|
|
February 20th, 2012
Just as most all professions are guided by a set of rules, the SEO world also has certain rules and code of conduct which should be followed by all those engaged in the business of SEO, and even those of us who undertake SEO practices for our personal websites should certainly be aware of the rules we should make every effort to follow. Most of us know the difference between right and wrong, and would not consider engaging in a practice which is obviously dishonest, however some of the SEO rules are ones you might not have fully considered. Additionally, because SEO changes and grows nearly daily, it is hard to maintain a “universal” SEO code of conduct, but following these general rules will ensure you never cross the ethical line.
The Most Basic Code
Slander is slander, whether in real life on online, and as such you should always scrupulously avoid it. Slander is providing any type of false information which would defame another person. Your goal is to make your own site, and your own brand look good to the public and to Google, however success is not achieved by going out of your way to make your competition look bad, no matter how tempting that might be.
Follow the rules as set out by Google, Yahoo, Bing, or other search engines—whether you agree with them or not, attempting to find a way around these rules will ultimately cause your site and your rankings to suffer. If you work for others, performing SEO for their business, remember they are trusting you with their personal information, and all privacy policies you would use in the traditional sense are applicable online as well.
Never, ever, sacrifice private or personal information no matter how valuable it could potentially be. If you use someone else’s work, give them credit, never claim it as your own. This is plagiarism, and is illegal. Copying and pasting may seem harmless, but it absolutely is not. Finally, if it’s against the law in your everyday world, it is against the law online. Take care with copyrighted names or trademarks so others don’t mistakenly believe you are associated with a particular company that in reality you are not.
More Specific Rules of SEO
You should take care to never employ so-called “black hat” techniques which include using mirror pages or sites, link farms, hidden texts, hidden links which promote websites, doorway pages or keywords written in minute text. By the same token, never take credit for another’s creativity in any way, shape or form, and never use unauthorized software or tools for web promotion. Websites which are made for AdSense, but consist of scraped content are completely unethical, as is deliberately misspelling well-known websites. If you are engaging in keyword stuffing and loading pages with irrelevant words in an attempt to boost your search engine rankings, you may get short term results, but they absolutely will not be lasting ones, plus you could cause your site to be banned from the Internet altogether. Essentially any method which tries to trick the search engines violates the SEO code of conduct
SEO tactics which are both ethical and provide long-term, long-lasting positive results include optimizing your existing web pages and HTML code, engaging in organic link building to get high quality inbound links, and going out of your way to build a website which offers great value to users. Ethical practices make everyone involved in the entire Internet process a winner, so make sure you always adhere to these rules.
Tags: website law firm design
Posted in Google SEO | Comments Off on Is There a Code of Ethics in the SEO World?
February 17th, 2012
Deep linking is a technique which has had its critics in the past, and, in fact, was subject to a lawsuit involving Ticketmaster, nearly a decade ago. Ticketmaster sued a rival company known as Tickets.com in the United States District Court of California claiming Tickets.com featured links which took consumers deep within Ticketmaster’s site, bypassing home pages. When the courts were finished with the case, the bottom line was that while it was fine to link to another’s home page, deep linking without permission was a definite no-no. So, all these years later, where do we stand with deep linking, and is it beneficial to your site?
What is Deep Linking?
A “regular” link points to the home page of a website, such as yahoo.com, while a deep link points to a specific web page inside yahoo. In the same manner, a regular link would point to Facebook.com, while a deep link would take you to a specific member profile or specific page within Facebook.
What’s So Bad about Deep Linking?
Larger companies discourage deep linking into their website, feeling it sends visitors directly to a specific page they are interested in, bypassing sponsor advertising or other features that are fiscally beneficial to the company. In other words, although the user is getting exactly what they want through following a deep link, the company may not be getting every last penny they possibly can from consumers.
In some cases, deep linking can also be considered detrimental to the company being linked to simply because they have their web pages in a certain sequence, and that specific sequence is necessary to gain the maximum benefit from the site. If someone posts a deep link to page 17 which bypasses the prior pages which are leading up to 17, then the user has potentially lost some of the value of the site.
What’s Great about Deep Linking?
In fact there are many exceptional benefits of deep linking; it has been definitively shown that getting from a homepage to a specific product page contributes to over a fourth of the failures in getting a user to purchase a product. When deep linking is incorporated, the user does not have to spend inordinate amounts of time navigating a company’s unwieldy website in search of a specific product. When users are taken directly to the information they are looking at, then the conversion rates go up significantly, whereas if the link is only to the homepage of a company, the user must take many more steps to find the exact product they are looking for.
Even though companies might be losing out on the user seeing the initial advertisements on their home page, the payoff generally offsets that minor disadvantage many times over. Many of us have suffered through such a situation: we want a simple item such as a recipe for chocolate-chip cookies. After typing the words into the search bar, we are taken to a homepage that wants us to do many more things, and wants to give us the royal runaround before finally giving us the recipe we wanted. It can be extremely aggravating for consumers with limited time who merely want what they want in the most expedient manner possible.
Deep linking can boost your website’s page ranking, and, if done in an ethical manner is not only perfectly legal, but can also improve the site you are linking to by providing enhanced customer satisfaction to users.
Tags: add link attorney, add link law firm, add link lawyer, add link legal, Website Link Building
Posted in Link Building | Comments Off on Is Deep Linking Still in Legal Limbo?
February 16th, 2012
Most all of us tend to judge others, at least in part, by our first impression of how they appear or present themselves. We judge businesses in much the same way. And guess what—we also judge businesses by how we perceive their website. In fact, the Stanford Web Credibility Project states that at least seventy-five percent of us freely admit to making judgments about a business’s credibility based solely on the website design and presentation. After reading that sentence you may be frantically wondering just how many times your site has been judged, whether that judgment was positive or negative and if it has hurt your rankings and conversions.
What is Credibility?
Of course credibility is important in your virtual business, but it can be just as much, if not more, credible in your online business. You may be wondering just what credibility really is. It its most concise form, credibility encompasses both expertise in your field and a solid feeling of trustworthiness. If your website visitors perceive your site as truthful and unbiased they will view you—the person behind the website—as experienced and knowledgeable. Add all these qualities together, and you have credibility. Consider the truly massive amount of information on the web, and you will see why it is more important than ever to stand out from all the rest, but only in the best kind of way. People find credible websites appealing, and the most highly credible websites are able to actually change the attitudes and behavior of their users.
Design Mistakes Which Can Damage Your Site’s Credibility
Elements of your design, including photos, graphics, dominant colors and your company logo all mix together to provide credibility. Research has shown, for instance, that when websites use a dominant red background in their design, users perceive the site as evil or dangerous. Very dark colors were found to give a sense of foreboding, and all in all there were few positive reactions to extreme colors of any type. Pictures and logos are harder to get a handle on, as the reactions to both were mostly based on personal preference. All of those questioned during the research on website design agreed that a website needed, first and foremost, to appear professional.
Positive Design Aspects Which Increase Credibility and Conversions
Keep your site professional, and make it extremely easy to verify the accuracy of all information on your site. You can do this through third party citations or links to your source data. Make a point of playing up the expertise behind the products, content and services you provide. It should be apparent that there is organization behind your site, and it should be very easy to find contact information for you.
Be sure to add your physical address and phone number as this is one of the primary ways you will build trust among your users. You want users to have no doubt that your organization is real, so provide evidence that you have a real business in the real world. You can show photos of your office, or list your membership with your local Chamber. Your site should be useful, but should also be easy to use. Update content often to give your users the sense that you are reviewing your site often. Don’t go crazy with advertisements or offers—users find it distracting and a little tacky. Avoid errors of any kind—even the smallest error in spelling, grammar, sentence structure or information can damage your overall credibility. Take the extra time and proofread not once, but several times.
If you have followed standard website design guidelines, then you should begin to see the fruits of your efforts very soon through increased traffic and a boost in your rankings. Building trust takes time, whether in real life or online, but the reward is worth the time.
Tags: Website design for attorneys
Posted in Lawyer Website Design | Comments Off on How Your Users Will Judge Your Business by Your Website
February 15th, 2012
While most all of us certainly set out with only the best intentions and motives when building our website through organic SEO and link building, we may inadvertently stumble and fall along the way. Whether these falls are due to inexperience, sheer carelessness or simple short-sightedness, they all have the same end result—they short-circuit our efforts to move our site up the ranks in an ethical manner.
Haste Really Can Makes Waste
The old adage is especially true in this context, and rushing around to add as many links as possible in the shortest amount of time can end up causing you serious grief. Sometimes we may simply be short of time or in a hurry—after all nearly everyone is overbooked and overly busy, and finding time to take care of our website may be difficult to do. Even so, the primary thing we should remember when building links to our site is that “any links are better than no links” is really just not true. We must remain focused on getting the crucial, relevant, high-quality links our site needs, and if this will not happen immediately—and it likely won’t—then patience is required. In other words, any old links just won’t do, and can hurt you much more than they may help you, so slow down, take a breath, and map out a realistic strategy for exception link-building SEO.
No Bad Behaviors Allowed
Even in our technology-filled world, politeness and consideration is still highly valued. Even though your goal may be to contact as many other webmasters as possible in an attempt to build links to your site, mass e-mails are an immediate turn-off to most of us. E-mails which are short on politeness and finesse are equally frowned upon, and worse, others will have a mental black mark against both you and your website from now on. All of this can be avoided simply by not approaching other web owners in a cold or generic fashion. Just as you build relationships in the real world, so should you do online. Introduce yourself, provide some quality interaction, show that you have actually read the other person’s website by detailing some key points about it, then persuasively show the advantages of the linking to your site. Building strong networks can pay off handsomely in the future, so take the time, and remember your manners.
Don’t Waste Valuable Time and Energy Targeting the Wrong Sites
By “wrong” sites, I mean those that we agree to even though in our gut we know they are like the fruitcake under the Christmas tree—something we don’t really want, like or need, but we accept anyhow. That fruitcake likely sits on a shelf, taking up space and collecting dust, effectively wasting valuable resources until we finally have a cleaning frenzy and throw it out. Links which have little value or quality can seriously undermine our website while also taking up valuable resources. Expending your precious energy getting links which are not relevant to yours, and may actually drag your site down is just not smart. Don’t wind up with a stable full of useless links, rather prioritize your goals and go for a handful of quality links instead.
Patience is Mandatory
Link building takes time, like it or not, and a mistake which is seen often involves premature link promotion. Whether we are too impatient, or we are trying to cut corner in order to meet the demands of clients, getting links from other sites which just don’t meet quality standards is one of the reasons many people end up abandoning the entire SEO process completely. In other words, if you hurry to get your site ranked before it’s really ready, your return on investment probably just won’t happen. Your site absolutely must project credibility or users will fail to be impressed no matter how highly you are ranked. It can save you tons of wasted time to simply get it right in the beginning, and that generally means taking it slow, and building quality links which are highly relevant to your site. In most of life, the things which are truly worth having are neither easy nor fast, yet hard work and patience generally pay off in the end. So it is with link-building.
Tags: attorney links, dui links, law links, legal links, personal injury links
Posted in Link Building | Comments Off on How You Can Unintentionally Undermine Your Link Building Efforts
February 14th, 2012
You’ve probably heard about how users read on the web—they skim, they scan, they notice headlines, etc. In truth, what users do on the web cannot really even be considered reading, since only 16 percent of web users actually read content word-for-word. The vast majority of web readers pick out individual words and sentences, rarely reading even an entire paragraph.
What is “Scannable Text?”
This is why “scannable text” has become one of the latest buzzwords surrounding search engine optimization and rules about the best way to write compelling, readable copy. This type of text is basically comprised of highlighted keywords, attention-grabbing headlines, sub-headlines which are rich in meaning, bulleted or numbered lists, one idea per paragraph, and at least half the word count of conventional writing.
How Much Do Readers Read?
The average web page reader reads a maximum of 28% of the actual words on your page, probably even less. The possible flaw in this equation comes from the fact that in order to come up with this particular statistic, the users in the studies tended to all possess above-average intelligence, and some might say that the typical reader of above-average intelligence might tend to scan most of what they read, whether it’s online or a book in their hands. Interestingly, the studies which found how much people scan on the web also determined that the “back” button is the third most-used feature on the web, and that most users consider it a lifeline which rescues them from content that turns out to be neither helpful nor interesting to them.
Nearly 20% of all page views last less than 4 seconds, meaning the user bounced out almost immediately after a quick scan of the page. Users tended to spend more time on pages with more information, meaning the website owner must not only grab the reader’s attention almost immediately, but must also provide the highest quality, most interesting information around in order to hold the reader’s attention.
Keep Your Intro Short and Sweet
Because much of the introductory text on web pages tends to be extremely long, users simply skip it. If you want your readers to actually read your intro, keep it short, informative, and make sure it increases the overall usability of your site by telling your reader about the purpose of the rest of your content. Many users will simply skip the introductory paragraph, jumping immediately to any actionable content on the page. This type of content could consist of the specific features of your products, bulleted lists, a short explanation of your business services, or hypertext links. Forget rolling out the welcome mat, and simply get to the heart of the matter, and you will stand a better chance of hanging on to your reader.
Use the Same Technique with Your Content
Your content must take note of the same issues as your intro. Once you’ve written your content, go back and slash mercilessly, leaving only the very most pertinent, interesting, exciting information behind. As noted, web articles should be approximately half as long as a comparable hard copy if you want your readers to read to the end, so learn to edit. Pepper your article with lots of subheads, which break up blocks of copy and allow those who are scanning to get the idea simply by looking at the subheads. Bullets and numbered lists immediately draw your reader’s attention, especially those who like reading lists. Use your white space judiciously rather than trying to fill every single space on your page with text. White space gives the eyes a break, making the overall article much more scannable. Complex sentences are not web-friendly, neither are long paragraphs. Finally, if you want to make your most important words stand out, use different colored text, bold or italics–but use them judiciously. Use photographs to show your reader exactly what you are talking about, and make sure you use an easy-on-the-eyes font. It’s important to understand how your web readers operate in order to reach them and keep them reading.
Tags: website law firm design
Posted in Lawyer Website Content, Reviews | Comments Off on How Users Really Read Your Site
February 13th, 2012
While link popularity and Page Rank are definitely the subjects on everyone’s minds when considering effective SEO for websites, how, exactly do you determine whether your links rate high in the popularity category or not? The basic premise is that if other (quality) sites are linking to your own, it must be a winner, deserving a boost in rankings. After all, most people link to good sites rather than bad ones, right?
Review Constantly
If you are vigilant about constantly reviewing how your site stacks up against those at the top, then you probably do such things as completing link requests, making blog or forum posts, commenting on blogs, sending press releases, posting articles and placing advertising on a regular basis. Try to do all these things on a regular basis, then wait a few days and check the results. If your numbers increased—great—you are obviously doing something right. If they dropped, focus on the links, and try going back to your old pages, at least temporarily.
PageRank May Not Necessarily Reflect Link Popularity
Many do not quite understand the distinction between Google PageRank and link popularity, believing them to be one and the same. The difference lies in the fact that PageRank focuses more on the number of links, as well as their relative popularity while link popularity focuses more on the quality of the links on your site. Increasing your link popularity may come down to your ability to acquire links from other sites which focus on the same keyword phrases your site focuses on as well as links from relevant sites which are listed in major directories. If you are gaining tons of links whose focus has little to nothing to do with the topic of your own site, your link popularity is probably not going anywhere fast.
Do Reciprocal Links Count in the Popularity Game?
Reciprocal links have lost some favor with Google, and, in fact, some say reciprocal linking is near-dead, and the benefits are minimal. While this may be an overstatement, you do need to be careful when using reciprocal linking to avoid having Google rate it as spam. While exchanging links is a relatively easy way to get links to your site, don’t approach reciprocal linking in a random manner. Do your homework, and only request link exchanges with other webmasters whose pages are highly relevant to your own, are of the highest quality, and are currently ranked at least as high as you are, preferably higher.
How Much Should I Obsess Over Link Popularity
While link popularity is certainly important, it is, after all, only one aspect in the search engine algorithms. At this point in time Google places more emphasis on incoming links than the other search engines do, however how much incoming links actually boost your site’s rankings is debatable, and also depends on the words which comprise your anchor text. In many cases, having only a few links which are highly relevant and are comprised of strong anchor text can significantly increase your overall link popularity. Perhaps the best—albeit most time-consuming—strategy for increasing your link popularity is to consistently offer the best site on the Internet in your particular niche. Give your readers a well-written, high quality site which answers their questions in the most thorough yet expedient manner possible, and update constantly. If you can accomplish this, you probably won’t even have to go out looking for links—they will come to you in droves.
Tags: Lawyer Website Design
Posted in Link Building | Comments Off on How to Gauge Link Popularity
February 10th, 2012
Anchor text references the words which make up a link on your law firm’s website—for example if you have the sentence “If you have been in a car accident, call a personal injury attorney,” the words “personal injury attorney” are your anchor text which links back to your legal website and the name of your firm. Anchor text is used when you want your website to rank for a specific keyword, however it’s easy to go overboard with anchor text when optimizing your law firm’s website; too much and you will end up accomplishing the exact opposite of what you intended, as Google will penalize your site. When you are clear on which keyword you want to target, and are getting links on your website with the desired keyword, that’s all well and good, but you must be careful about having too many links which look exactly the same. If 99% of the links which point to your law firm’s website pages are “personal injury attorney,” a red flag goes up to Google that these may not be “normal” links. Because people have exploited anchor text in the past, everyone must now be more careful about how they use it.
Build Your Legal Website’s Links for Branding and Alternative Keyword Phrases
Your goal is to build links to your business/brand name so the brand becomes much more authoritative in Google’s search results. This goes back to Google Instant results in that if someone only “sort of” remembers the name of your law firm and begins typing in hopeful letters in the search bar, you really want your name to pop up under Richardson Law Firm once the potential client has typed in “Ric.” On the flip side, if your potential client is not really sure of what they are looking for, Google’s suggestions may send them off in a direction that is, unfortunately, not toward your law firm. Make a list of the keywords your legal website uses, then start typing each one of them into Google’s search bar and see what suggestions come up. This little exercise may send you in another direction when you are considering anchor text. Other major search engines–such as Bing–offer keyword alternatives, so take advantage of that when considering alternative keywords and anchor text.
Why Anchor Text is Important
It is actually possible to achieve top ranking for extremely competitive keywords even though you may have not even a hint of on-page legal SEO elements. Consider that Monster.com consistently sits in the number one spot when one types in “jobs” in the search bar but that the word “jobs” does not appear on the page in actual text form. By the same token, if you type in “computers” on the Google search bar, six of the top ten pages don’t even contain the word “computers” in the copy, meaning the search results are due solely to the anchor text of inbound links. Therefore it is impossible to say that anchor text is not important, but your firm needs to learn how to use it wisely when building links.
Using Anchor Text Wisely
Anchor text must be used judiciously when building your firm’s legal SEO as using the wrong words can take you even further away from the links you need. It is advisable to avoid using the anchor text “click here,” as the phrase is not specifically related to the content on your legal website—when the crawler examines the “click here” anchor text it may not see any relevant keyword even if that particular link points to a relevant part of your legal website. When considering legal SEO and your law firm’s web design, you should try to use as many keywords as possible from the list you developed during the planning process. Then determine what anchor text is absolutely essential to your firm’s site, and use only the most critically important.
Tags: law firms website, Legal SEO, legal website
Posted in Lawyer Website Design | Comments Off on Building Links for Your Legal Firm’s Website without Anchor Text
February 7th, 2012
Link popularity has evolved into a major ranking factor with Google’s latest algorithm, meaning your site is assessed both for the quantity and quality of links which point to your site. In fact, when Google’s PageRank came into being it actually determined the relative “importance” of your site simply by checking the other sites which linked to your own. Google still gives considerable weight to PageRank and links, but also considers some 200 other signals as well.
Links are beneficial to your website because they increase your Google PageRank and bring more visitors to your site. If your link building campaign is well thought out, well executed, and above all, legitimate, then you are well on your way to a site which climbs up the rankings quickly and stays solid. On the flip side, a poorly-executed linking campaign will not only waste your valuable time, but can also get you a slap-down from Google.
High Quality First, Unique Second
While unique content is certainly good for your readers, it’s possibly not quite as good as you might think. If your content is actually 100% unique, then you may have to copyscape-proof the site before unscrupulous site scrapers beat you to the draw, leaving the search engines believing they are the originator of your content. Other than this, however, unique is good, certainly head and shoulders above copying other’s content.
What is great content? Well, great content is definitely non-spun, and is highly readable copy which educates your readers and gives them something of value. If you have a site which is full of great content, your click-through rates—as well as the average time spent on your site—will go up accordingly. It is also likely you that you will begin betting more and more new visitors (and fans) to your site, leading to increased social sharing. High quality content is written from the heart without the sole focus of keywords—in other words it is written for humans, not search engine spiders even though ultimately the spiders will reward you.
Best Practices for Content Links
The best way to avoid raising a red flag with search engines is to build the links in your content slowly and naturally—too fast and your site may look suspicious. Always remember that quality links are miles above quantity in the overall SEO scheme. The best links come from websites with high PageRank, are respected, trusted and high quality, and have content related to your own. It’s much better to have a single great link than twenty, thirty or forty inconsequential ones. While difficult to obtain, links from .gov and .edu sites are highly coveted, as they are generally considered authoritative. Strive to have your target keywords in your anchor text, but avoid repetition in keywords.
Jump on the Blog Bandwagon
Blogs are an excellent way to acquire links to your website, as well as offering short, informative posts which readers find interesting. Remember, search engines love fresh content, and newly published content is miraculously indexed almost constantly, sending a link right back to your site. Blogging is rich in relevant keywords about your overall subject or topic, again, linking back to your website. There really is no downside to blogging, other than the time you will invest, however the rewards you reap may well make that time more than worthwhile.
Give Your Content an Assessment
Look at your content with a critical eye and ask yourself whether it is good for the user, credible, authoritative and high quality. If you can answer yes to all these questions, then incorporate responsible link building strategies within your great content, and you have a recipe for success.
Tags: website design for lawyers
Posted in Law Firm SEO, Lawyer Website Content | Comments Off on How Great Content Serves as an SEO Link Building Strategy
February 6th, 2012
Social media is the darling of traffic-generation for websites, and Facebook is the darling of social media, so if you haven’t made the leap, now is the time! Twitter has over two hundred million users, and Facebook over 600 million, so the potential reach is truly staggering, and any business owner or webmaster would be crazy not to take advantage of the huge social media push. Although relevant, inspirational content is obviously one of your top priorities, as are getting the necessary links to your site, social media marketing adds a dimension to your SEO push that you really can’t get anywhere else. Although a well-optimized page is essential for steady traffic, if you want to start getting blog comments and conversions from your readers, social media is the key, and Facebook is simply the best. There are, however, certain “rules” which can make your foray into Facebook much more successful.
Facebook—Personal, Business or Both?
While most people are at least somewhat familiar with using Facebook for their personal use, using it for business purposes is less typical. The first thing to do when jumping into the business Facebook is to let the world know you are a FB user. Send out messages on other social media sites, and add your Facebook profile links anywhere it’s allowed. Once you begin getting more bloggers added to your list, you will need to create filters which allow you to separate your family and friends from your business, blogging and network contacts. In other words, your Aunt Millie may be much less interested in your blog and your website than your network of business associates are.
Engage With Your Followers
Once you have your FB account set up to your satisfaction, you will start engaging with your followers by responding to status updates with comments that are insightful or helpful, and sharing content both from your own site as well as from high quality articles you’ve read during the day. Engaging with your followers will slowly but surely bring traffic to your website. You can also create a Facebook group for your particular niche, however don’t send out a blanket invitation to join your group without first sending them a private message, explaining about the group and asking if they would like to join. You actually have to spend some time on Facebook—and be social—in order to bring the traffic you want and need to your site.
Social Groups, Welcome Page, Profile Page
Create a welcome page for your site; if you don’t have the necessary design skills to create your own fabulous welcome page, you can look for a FB theme page for your welcome. On your profile page you can provide links to your websites or to articles you have written, or you can even write more information about your business to enable your visitors to get a clear idea of the services and products you provide. Creating a social group on Facebook is a really good marketing tactic which you should go out of your way to take advantage of.
Social groups allow you to post links, business updates and events so your readers are always updated on what your business is doing. Create a specific Facebook page for your website which is very similar to your own profile page, allowing you to post links, information and get conversions for your business. Work on increasing your Friends list on your business FB page—although the limit is 5000, how great would it be to get 5000 regular readers who are interested in your website and blog, and pass along their interest to their own friends and family?
Tags: website law firm design
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, Social Marketing | Comments Off on How Facebook Can Drive Traffic to Your Website
February 5th, 2012
Aside from starting a blog of your own, one of the most powerful tools for promoting your site and increasing SEO lies in commenting on other blog sites. Leaving comments on other’s blogs is truly one of the simplest, yet most overlooked strategies, offering exceptional opportunity, increased visibility, and, overall, little competition.
Finding Your Niche
Consider that specific blogs are likely to represent a niche community that you would like to—and should be—a part of in order to further your own website, not to mention that blog commenting can push your website up the rankings quickly. When you leave comments on another’s blog site, you are, in essence participating in the online version of networking, and most business owners are fully aware of the importance of networking in their “regular” business. There are many more benefits to blog posting, but you should be aware of some basic “rules” to truly make your comments stand out from the crowd.
Blog Commenting as a Branding Tool
People who are active in their industry benefit greatly by sharing opinions and promoting themselves and their ideas. The results of such sharing and promoting is an ever-increasing network, not to mention continued awareness of the person’s specific niche, resulting in a personal brand of sorts. “Branding” is a buzzword which is more and more tossed about, but essentially means what you stand for, where your experience and expertise lie—basically what exactly it is that you are well-known for. Our increasingly social world desires connections with others who are, well, like them, and branding helps facilitate those connections.
Blog Commenting to Build a Loyal Fan Base
As you know, building a loyal fan base can take time, not to mention commitment. Most of us begin building our fan base when writing for our own blog, which links to our website. Our goal is generally to share our own little corner of the world—our journey, so to speak—with the rest of the world. As you build your fan base, remember that commenting on other people’s blogs, especially those which lie within your own niche, can promote you and your brand in the same manner, slowly building a loyal fan base who follow you wherever your comments may lead. Use the same techniques for blog commenting that you use in your own blog’s development—consistency, creativity and value to the reader. Share your personality, and do your best to give those who read your comments something they can’t find somewhere else—in other words “Great posting,” is not considered a beneficial comment—to anyone!
Blog Commenting to Generate Highly Targeted Traffic
If you follow certain guidelines, you will soon reap the rewards of highly increased—not to mention targeted—traffic to your own website. The first guideline is to write truly great comments which are both insightful and intelligent. Secondly, throw a little controversy in the mix—we humans seem to be drawn like moths to a flame to controversy. Offer different points of view (politely) and you will see the conversation take off. Keep your commenter name consistent so others will begin to recognize your postings, and, hopefully, specifically look for them. It is helpful to add your blog name or tagline to your name when posting comments, such as Ginger Smith, CatLover, but whatever you decide keep it the same. Comment early, and comment often on the same blog posts. Many folks only read the first 15-25 blog comments (or even less) before they move on, so always consider the short attention span of the web reader, and give them a reason to continue reading.
Make Your Blog Comment Stand Out
In order to ensure your blog comments stand out from the herd, do your best to add value to the original article through your comment. Ask a question, disagree with the rest of the community (in a reasonable and intelligent manner), show some emotion, and post often. These things will get you noticed and will ultimately improve your site’s SEO and push you up the page ranks.
Tags: Attorney website marketing
Posted in Legal Blogging, Legal SEO | Comments Off on Blog Commenting as a Valuable SEO Tool
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
