legal internet marketing

The internet is not just a communication portal but it is also the biggest global market place. If your law firm is visible on the Internet, you will not only get clients from your city but also from other cities in your state and from other states. According to a survey by NetApplications in January 2009, around 93% of all Internet traffic actually begins at some of the top search engines like Google and Yahoo! So that is what you need to focus on!

The only way to achieve high internet visibility and popularity is by applying the important principles underlined in search engine marketing. Search engine marketing, also known as SEM is basically the process through which you can make several targeted changes on your law firm’s website. This will definitely help your legal website to attract traffic from some of the top search engines like Yahoo!, Google, and MSN.

Law firm Search engine marketing helps in getting your legal website higher ranking within top search engines. But here you need to understand that your main goal is not to achieve top 10 rankings in Google or Yahoo; it is to gain as many clients as possible. The idea is to have a higher number of qualified leads as well as a higher conversion rate. In order to achieve this, you will need to consider the following aspects:

You will need to make several changes to your existing web site so that it can attract better qualified as well as targeted traffic from the top search engines. This is known as on-site optimization.

You will need to increase the number of inbound links. Your website should have good visibility in legal directories and various other websites where your prospective customers are expected to visit. For example: obtaining links in legal directories and from other law firm’s websites helps to improve your sites rankings. This is called off-site optimization and also referred to as Link Building.

On-site Optimization
All search engines as well as internet visitors have one thing in common – they are both hungry for updated content. If your website content is frequently updated then chances are that search engine spiders will be visiting your website more often and you will receive more targeted website traffic.

The only way to improve your search results is by updating your law firm’s website by using search engine friendly as well as prospective customer relevant content. Some of the areas that you need to focus include:

• Use conversational, interactive and jargon-free content
• Use proper phrases and grammatically correct content
• Promote any unique expertise like criminal law
• Include important references
• Focus on improving meta tags as well as title tags for better search engine results
• Create and manage a blog to provide regular updates to the search engines

Off-Site Search Engine Optimization
There are certain factors apart from design and website content that are capable of influencing your search engine rankings. One such factor is the inbound link, which is basically a link on a different website that helps in directing users to your website. This is an important factor because all top search engines identify this as a means of deriving credibility.

If you incorporate both on-site and offsite optimization processes as a part of your internet marketing strategy then it will benefit you in the long-run!