Foster Web Marketing's Blog for Attorneys and Professionals

Three Simple Steps to Attorney Internet Marketing

Read this blog to learn three steps to converting Web visitors into contacts and ultimately contacts into clients.

Yelp & Lawyers: What You Need to Know to Succeed

Millions of people are using Yelp to find local businesses, including lawyers. Find out more about this city guide and why you should even care.

Why You Need to Use Google Places (In Google’s Own Words)

You need to start using Google Places, if you haven’t already. This attorney marketing tool has many great benefits. Read this blog to learn more and to order the free report, Google Places: What Every Lawyer Needs to Know to Dominate.

Attorney SEO Tip: Understand the Mechanics of Search Engines

Read this blog post to learn about the mechanics of search engines. Having an understanding of how search engines operate will help you create an effective attorney SEO strategy.

There Is A Better Strategy For Attorney SEO

Read this blog to find out why it can be detrimental to your attorney Internet marketing campaign if you only focus on a few highly competitive keywords.

Google’s Redesigned Search Results Page Could Impact Your SEO Strategy

Google has released its newly redesigned search results page. Read this blog to find out what that means to your attorney SEO campaign.

Google Local Gets A New Name And More!

Google has announced the re-branding of the Google Local Business Center. This service will now be called Google Places and there are a lot of great features you need to check out.

Even More Benefits of the Long Tail Keyword

There are many benefits of the long tail keyword when it comes to creating an effective attorney SEO campaign. Read this blog to learn more.

Where People Look When Scanning Search Results for Attorney Websites

Is it worth all the time and effort to compete for the top search engine result spots in Google? According to studies, the answer is yes. Find out why you need to focus on your attorney Internet marketing campaign.

People Are Using Smartphones to Find Your Services

Smartphones offer a tremendous opportunity for law firms who want to attract local cases. Read this blog to learn more about Google Local listings and its affect on lawyer marketing.

Using Google Social Search to Promote Yourself & Your Law Firm

Google recently launched a service, known as Social Search. Read this blog to find out how you can use Social Search in your attorney Internet marketing campaign.

Why You Should Care about the Long Tail Keyword

The long tail keyword is important when it comes to lawyer Internet marketing. If you are looking for attorney website design, content management or lawyer web video, contact us at 888.886.0939.

Attorney SEO is an Ongoing Process

Even if you have ranked in the top position of Google for your keywords, it doesn’t mean you should stop your lawyer SEO efforts. Read this blog to learn how to continue to focus on attorney search engine optimization.

Search Engines Are Crawling Your Website: Know What They Looking For

It sounds a little eerie – the fact that search engines crawl each Web page on your site. However, it is important to understand what these search engines are looking for and how they will rank your attorney website.

When a search engine examines your website, it will be looking at many factors.  Below is a list of what they are looking at in terms of priority:

1) URL
2) Page title
3) Meta description
4) Headline
5) Content

As you develop your page titles, descriptions, headlines and content, you need to incorporate the keywords you want to rank for.  These keywords and phrases should include your geographic location, which will help your website rank better for more local search terms.

For example, if you are a car accident attorney in Los Angeles, you will want to use the phrase, “Los Angeles car accident attorney.” Try to stay away from broad key phrases and words and don't always use the same city.  Whenever possible, work in the city that is relevant to the piece of content you are writing about.

By understanding what search engine “crawlers” are looking for, you will be able to take strategic steps to help your site rank well.

For more content tips, read the article, How to Reach Clients in Your Area Through Your Web Content.
 
Order your free copy of the report, The 5 Biggest Mistakes 99% of Lawyers Make With Their Websites.

Do’s and Don’ts of SEO Content

There are definite “do’s and don’ts” when it comes to creating SEO content for your attorney website. Read this blog to learn more.

How Press Releases Can Increase Your Company’s Exposure & Attract Clients

Press releases are great ways to draw more prospects to your attorney website. Read this article to learn more about this important SEO tool.

Key Phrases Are Important to Search Engine Optimization

The key phrases you use on your website will make the difference in your Internet marketing campaign. Choose the key phrases you use on your lawyer website wisely, so that you can boost your SEO efforts.

Are Yellow Pages Ads Worth the Money?

There is a more effective way for lawyers to advertise than in the Yellow Pages. More people are searching online for information and local services. If you focus on creating a powerful Internet marketing campaign, you can attract the attention of these prospects.

Use Web Video to Answer Your Prospect’s Questions and Convert More Leads

Attorney web video is huge. Educational video that answers your prospects’ questions is a great conversion tool. Read this blog to find out more information.

Video Sites That You Can Use For SEO

A list of video sites that allow dofollow backlinks along with video submissions.

Free Books and Reports are Great Conversion Tools

You need to stand out from competing law firms and what better way than to offer a free book or report? Find out how you can grow your client base by offering something valuable for free.

Use Web Video & Free Offers to Build Your List

You can effectively build your list through Internet marketing. By using attorney web video and free offers, you can grow your fan base and get more of the cases you want.

Consider Marketing Your Company on Websites that Review Local Businesses

Have you ever heard of Yelp (Yelp.com)?  It is a website worth checking out, as it publishes millions of reviews about local businesses to help people find the services they need, including law firms.  According to Yelp, the website “allows consumers to share the experiences they've had with local businesses and lets business owners share information about their business with their customers. Simply put, its word of mouth-- amplified.” 

Yelp can be a powerful marketing tool.  You can use Yelp and other similar websites, such as CityGuide (CityGuide.com), that review local businesses, as a way to “get the word out” about your company.  Whenever you finish a case or consultation, ask your client to go to Yelp and write a review for your firm.  If you are active in your community, that is a great way to encourage positive reviews.

Registering your business on Yelp is free.  Once you have a registered account, you can answer questions about your firm, track how many Yelp users view your business page and add up-to-date information about your services.  You can even include your website and profile picture.  If you are curious as to whether your competitors are already using Yelp, visit the website and type in your area of specialty.

Using websites, such as Yelp, is just another great way to take advantage of Internet marketing to grow your business.

How to Combat Low Quality Back Links

The good folks over at the Google Webmaster Central Blog recently launched a post explaining how to identify low-quality links coming into your site and how you may be able to remove them.

In other words, a site that is either low authority or that has nothing to do with law or your geographic location links back to your website for whatever reason and you are sure that it's hurting your search engine rankings.

While Google downplays the importance of the authority of websites linking back to your website (or blog) which may not be 100% accurate, they are pretty correct in that all you can do in this case is e-mail the webmaster and ask them not to link back to your site.

This brings up an important point. A lot of times we'll have a client who had previously hired an SEO company or consultant to build back links to their website ask us to perform monthly link building services on their website. We'll go in and see what types of back links that the previous SEO'ers were able to obtain, and most of the time the results are astonishing.

We'll find links from sites offering anything from women's shoes to Viagra linking back to attorneys' websites, and the clients wonder why they're not ranking on page one and why their Google PageRank is so low.

If you hire an SEO company or consultant to perform search engine marketing, primarily link building, you need to know that they are using white-hat techniques and aren't going out and obtaining links from any website that they can find. Asking for a monthly report breaking down what links were obtained by the company or consultant usually helps you monitor the quality of their work, and always be sure to monitor your back links in Google Webmaster tools.

If you're performing link building on your own, always be sure to only obtain links that are relevant to your practice area or location.

It's very tempting to obtain "crap" links in order to boost your search engine rankings, especially if you see that your competition has done so and is now ranking better than you are, but in the long run quality over quantity will be the equation for your website's success on the search engines.

Compare Old Google vs New Google

We've written recently that Google is launchign a new search engine algorithm, dubbed Google caffeine, as a search engine that indexes faster and displays results faster.

Of course, many have been wondering how their rankings on Google caffeine will stack up against their old rankings.

Well, if you want to see how your web site ranks for certain keywords or keyword phrases on Google's old search engine vs Google's new search engine, Google Caffeine, check out Compare Google to see how your rankings differ.

Simply put in the keyword or keyword phrase that you currently rank for, insert your website or blog's URL, and Compare Google will display your results.