I encourage every lawyer to understand some basics about how search engines work. In fact, we have made it a priority to provide several educational materials for law firms on the subject of search engine optimization. However, the question of do-it-yourself seo vs. hiring a professional continues to circulate throughout the web.

As the saying goes, “He Who is His Own Lawyer Has a Fool for a Client”. Is the same true when it comes to seo for your law firm? The answer, sometimes.

There are many basic seo tasks that most relatively web-savvy attorneys can probably handle on their own. Optimization of title tags, use of images, and headings, etc. just to name a few.

Free Guide: Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google Do You Want To Know How To Get Potential Clients To Find Your Law Firm On Google? Download AttorneySync's Free Guide On Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google.

And there are some additional methods, that are vitally important to generating results, like link building, that aren’t necessarily complicated, as much as time-consuming.

Free Guide: How To Build Links For Your Law Firm Website Want to learn how to get your law firm website more trusted, authoritative, and in front of more potential clients? Download AttorneySync's Free Guide On Building Links For Your Law Firm Website.

However, there are a whole lot more that require more technical web knowledge than most attorneys would ever care to have.

The truth is that the decision of whether or not to hire an seo consultant really depends on your web marketing goals and the level of competition in your segment of the legal services market.

Let’s face it, if you’re a Chicago personal injury lawyer, law firm internet marketing competitive landscape is saturated. Having an experienced law firm seo consultant is essential.

On the other hand, if you’re an intellectual property lawyer in Boise, you may find that you are able to produce some significant results on your own.

The decision of whether or not to hire a professional shouldn’t be taken lightly. Costs associated with law firm search engine optimization can be pretty steep. Also, due to the disparity between what most lawyers know about seo, and the low barrier of entry to becoming an “seo expert”, there is a lot of “snake oil” in the market.

Generally speaking, hiring an seo is a lot like hiring a lawyer. You can avoid a lot of headache by researching your law firm seo, talking to their clients, and simply by searching for them on Google. Let’s face it, if they can’t generate business for themselves on Google, how are they going to generate business for you?

Free Guide: Hiring A Law Firm SEO Consultant Are you looking to increase your visibility online but are feeling overwhelmed by the number of service professionals promising the world to you? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide On Hiring A Law Firm SEO Consultant.

Google Local Business Center Listing

Getting your law firm found in Google is all about local search results.  One of the free tools that Google provides for local businesses is their Google Local Business Center listing.

Optimizing Your Listing

David Mihm has put together a fantastic report to help you better understand the local search ranking factors for your LBC listing. In his own words:

Participants were asked to rate the importance of 49 criteria with respect to their influence on rankings in the Google and Yahoo Local “Universal” search algorithms (those that drive the 10-pack, 3-pack, and authoritative onebox search results; NOT the standard organic algorithms)

This is the second annual report and you can read it here.

Free Guide: Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google Do You Want To Know How To Get Potential Clients To Find Your Law Firm On Google? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide On Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google.

AttorneySync’s newest free guide, How To Build Links For Your Law Firm Website, is available for download.

In the world of search engines, links TO a web page equal votes for that page. But not all link-votes are created equal. A link from CNN.com is much stronger than a link from a site that you just set up today. In this sense, links are the “currency” of the web. Any successful search marketing campaign involves link building.

This Guide Will Give You A Proper Introduction To Building Links To Your Law Firm’s Website Including:

• Common Strategies For Building Links
• Why Having A Content Creation Strategy Is Important
• How NOT To Ask For Links
• Types Of Websites You Want Links From
• The Importance Of Having A Diverse Link Profile

Download your free guide: How To Get Get Links For Your Law Firm’s Website today!

On Page Optimization In 52 Seconds

There are many factors that go into a successful search engine optimization campaign. As a start, it’s important that you include properly researched keywords into certain areas of your site. This video will show you several key areas or your site where you should include keyword phrases. You can learn more about implementing law firm SEO strategy by downloading our Short Guide To Getting Your Law Firm Found In Google below.

Free Guide: Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google Do You Want To Know How To Get Potential Clients To Find Your Law Firm On Google? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide On Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google.

Great heads-up from Jerry Work at Work Media Internet Marketing on a classic law firm seo magic trick. It’s unfortunate how many law firms are falling for it right now.

Here’s how the trick typically plays out:

SEO “expert” claims that she can take a specific, relevant keyword and get ranked number one on Google very quickly. She performs her SEO magic, and viola, Number 1!

However, the web page she optimized is the ONLY result returned by Google for a search of that keyword. Which means, there was not a single other web page competing against her page for that keyword.

It is easy to be number one when you have ZERO competition!

So, how do you avoid this nonsense? Hold your law firm seo accountable for producing results, not rankings. Make sure you are getting traffic increases, conversion increases, and ultimately clients. I mean after all, any law firm marketing should eventually generate more client revenue than it costs.

Excellent information on Universal Search Optimization by Ron Jones at Search Engine Watch.

Universal search refers to video, images, local search, news, shopping, or other rich content that shows up in results. Jones gives detailed advice about how to optimize for:

Image Search

Video Search

Local Search

News

Social Media

and Blogs

There are several advantages to optimizing for universal search. Often times the competition is lower in these arenas. Further, it is clear that universal search is the future of searching on the internet. On several occasions, Google has indicated how drastically different its results pages will appear as a result of universal search results. From a marketing perspective, universal search creates a highly interactive environment that increases the user’s engagement and will likely lead to higher conversions.

When it comes to marketing your law firm online, optimizing for universal search results is one of the strongest online strategies. Despite the saturation of poorly executed law firm videos online, video can be one of the strongest ways to convert a visitor into an actionable new client lead. However, in order to enjoy the benefits that video marketing can have, your video has to “get found”.

Free Guide: How To Get Your Law Firm Videos Found In YouTube Want to learn how to get your law firm videos in front of more potential clients? Download AttorneySync's Free Guide On Getting Your Law Firm Videos Found On YouTube.

While it’s a relative “oldie” (2008), Eric Enge of Stone Temple Consulting and Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz, discuss a variety of bulk link building strategies. SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday-Link Building Tactics from White to Black.

When it comes to link-building, these guys know their stuff. This brief video breaks down the spectrum from pristine white hat tactics, to fringe black hat. Knowing how to attract links (and more importantly, how not to) can be the difference in beating-out your competitors when it comes to seo for your law firm.

One of the best things about the Firefox web browser are the add-ons and extensions developers have created to make Firefox a much more powerful tool than simply a browser. One of our favorites here at AttorneySync is Rank Checker from SEObook. (FYI you should subscribe to this blog as well if you have any interest in learning more about search engine optimization.)

The rank checker is a free tool that allows you to easily check your current ranking for any number of keywords across as many domains as you like. It will tell you your current position in all three major search engines, Google, Yahoo, & Bing. Even though you should focus more on your traffic levels and analytics as opposed to obsessing over your rankings, it’s still a good idea to keep track of your positions.

Free Guide: Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google Do You Want To Know How To Get Potential Clients To Find Your Law Firm On Google? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide On Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google.

At first, it might seem odd that we would tell lawyers that seo might not be for them. After all, law firm search engine optimization is what we do. The truth is, the success or failure of any marketing effort, including search engine marketing, varies greatly from one firm to another.

So the question becomes, what common “traits” do law firms that have success with search engine marketing generally have? Here are just a few that we have observed:

The More You Know

At the risk of stating the obvious, the more you know about search engine optimization, the more success you will have. Obviously, if you’re doing your own seo, the more you know about it, the better your chances of success. However, even if you’re very knowledgeable about how and what to do, your success might be limited about how much time you have to execute a comprehensive web marketing campaign.

For those that have (or are considering) the services of a professional law firm seo consultant, the more you know will also positively impact your chances for success. You will be able to weed-out the scams from the legitimate service providers. You will also be able to more accurately measure the performance of your seo provider. We find that our best clients tend to be those that have a basic understanding of how search engine marketing works.

Your Firm’s Internal Systems

This may be the most important part gauge of whether you will have success, not only with search engine marketing, but any kind of marketing at all. Who answers your phone? How do you manage your emails? What is your new client intake process? These systems will impact any marketing effort. However, when it comes to web marketing, their effects are greatly magnified. The main reason for this is that internet users have short attention spans and very little patience. If someone finds your firm online, calls your office, and gets a recording, chances are they will simply call the next firm. Too many law firms are overly confident that internet users contact their firms based on their “online reputation”.

Don’t get me wrong. Some users will perform extensive research about you and your experience and building your online reputation is extremely important. However, many more internet users are using search engines like the yellow book. They search, they call, they move on. If your firm’s internal systems don’t accommodate short attention spans, you will lose valuable opportunities.

Your Relationship With Your Law Firm SEO Consultant

As with any professional relationship, your relationship with your law firm seo consultant will play a huge part in your chances of success. Think about your relationship with your own clients. If expectations aren’t properly set, there’s a lack of communication, and incentives are misaligned, your likelihood of getting a favorable result for your client will be diminished. The same is true with your marketing consultant.

In the end, there’s really no secret formula to having success with marketing your law firm online. While there are some general principles, each law firm has unique needs and goals. Therefore, each SEO campaign must be tailored to meet those needs and goals. Your success or failure will depend greatly on how well your law firm search engine optimization plan addresses your firm’s particular goals.

Free Guide: Hiring A Law Firm SEO Consultant Are you looking to increase your visibility online but are feeling overwhelmed by the number of service professionals promising the world to you? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide On Hiring A Law Firm SEO Consultant.

A simple search for “seo secrets” will reveal just how secretive the SEO community claims to be. “Get the secrets to making tons of money online!” “Top Secrets an SEO company will not want you to know.” “Unlocking the Secrets of SEO. “

I suppose that it shouldn’t be too surprising that many lawyers are still looking for that “magic bullet” SEO strategy that will get them to rank #1 for their most competitive key phrases.  What is more surprising, is how much money lawyers are willing to invest in chasing these “holy grail” SEO schemes.

The truth is, search engine optimization for your law firm is not about secrets at all. It’s a combination of technical know-how, effort, time, and even some skill.  While it is true that SEO is still “greek” to many lawyers, more and more are learning and implementing some basics on their websites.  What most of these SEO-savvy lawyers learn is that having success takes time, the most scarce resource for any practicing lawyer.

That is when getting help makes sense.  While some search engine optimization can be effectively performed in-house, many others are better performed by those that have experience marketing a law firm online.  Even if you don’t completely outsource your law firm SEO, getting guidance and assistance is likely to make your efforts both more effective and efficient.

Free Guide: Hiring A Law Firm SEO Consultant Are you looking to increase your visibility online but are feeling overwhelmed by the number of service professionals promising the world to you? Download AttorneySync’s Free Guide On Hiring A Law Firm SEO Consultant.

One of the first questions you have to ask yourself, is what is the value of your professional time?  If you operate under a “billable hour” model, you probably know exactly how much your professional time is worth to you.  In many cases, hiring someone else to perform various SEO tasks will cost far-less than using your own professional time to perform them.

As is the case with all marketing, the most important aspects to any law firm search engine marketing campaign are effectiveness and efficiency.  How well is the campaign actually working and how much more revenue is the campaign generating than it is costing?

There are really no secrets to lawyer internet marketing at all.

Free Guide: Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google Do You Want To Know How To Get Potential Clients To Find Your Law Firm On Google? Download AttorneySync's Free Guide On Getting Your Law Firm Found On Google.