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January 19th, 2012
While many website owners are fully aware of the importance of building an attractive website which will attract the highest level of traffic, not all of them understand how to incorporate SEO techniques into that design. Further, few site owners have a good understanding of the fact that any website which is heavily sprinkled with graphics, frames, Flash or any other codes which are not specifically based on HTML will require specific SEO techniques in order to be properly indexed by Google and other major search engines.
It’s much easier to actually design your site with SEO in mind than to have to come back and completely rework it later. Consider the following when you are designing your site and you when you are done you will have not only a well-designed website, but one that is full of search engine optimization which will push your site up the rankings quickly, bringing plenty of targeted traffic.
- When you are just getting started, remember that your URL or domain name can be a primary factor in how your site will be positioned down the road in the search engines and directories. Research your URL before deciding on one, and if you can, get some professional help. Your URL will stay with you for a long time to come, so make sure it helps your site rather than harms it. A captivating URL which allows your visitors to totally understand the content of your website simply by looking at it will allow you a much more prominent web presence.
- Ensure the search spiders will have lots of basic links to follow in order to index your homepage text, then include internal links to other site pages. Make it easier for spiders to actually find your pages by including a site map which categorizes all the pages on your site. Include one or more links to the site map from your home page. Make sure you have included strategic keywords in all the link texts.
- Create catchy, interesting, exciting headlines. Your headline section is crucial for SEO, and you should include your most relevant keywords so your users will have a clear understanding of the content on your page. Use targeted keywords when writing your H1 tag, using the most relevant keywords within the first 60-70 characters.
- Make sure your content is easy to read, understandable, and makes your readers want to finish the article. Your objective is eventual conversion therefore the more informative your website is, the better, however you have to use accessible language which is easily understood by all. Web page copy is often overlooked in its importance for SEO, so try to remember that search robots require text and HTML tags in order to successfully index your site. Further, directory editors will make the determination to list your site or not based on its relevancy and uniqueness. Text above the fold is the most important to search engine spiders as are keywords at the beginnings of your paragraphs and in as many paragraph headings as possible.
- Although there is much less dependence on meta tags now than in the past, it still doesn’t hurt to provide title, heading, description, keywords and alternate tags in the header section of your pages which are to be indexed. The description tag is especially important because it is used by search engines as a means of describing your site. Make it particularly compelling, using strategic keywords. Your title tag should be from 5-10 words, and keyword rich while also being highly relevant to your page.
While web design is certainly important, you can have the most fabulous, well-laid out site on the Internet, but if you haven’t implemented basic SEO practices, nobody will ever see it. Use SEO tactics from the very beginning, and you will have a payoff in traffic and rankings.
Tags: website design for lawyers
Posted in Legal SEO | Comments Off on Designing the Very Best SEO Website
January 18th, 2012
Every time you click onto a website, your expectation is that you are about to find the answer to your problem or issue, relevant information which will help you in your life, or simply a compelling article which hold your attention to the very end. If, on the other hand, you click onto a website with these expectations in mind and find an article which is poorly written or makes little sense—in other words it has absolutely nothing of value to offer you—then chances are you are out of there as fast as your fingers can take you.
Additionally, the likelihood you would click on a link from a page you found to be of less-than-stellar quality are very low. What this means is that your links to other parts of your site as well as links to other’s websites will not be touched, making them basically irrelevant rather than great traffic-gathering sources. Web content is critical in the overall success of your website, not to mention it will garner you some very happy readers. Aside from not being littered with misspellings, grammatical errors, or simply not being written poorly, what constitutes great content?
Creating Headlines That Jump
The headlines of an article may well be what keep us reading until the very end. Headlines which are so catchy that they just beg you to keep reading should be the goal of every web writer and every website owner. You want your readers to feel as though they would be missing something vital if they ignored a particularly compelling headline. A great headline promises something tangible to the web reader, and is creative enough to pique your curiosity. The headline should provoke some sort of emotion inside you, and, basically inspire you to take an action of one kind or another.
In creating a compelling headline, try to dress it up with descriptive adjectives while at the same time describing to your readers how they will benefit from reading the remainder of the article. Consider this headline: “Stop! High Fructose Corn Syrup Can Kill.” Most consumers who have any interest at all in their health will take the time to read the paragraph or article which follows such a headline. Of course don’t forget that once you make such a statement you must deliver on the promise of the headline by telling readers exactly why high fructose corn syrup can be extremely detrimental to your health.
Why a Good Intro is Crucial
Aside from compelling headlines, your introduction is the next most powerful element. If you’ve done your job and already captured your reader’s interest with a killer headline, your next goal is to entice them to keep reading. If your intro is dull or uninteresting, and fails to follow up on your headline, then it is unlikely your reader will continue, probably hitting the back button without a further thought. The intro should ideally begin with a question or an uncommon fact which most people will find surprising or even shocking. Your introduction should imbue your reader with excitement to find out what else you have to say, although be careful not to give too much away or there will be no need for your reader to keep reading.
The Body of Your Article Should Deliver on Your Promise
If you promised in your headline and/or your intro to teach the reader how to do something specific, then make sure you follow up on that promise. If you fail to deliver on your initial promise, you will have readers who feel cheated and disappointed. Great content follows through with your initial headline and intro, giving your reader something of value that is written in a high-quality manner.
Finally, Wow Your Readers in Closing
The final step in excellent content is to leave your reader with an inspiring closing statement. After all, you want your readers to want to read more articles you have written, right? Just like an attorney, you should make your closing statement good, giving your readers a compelling reason to check out anything with your name as author. It’s not necessary to summarize your article, after all your reader has supposedly already read it. Instead end your article with a call to action or a metaphor of some sort which will enable the reader to remember what they just read.
Follow these guidelines and not only will your readers love you, you will benefit from greatly increased traffic as well as improved PageRank from Google. Never forget, content really is king!
Tags: Lawyer Website Design
Posted in Law Firm SEO | Comments Off on Creating Quality SEO Content That Readers Will Love
January 17th, 2012
The goal of your search engine marketing plan should be to attract your target audience, and persuade them to take a specific action on your site. Of course you want to attract visitors who have a specific interest in your product or services. Suppose you sell wind chimes—you would not want visitors on your site who were looking for wind generators or windmills, therefore your marketing plan must be very specific. You will have two distinct parts to your search engine marketing plan—the first is to attract a targeted group of visitors, then to convert them.
We all use search engines to find what we need, and if the keywords and key phrases you use for your website are specific enough to allow users to target exactly what they want then you are vastly ahead of the game. If your website closely matches your visitor’s search expectations, they may soon become your next customer. In order to create the most successful search engine marketing plans you must ask yourself the following questions—then develop a solid answer.
- What is Your Purpose? When you can answer this question you will have solid backbone for your entire business. Your website should be designed with a goal of allowing you to reach your business aspirations in the most expedient manner possible. You want to not only have a clear purpose for your site, but also be able to measure your results. Your purpose is likely some combination of prospect generation, direct sales, business-to-business sales, customer support and education. While most sites are aiming toward sales of some sort, the real purpose of others could be simply a place to provide in-depth product information such as spec sheets and repair manuals. You may also be seeking to educate through your sales through the use of a newsletter or blog. If your primary purpose is education, you will design your website accordingly.
- What is the Motivation of Your Average Visitor? You must have a solid understanding of why your visitors come to your site. Are they looking to solve a specific problem? If so, what is that problem, and how can you most effectively solve it? Your website should be able to solve the issue or problem in the quickest, most efficient way possible, and you should be able to get your message across within two or three seconds of your visitor’s arrival. If your visitor is looking for a green leather purse, and their search leads them to you, then within mere seconds your site needs to deliver that green leather purse—or a variety of them—right to your visitor’s cyberspace doorstep.
- What is Your Keyword Plan? You should have done extensive keyword research prior to determining your keywords and key phrases. There are several sites to help you choose the most successful, highly targeted keywords available for your website, and it’s a good idea to use one of them. Your keywords must be selected based on relevance, level of competition and search volume. Generic keywords which get plenty of hits will not work for you in the end because you will get too many visitors who weren’t looking for what you are offering, and your bounce rate will skyrocket. Optimize your website through strategies which make the most efficient use of your chosen keywords. You may be required to make structural changes to your site in order to conform to your search engine marketing plan. Use your keywords judiciously throughout your page content as the central theme in your message as well as in your headlines and hyperlinks. Make sure your keywords sound natural, however, and never contrived.
- How Will You Measure Your Success? Google Analytics is a good place to analyze your visits, bounce rate and the time the average visitor spends on your website. Check out the search engine ratings on Google and Bing, to help determine what conversions your site is producing in leads and sales. If you are unable to measure your results, it will be difficult to know whether or not your efforts are paying off, so find a good program to tell you what you are doing right, and what you need to improve on.
In the end, search engine marketing could be likened to simply showing up—when people search for what you are selling or offering on your website, your website must appear, and it must be what your visitor was looking for.
Tags: website law firm design
Posted in Law Firm SEO | Comments Off on Creating a Search Engine Marketing Plan for Your Site
January 16th, 2012
Each time Google updates their algorithm, the process by which they rank web pages is altered in some way, whether slightly or in a more significant manner. The latest change in the algorithm saw quite a few websites which were previously ranked fairly high, drop down by a number of places. Although this phenomenon does not appear to be a penalty of any type, the only common characteristic between these sites seemed to be that their rankings leaned heavily on anchor text rather than on site optimization. Some SEO experts believe this to be the biggest flaw in Google’s latest program, while others feel it is about time. While the goal of all search engines is to consistently show the most relevant and trusted websites at the top of the search results, Google feels that anchor text has little connection to trust for most all search queries due to misuse in the form of paid links full of keyword-stuffed anchor text.
Is Anchor Text Overused?
Google’s algorithm theorizes that just because a site may have thousands of anchor text links using a keyword such as “solar” doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a relevant search result for those who query “solar.” It is generally believed that there are two types of site rankings for commercial queries. The first one is the sites which rank due to the trust factor of their incoming links, meaning their links consist entirely of newspaper websites, quality blogs and such, and the second are the sites which rank highly due strictly to thousands of paid links with anchor text full of keywords. It is these sites Google is targeting, attempting to discount those paid links with competitive keywords anchored in the text.
No “Click Here’s” Please
If you are using the phrase “click here” as your anchor text link, shame on you! This technique is not only old-fashioned, but is just downright lazy. The goal of your anchor text is to include words which specifically relate to your website, the service you are offering, the idea you are promoting or the product you are selling. As a general rule you should keep your anchor links under sixty characters in length, and avoid at all costs using the same anchor text over and over in the same article or page content. This technique not only appears unprofessional but you also risk a rap on the knuckles from Google. And spider bots aside, do you really want to risk boring your reader to tears by repeating anchor text? Research your keywords, and experiment on various search engines to see which are the most effective.
Think Like Your Readers
Diversify your links, and strive to make them as professional as possible. Avoid stuffing anchor text on any single webpage, article or blog post as it could be regarded as spam. Two or three highly relevant backlinks are really all you need to get your readers to trust your site, and search engines to recognize you. Once the search engines pick up your site based on the successful use of anchor text and careful search engine optimization, it should be ranked by your chosen keyword. Once you are ranked, the site will get more and more traffic, become more popular, and move quickly up the rankings. Never forget that there are real human beings out there reading your website’s content. If it appears to your readers that your site is simply anchor links and SEO, they will quickly click elsewhere, looking for a more trusted, professional website.
Google has made it crystal clear that if they judge a site to be stockpiling links in a way they don’t approve of–simply for the purpose of moving up the rankings—they will penalize the site. While relevant links from other sites can go a long way in helping your site move up the search engine rankings, violate Google’s rules regarding anchor text and you may see your site virtually disappear overnight from the search results. So, use anchor text judiciously, but cautiously, working it into your overall SEO plan.
Tags: Attorney website marketing
Posted in Law Firm Marketing | Comments Off on Could Anchor Text Become Irrelevant?
January 13th, 2012
Most new website owners are eager to apply what they already know about direct response marketing to their new Internet business, and there are an abundance of ways in which they can do this, however many believe the offer you make on your site is the most important aspect. In truth, knowing how to get customers or clients is a very valuable talent, both in the “real” world and in cyberspace. If you’ve always been great at bringing people to your business, then you know that there are many similarities when bringing people to your website and getting a conversion out of their visit.
First, Arouse Emotions
In order to get your potential customer to the point where they will actually read and consider your offer, you first have to grab their attention, and hit them in a way that brings their emotions into play. You must be able to tell your story in a way that is not only fascinating, but totally believable, therefore the highest quality copy is essential. You will then offer some sort of incentive that coaxes the reader to take the action you are leading them toward, and finally you will make your final pitch—your offer—and make it as easy as possible for the person to take that action and accept the offer.
Make Sure Your Leads are Highly Targeted
If you have designed your website for maximum SEO, have filled it with the highest quality, extremely targeted copy, along with the most relevant linking system, then the odds that the people who land on your site will find exactly what they want or need is high. In the “real” world, you know that you never advertise to anyone who isn’t likely to become a client or customer in the very near future. On the Internet, your goal is to only lead those who are highly likely to buy your product or read and pass along your informative content, to your site. Adding a component to your site which essentially says, “Let me tell you more,” is good marketing tactic no matter where it’s used. You can do this via e-mail marketing, or having people sign up on your website for your newsletter, or any other enticing offer which will bring them back to your site time and time again.
Your Reader Wants to Know What’s In It For Them
In our incredibly busy world, the time spent on any website by any person is incredibly short. This means you must grab their attention immediately and hold it mercilessly until they have read—or at least skimmed—the entire article or product description. Your reader’s primary motivation in reading your site is to find out quickly what’s in it for them—what’s the payoff, what will they gain from remaining on your site? Keep your headlines short, concise and informative, full of your very best targeted keywords. Your headlines should give your reader an idea of what’s to come, convincing them to read on.
The Actual Offer
If you’ve been successful in keeping your reader’s attention focused on your site, your information, your product or your services—congratulations! Now it’s time to reel them in through your offer. Your goal here is to make the offer absolutely irresistible—impossible to resist. You want the implication to be that a person would have to be crazy not to click on your offer, no matter what it is. Offer your potential customer something that has such obvious benefits that there would be absolutely no logical reason they wouldn’t click the “accept” button. The very best, most irresistible offer will have an incredibly high return on investment for the user or buyer, will have an instant summary of your basic offer, and will have the element of believability. In other words, although you want it to be fantastic, it also must not seem too good to be true. Work hard on crafting your offer, and you will be rewarded many times over.
Tags: law firm website marketing
Posted in Law Firm Website Tools | Comments Off on Copywriting Success on Your Website Through Your Offer
January 12th, 2012
While you can hire a company who will take care of the SEO for your website—and will likely conduct an initial SEO audit, in truth you can do this type of audit yourself. An SEO audit is meant to provide a snapshot of sorts of the health of your website as well as identifying any potential problems with the search engine optimization of your site. Proper SEO can not only bring in the most highly targeted traffic for your website, but can also move you up the search engine’s ranking systems.
- First, define your statement of purpose—or explain why you have a website in the first place. This doesn’t mean you should write a three page report of why you have a website—or that you should write down “money, visibility and brand building,” and be done with it. The point is to figure out what you hope to accomplish with your website as far as your business is concerned. Is your primary goal to educate people through your content, or are you selling a service, such as legal services or solar installation services? Are you specifically selling a product? How do you want to go about doing that? As you answer these questions, what follows will make more sense.
- What are your current keywords and keyword phrases? Did you follow a specific method in determining the most successful keywords for your particular niche, or simply use the most obvious or most common keywords? Write down your keywords, then justify that keyword in one sentence. What are your search priorities, and how well do you truly know your readers, customers or clients? Do you actually know what people are looking for when they type your specific keywords into their search bar? Step away from your product or service and ask yourself what you would type in if you were looking for your business. Great keywords are the backbone of a successful website, and you can’t simply jot down a few off the top of your head and hope for the best.
- Review your current tools and practices. If you are using Google Analytics, look at your data and reports, beyond just looking to see how many people clicked onto your site. What is actually more important than that number is how many of those people immediately clicked away, or spent less than thirty seconds on your site. If this is the case in a large number of visitors, then your keywords are absolutely not doing the job they were designed to do and must be changed. People who are clicking off your site immediately are doing so because one glance tells them this is not what they were looking for.
- Analyze your website’s design and architecture. Check out your URL keywords, the age of your content, how often new content is added, deleted or modified, how unique and interesting the content is, and how visually appealing the overall site is. The organization of your website is crucial, in that people must be able to easily find exactly what they are looking for. Your internal linking structure is of great importance as well, so make sure any time a user clicks on an internal link that it takes them immediately to what they are searching for. Make sure your pages don’t look cluttered or chaotic, and don’t overuse images or flashy fonts.
- Go over your content carefully, ensuring it is fully optimized and keyword rich. There should be no unnatural usage of keywords, rather they must appear natural throughout the content, with the greatest concentration being above the fold as well as in the main header and paragraph titles. Is the content clear, or does it ramble? Does it grab the reader’s attention and hold onto it until the very end? Does it properly relate to the business purpose of the website?
- Review your backlinks, and ensure none of them are broken or past their prime. Only the highest quality links will garner you Google’s nod of approval, so ditch any that are not giving your site a boost.
Once you’ve been over yours site with a fine-tooth comb, make note of any areas you found to be lacking, then create an action plan in which you will fix those issues. An SEO audit of your website can be an essential part of your overall plan, and the results can make the difference in whether your site—therefore your business—grows in popularity or simply sits there.
Tags: Lawyer Website Design
Posted in Law Firm SEO, Legal SEO | Comments Off on Conducting an SEO Audit for Your Website
January 11th, 2012
Although you may be aware that your chosen keywords are important, you may not realize just how important they are in the overall optimization of your site. Many experts believe that the selection of your keywords may well be the most important stage in the entire optimization process, and that choosing the wrong keywords and keyword phrases can keep your website from ever reaching its potential. Choosing the right keywords, on the other hand, can maximize your return on investment, have readers flocking to your site, and move you up in Google’s ranking with the speed of lightning.
Isn’t Choosing Keywords Just Picking the Most-Searched Phrases?
It is this specific misconception which derails the keyword selection stage for many. First of all, choosing the most-used keywords could actually send your site reeling to the bottom of the heap rather than climbing upwards. As an example, if your business involves installing solar components, then choosing the keywords solar installation might seem like a good idea. However, this is much too broad a term, and will return hundreds of thousands of results in a search. If you add your location, as in “Austin solar installation,” you have immediately narrowed the field, and landed closer to the top just by virtue of the elimination process. Even better might be “Hill Country Solar Installation,” narrowing even more. When you are looking at your own keywords, try to determine how you can use the popular keywords—with a personal spin.
Phrases which are Considered “Buy Phrases”
If you are selling a particular product or service, then you have to guard against keyword phrases which will bring you tons of traffic, with little of that traffic turning into true conversions. If you are looking for a buy phrase, then consider the example above. First of all, the term “solar” would garner you so many search returns that you wouldn’t even know how to start. Adding “installation,” narrows the field, but it is still fairly broad. What if you add the word “services,” along with your location—as in “Hill Country solar installation services?” You have just added your “buy word,” which should target those people in the Hill Country who want to have solar panels installed on their home, and are ready to pay for those services.
The problem with using “solar” as one of your keywords in this instance is that people who type in the word “solar” may not even be remotely looking for someone to install a solar panel on their home. They could be looking for solar nails, a car which runs on solar energy, a school for solar training, or could merely be interested in the solar system—as in the stars and planets in the sky. It’s important to step outside yourself when determining keywords, and look at it from the point of view of those people you hope will be searching for your company. Promotions which target multiple “buy phrase” keywords will ultimately end up being much more successful than simply using a phrase based on the number of searches it turns up. You want to decrease your competition while increasing your conversions and ROI.
Knowing Which Phrases are Most Often Searched
There are some very good tools out there you can implement when determining your keywords, such as the Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool or WordTracker. Overture can tell you which search phrases had the most searches during the prior month, however Overture’s downside is that it counts singular and plurals as the same, and corrects misspellings, while search engines do not. WordTracker, on the other hand, differentiates between plural and singular searches and does not correct spelling, meaning it gives you a much more realistic number.
When choosing your keywords, remember that just because you know your own industry inside out doesn’t mean the average layman does, so think of the terms you might type in if you knew little about the industry. Don’t target too many phrases, rather keep yourself and your keyword list highly focused—which will also keep your website focused. Spend the necessary time choosing your keywords, and you will reap the rewards in the future.
Tags: website law firm design
Posted in Key Word Research | Comments Off on Choosing Keywords That Shine
January 10th, 2012
Link building can, in some rather odd ways, be equated to real life. Meaning that if you have ever read motivational books which tell you to build your relationships and connections with others and persevere in your goals, you can see how this can also be a worthwhile lesson in link building strategies. When you are working hard at search engine optimization in an attempt to boost your website up the ranks, you are likely seeking out other quality websites and asking their owners to exchange links with your own site.
Presenting Your Website in a Positive Manner
If you are already in the process of link building and link exchanging, you are well aware that you must, in effect, sell yourself, just as you do in real life. Think about the last job interview you went on, and you will recall how hard you tried to present yourself in the very best light to a potential employer. The same thing can be said about SEO link building—your goal is to present your website in the most positive manner possible in order to persuade other high quality websites to link to yours, giving you higher rankings.
Dealing with Rejection
Just like in real life, you must expect rejections from time to time when you approach other webmasters and request a link, but don’t let that stop you from your goal of garnering links for your site and creating the very best search engine optimization you can. If you do get a rejection, rather than sulk, take an honest, critical look at your site, and make sure it is packed with relevant content which others would be proud to link to. It cannot be said enough that content is king, and without quality content, your link building strategies will be for naught. If you find absolutely nothing on your site which would bring about a rejection, then simply move on. Sometimes there really is no rhyme or reason for a particular rejection, whether from another website owner or from a person in your “real” life, so don’t spend too much time dwelling on the why of the situation.
Don’t Be Judged by the (Bad) Company You Keep
Mom really was right when she told you that others would judge you by the company you keep. So it is with obtaining links for your websites. You will be judged, both by search engines as well as your readers, by the reputation of the sites you link to and which link back to you. In other words, don’t get mixed up with the wrong crowd, or you may be inundated with spammers. Never link to a site which is not relevant to your own site, and never link to a site which is not the highest quality. By the same token don’t allow others to link to your site if you are not 100% sure the link is mutually beneficial.
Politeness Really Does Matter
Once you’ve chosen several websites which are complimentary (but not particularly competitive), it is time to contact the Webmasters of the sites and courteously ask them to link to your site—while explaining the benefits of doing so. Generally you will offer to link back to them in exchange, but spend some time outlining the advantages to them of linking to your content. Explain where the link will be, and above all, make sure your letter or e-mail is personal. The last thing you want is for it to sound like a mass-produced letter sent out to huge numbers of webmasters. Most of us receive so much spam on a daily basis, that it’s crucial you distinguish yourself from the riff-raff.
One Hand Washes the Other
Many experts advise that you already have a link put on your own site prior to asking for a link in return. When you send out your personalized letter, give the location of the link—it will be harder for the other site owner to say no, when you provide the URL of where the link is. Give the other webmaster sufficient information to make it easy to link to you, and if there is a link you want particularly badly, use traditional voice mail rather than e-mail for your request.
Check Out the Competition
Finally, just as in real life, take a sneak peak at the link popularity of your closest competitors and discover who is linking to them. Then contact those websites and get a link of your own. There is nothing dishonorable in seeing how your direct competitors are making their way up the ladder of success.
So, use common sense and the lessons you have learned in your own life when attempting to build links for your website—the results will be well worth the extra effort.
Tags: law firm website marketing
Posted in Link Building | Comments Off on Can Link Building Be Equated With Real Life?
January 9th, 2012
Image optimization can be a time-honored way to a successful link-building strategy throughout your website when used judiciously . You may have twenty or fifty images which each reside on their own page of your website and have a separate page ranking from one another. If your entire purpose is to give these images away to anyone who wants them in exchange for a valuable link, you will probably use a type of contact form or else put the linking code on the page itself with accompanying simple instructions. By setting your photos up in this manner you have effectively created a relatively low maintenance link building method.
How to Implement This Method of Link Building
Some website owners hire a professional photographer, however this can be incredibly expensive plus adds copyright issues to the mix. A much better idea is to hire an aspiring photographer who is just looking to get his or her photographs out there, seen by others, or, as an alternative you can take the photographs yourself. Today’s easy-to-use, high resolution digital cameras lend themselves to amateur photographer use so long as your photos are high quality. If you simply don’t have any sort of talent in the photography realm, or don’t have a moment of spare time in your already-busy life, then you may have a friend who takes photos as a hobby or a relative who aspires to be a professional photographer.
Why Use Images?
As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. In fact, photos tell stories and trigger emotions—both worthy goals for your website. Adding high quality images to your website makes it more successful, then when you swap some of your photos in return for a high-quality link, not only are people looking at your photo, you are helping your website climb up in rankings and garner more traffic in the process. While many websites attempt to halt theft of their photos by others, the advent of copy and paste has made this practically impossible. So, rather than spending your precious time attempting to stop photo theft, how about altering the way you are thinking about your images, and using them to your advantage?
Finding the Lifted Images
If you choose not to simply offer the photos free of charge in exchange for a link, then consider this method for finding photos others have “lifted” form your site. You will need to use a reverse search engine to do this which will search for a similar image within the web database. Tineye is a good one to try when you are looking for your photographs among billions on the web. Once you find your photographs on other people’s websites, simply contact the webmaster and ask that they link back to your original photo since they obviously liked your image.
Make Your Images Free—in Exchange for a Link
While some dedicated image thieves will not bother to respond, you will gain a certain amount of valuable links using this method, not to mention a potentially new relationship. Once you’ve gained links from those who were already using your image, you might as well get rid of any anti-copy protection on your site, and make the photos free to anyone who will link back to your site. Anyone who is bound and determined to use your images will find a way, so it’s much better to approach the process with the idea of giving the photos away rather than having to track down image-thieves. The more quality links you gain to your site, the better for your rankings, so don’t be shy about allowing others to “steal” your photographs.
Tags: website law firm design
Posted in Lawyer Website Design | Comments Off on Building Your Links Through Images
January 5th, 2012
Once your website is up and running, there will be lots of different people and programs perusing it. Internal links are crucial whether helping human users understand what your website is talking about or helping search engine spiders or bots crawl and index your site. While it can be challenging, it is possible to build internal links that will satisfy robots as well as your human users. If you are unsure of just how you can build those critical internal links, here are some tips which can help.
Contextual Link Building
A contextual link is one in which clickable text is made up of one of your primary keyword phrases—a phrase you are using in hopes of obtaining a page one Google listing. Keep in mind that a contextual link won’t be effective unless it links to a page which is primarily about your keywords. Contextual links which are content based and theme-related are especially valuable in boosting SEO. When you are creating contextual links in your keyword-rich articles, keep the links high on the page. Contextual links which show up toward the top of the page are given more weight and influence by search engines than those which trail in at the end of the article. The goal of a contextual link is to encourage your visitors to find out more information, and using anchor text which is very descriptive is always better than simply having a “click here” button for internal and external links.
Using Breadcrumbs in Building Internal Links
Aside from the kind used in making meatloaf, bread crumbs are a navigational tool on many websites which you can see at the top of the browser window. Bread crumbs are essentially links to the pages you have already viewed—a map, if you will, of how you got to where you are. The benefit of using breadcrumbs, aside from helping your visitors navigate and stay oriented on your site, is that breadcrumbs can direct links back to more general categories. As a bonus, breadcrumbs are useful in helping spiders stay on track as well. Breadcrumbs may look something like this: Home>Support>FAQ>General FAQ.
Navigation is Key
Your users should be able to easily navigate your website. If it is difficult to get from A to B, they will likely become frustrated and go somewhere else to find what they need. For this reason you will want to internally link to the top pages from your navigation menu. Internal linking structure on your website is fundamental, and the more logical and intuitive it is, the easier your user and search engine spiders will find their way around your site. Equally important, this effortless navigation will increase your overall response rate exponentially.
Using Hypertext Links for Effective SEO
Hypertext links may actually be the simplest navigational element involved in building internal links. Hypertext is simply text which contains links to other text. The components of a hypertext link include a URL as well as a set of words generally known as anchor text. A simple hypertext link looks something like this: anchor text and is basic code that directs where your visitor is sent when they click on the highlighted anchor text. Search spiders actually prefer hypertext link to almost any other type of linking structures, and anchor text is given much more weight in Google’s algorithms than ordinary content text. The logic behind this is that search engines believe you would normally only link to a page you considered highly important, and if you consider it important then Google may also. The downside of hypertext links include the fact that hypertext links create blue underlined text and if used in excess can make a page messy and hard to read, so don’t overuse. Choose your hypertext links carefully, use specific keywords, and link to your most important pages, and the Google sun will shine on you!
Tags: Attorney website marketing
Posted in Link Building | Comments Off on Building Internal Links Which Satisfy Google
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