SEO company is promising to get you a ton of links, you have to be careful about where they‘re placing links to your firm‘s website. Harmful or ineffective link-building sites can include those blacklisted by search engines, those that only go after directory listings, or those that fall into the category of what‘s known as a ―Link Farm.‖ It‘s important for you to know what SEO companies look for when choosing where to place links to your site, and that they‘ll give you regular progress reports laying out the sites that they use to link back to your page.
Rip Off #3 “Lack of Tracking”
Anyone can say that SEO is working for you, or that it just takes time, but how do you really know work is being done? Tracking is the key. You want to make sure that your SEO company gives you detailed breakdowns of your listings in search engines for designated keywords and that you can see any fluctuations in your results over time. You also need to know how many people are coming to your site and from where. To this end, a good analytics program can tell you all of this via quarterly tracking, and any SEO company worth its weight in gold would be ready and willing to provide this
information.
Rip Off #4 “Fake Guarantee”
Believe it or not, some companies out there will offer you a ―fake‖ guarantee. What they basically say is, ―If you don‘t see results, you can have another year free of charge.‖ Truth be told, if you‘re not seeing results in your first year with that company, why would you want a second year of ―no results‖ for free? The best way around this is to work with someone who offers a money back guarantee. This way you truly have no risk. If you don‘t see results, you ought to be able to get your money back.
7 Costly Misconceptions About SEO:
Misconception #1 “All links are the same”
No. This is simply not true. Google and other search engines have ways to measure the value of a link pointing to your site. They look at the content on the linking page to decide if it is relevant, has authority, can be trusted, and what value it should be assigned.
Going out and getting tons of links to your site is not the way to go if those links aren‘t on trusted platforms. It takes time, research, and precision to build strong, relevant links that point to your website. Make sure that your law firm‘s SEO company is going to put a plan in place that will build you a collection of strong, relevant links that point not just to your homepage, but to deeper, more specialized pages within your web domain. And as mentioned before, make sure to ask for a list of the sites that they‘ve built links from. This will allow you to check their work to make sure the link actually exists and that it is on a relevant site that you would truly want linking to your business.
Misconception #2 “All SEO Services are identical”
No. In older western movies, you could always tell the bad guy from the good guy because the villain wore a black hat while the hero wore a white hat. But it‘s not as easy to distinguish the good from the bad when dealing with SEO. If it sounds like your SEO expert is trying to ―trick‖ the Search Engines using suspect strategies, they‘re probably utilizing a Black Hat technique. These techniques can and will be spotted by Search Engines, putting your law firm‘s entire web presence at risk if your site is banned by a search engine.
How can you tell White Hat techniques from Black Hat? Well, if the technique involves providing high quality, valuable content to the reader, then it is probably on the level. But if it is sneaky, underhanded and hinges on trying to trick search engines into ranking you higher, rest assured that the SEO company is likely using Black Hat tactics and will soon be caught, damaging your firm‘s online viability.
So please, make sure that your SEO is using only White Hat techniques.
Misconception #3 “I have to figure out how to beat Google”
Not true. A lot of people feel that they‘re competing with Google when they‘re working on getting their site ranked. This is simply inaccurate. You are not competing with Google; you‘re competing with all of the other law firms whose sites appear on the first page of results for keywords relevant to your practice area.If you want to get on the first page, you need to look at what your competition‘s doing to get there and emulate that. If you can analyze everything that the search engine is looking for and strive to comply with those constantly shifting algorithms, then chances are extremely good that you‘ll show up high in the results too. But don‘t stop there. Copying other law firms isn‘t enough; you have to do what they‘re doing and then use your knowledge to be even better! A good SEO company should be able to help you do just that.
Misconception #4 “As long as I have a ton of keywords on my
website, I’m okay.”
Not anymore. It used to be that you could write a paragraph of text, ―stuff‖ it with keywords and then get some rankings in the search engines.
For example, if you wanted to rank for ―pasta‖ only a few years ago, you‘d write
something like, ―I love pasta and if you love pasta as much as I love pasta you‘re going to love our new assortment of organic pastas. So pick up the phone and place your order for our new organic pasta today!‖
Well, the sad news for websites (but good for grammar) is that you can‘t do that anymore, at least not if you expect to rank well. Not to mention the fact that potential clients are NOT going to be tempted to follow through with a consultation on their case if your site reads like it was written by a child. Make sure that you write something that is beneficial and compelling to your clients as well as to search engines and watch your ranks go up exponentially.
Something like this would be more in line with acceptable copy: ―I just checked with the shipping department and they informed me that our new line of organic pasta has arrived! Your mouth will be watering when you bite into our delicious angel hair and linguini. Don‘t forget that we also have a nutritious line of enriched macaroni, fusilli, and bow tie noodles. As an added bonus, every order gets a free jar of our organic, fair trade Marinara Sauce!‖
Can you read the difference? One reads like you are trying to be tricky and the other flows naturally as a paragraph that people would actually want to read. And it doesn‘t hurt that the latter just so happens to be filled with your desired keywords. Make sure that you write for your readers, and the search engines will reward your efforts.
Misconception #5 “All I need to be more successful is more
traffic to my website”
It‘s true that more traffic to your site can bring more awareness to your law firm, but this is only so effective. You also need a high conversion rate. If thousands of people come to your site but they don‘t call to receive a legal consultation, then something is clearly
wrong. You want to make sure that your SEO company is going to test out new designs for your landing pages, web copy, and more so as to improve conversion rate.
If you get 100 people to your site and only one person calls about a consultation, then that‘s a 1% conversion rate. However, if you get your conversion rate up to say 10%, that‘s 10 potential new clients that you‘ve just taken on without needing additional visitors. Couple that with added traffic and your law firm‘s case load could increase dramatically. It‘s all about working smarter as well as harder.
Misconception #6 “The company that offers the lowest price is
the company you should hire.”
Maybe -- but not always. Here are two important points to consider.
Point #1: The price that you see offered may not be for services that you necessarily want performed.
Before you select a company, decide what you want to accomplish. If you want your SEO firm to use outdated or prohibited techniques, there are hundreds of companies to choose from. You can even spend months, or even years, and learn to do it on your own if cost is the issue.
On the other hand, if you want your site to be fully optimized, using up-to-date, industry standard, cutting-edge SEO strategies, then you need to hire a company that continues to further their education and constantly tests everything they do. This is the only way to ensure that your website is going to perform to its highest potential and not get banned by the search engines.
Point #2: The price you see advertised may not be the price you pay.
Many website owners have learned that the low price they saw advertised was not the amount they ended up being charged.
If you‘ve ever hired a so-called SEO ―expert‖ with shaky credentials, you too may have been the victim of false or misleading advertising. You probably learned the hard way that some SEO companies offer a cheap price and then pressure you into paying a lot more once they‘ve been hired to maintain your site. Some of them may even be break the law by using illegal bait and switch tactics.
As in all businesses and professions, the SEO industry has its share of bad apples. I take no pleasure in telling you this, but it‘s true that, as in any business, some SEO firms are unethical and dishonest. With their misleading advertising, false promises, and poor practices, they cast a dark shadow on our entire industry. Don‘t make the mistake of getting involved with such a company.
Misconception #7 “I want to rank for the keyword with the most
traffic”
I wish this were true, but it isn‘t. If you sell digital cameras, you‘d probably want to rank for the word ―camera,‖ right? Not necessarily. You might be thinking, ―But the word ‗camera‘ gets over 8,000 searches per day!‖ This may be true, but over the past few years, people have become much more savvy when using search engines.
Today, if a person is looking to buy a camera, they‘re not going to just type in ―camera‖ and hit search. It‘s much more likely that they‘ll type in the model number and brand name. For example, a person might type ―Nikon Coolpix S560‖ and be inclined to purchase something from the site(s) that show up on the first page. This is called a ―longtail‖ search term. Many times, tooling your website toward such queries is far more effective when it comes to conversion.
What are the services your firm offers that people may search for? What are the problems inherent in getting eyeballs to that area of your practice?
Are you betting that people will find your site by typing in ―Lawyer?‖ That probably won‘t happen. You‘ll have more success if for example you gear your site to show up when users type in ―Salt Lake City car accident lawyer.‖ See the difference? Try to get a little more specific. Target the right consumer instead of a person just kicking the tires.
6 Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing an
SEO Company
Mistake #1
Choosing a Company Without Testimonials – If their clients aren‘t sayinggood things about them, how can you expect them to do good work for you?
Mistake #2
Choosing a Company That Doesn‘t Offer a Guarantee – If they are notwilling to back up their work with a guarantee, chances are they are not doing good work.
Mistake #3
Choosing a Company That Doesn‘t Have Good Results Themselves – Ifthey can‘t get listed or don‘t have traffic to their site, how the heck can they do the same for you?
Mistake #4
Choosing a Company that Employs Black Hat SEO Techniques– Theseyour site and business at risk. You don‘t want a search engine ban derailing your law firm.
Mistake #5
Choosing a Company That Doesn‘t Track Their Results – If they don‘ttrack what they‘re doing, how will you be able to know that their techniques are working for you? Make sure they offer you tracking reports so that you know you‘re getting your money‘s worth.
Mistake #6
Choosing a Company That Doesn‘t Stay Up to Date with CurrentPractices – Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms. When they do, outdated strategies will not suffice. If a company is using old techniques, you won‘t see any benefits.
The Difference Between Value and Price.
When it comes to SEO, money should be no object, in an ideal world, but in today‘s economy the price of a high quality SEO company is likely a concern. We get that. With the financial strains that businesses are currently being put under, you need to make sure that each dollar you invest is going to work hard for you.You can pay good money and get decent SEO services out there, but how much of that money are you getting back through new cases? How would you know if you were? You need to be able to track everything that‘s going on and be able to test, test and then test some more. It‘s called optimization after all. Making the online presence of your website the strongest that it can be is your goal! And it should be your SEO company‘s
obligation as well.
4 Quick Start SEO Recommendations
If you‘re thinking about having Search Engine Optimization done to your site, I offer these four recommendations:
Recommendation #1
Make a commitment to yourself to get your site optimizedso that you‘ll be easier to find in the search engines. The longer you wait, the more business you‘re losing every day. These aren‘t just numbers; these are people that won‘t be able to benefit from your law firm‘s representation because they can‘t find you.
Recommendation #2
List your objectives. Do you only want your site to be an electronic business card, something that just sits there not attracting any attention? Or do you want your site to be a fully functioning online representation of theprofessionalism and service you can offer to each and every one of your clients? While you sleep, a high quality SEO company such as Legal Marketing Advantage can bring to your site a steady stream of new clients in need of legal assistance. Don‘t you want to work with an honest, reputable company? Or are you willing to risk working with a company that simply offers you the lowest price, knowing all the while that that company might not be in business tomorrow?
Recommendation #3
Ask questions. The best way to learn about a company is toask specific questions and listen carefully to the answers. Here are questions you should find useful:
1. What type of tracking do you do and how often can I look at the reports? What areas do you track?
2. Are you going to be working on on-page factors, off-page factors, or both? 3. How many new links can I expect to get per month?
4. How many keywords are you going to optimize my site for? And are you going to look into longtail keywords?
5. Do you have testimonials I can look at? 6. What training have you had in SEO?
7. What method of link building do you recommend?
Recommendation #4
Once you‘re satisfied that you‘re working with an honest,competent professional, invite them to perform a business audit and request that they provide a quotation in writing. A written quotation gives you the assurance that you know exactly what your job will cost – no surprises.
Conclusion
By following the information in this report, you‘ll gain all the knowledge you need to make an informed, intelligent decision on which SEO company is right for you. If you want a careless, cheap SEO service, then there are many companies on the Internet who would be willing to help you. But if you want your website to be fully optimized both on-page and off-page – bringing you more traffic, increased conversions, and an
expansive client base – then I invite you to call Legal Marketing Advantage.
I‘ll be happy to answer your questions and even provide you a rough cost estimate over the phone without any kind of obligation on your part. To reach us, simply call 1 (800) 234-5998. Or, if you prefer, just email us your name and telephone number and we‘ll be glad to call at a time that‘s most convenient for you.
One last point: We know that many consumers are skeptical about SEO companies. Before we got into this business, we were skeptical too. That‘s why, in addition to dedicating ourselves entirely to getting your law firm to the top of the search engine results, we offer a guarantee that your rankings will improve with us doing your online marketing. We offer this guarantee on every SEO job we do. If you aren‘t happy with our work, then we‘ll do it again for free. And if you still aren‘t pleased, you pay nothing. Not one cent.
What could be more fair?
Thanks very much for taking the time to read this. I hope you found this information helpful. I know trudging into the world of Search Engine Optimization can be a lot to handle, but if you have any questions or comments, or if you‘d like to schedule a free quote, please call us at (800) 234-5998, or email us at:
We would be pleased to assist you in any way we can. I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Thanks again! Corey Burke
Legal Marketing Advantage
P.S. There‘s one more thing…
…a Special Limited Time Offer!
Now, and for a limited time only, we‘d like to offer you a free ―Law Firm Website
Are You Ready to Gain More New Clients
Via the Internet?
If your answer is ―YES!‖, then take advantage of our FREE ($250 value) 30-minute phone ―Law Firm Website Optimization‖ Audit.
Our 30-minute ―Law Firm Website Optimization‖ Audit can be the first step toward getting the results that you and your website deserve!
Your custom tailored Optimization Audit will:
Identify key issues that could be harming your website without you even knowing it.
Look at where your website stands compared to your competitors.
Determine whether SEO is the appropriate route for you to take.
Uncover hidden revenue that you're leaving on the table.
Offer recommendations that you can put to use immediately.
This is your chance to have one of our SEO experts assist you personally as you commit to your success online!
Call us at 1-800-234-5998 or click here to fill out our online form to schedule your appointment.