Free Search Engine Optimization Report

As part of the Legal Marketing Association (LMA), I am often asked or overhear questions about search engine optimization. Today, I took the opportunity to do a quick review of the web site citrincooperman.com. The following is just a brief overview, but it should help anyone who wants more SEO info, with specific examples.

1. Strategy
You need to research all potential keywords and keyword phrases before starting any search engine optimization campaign. First, brainstorm all your practice areas, geographic areas, and any other terms that someone could find your firm. Next, use databases that detail actual search results Wordtracker is a good start for research - http://www.wordtracker.com. You can also use the Yahoo/Overture search tool - http://inventory.overture.com/ - and of course commons sense when selecting keyword phrases.

2. Site Optimization
You need to make sure that your site can be indexed by search engines. The good news is that your site seems to be able to be indexed, even though it is using frames in certain areas. Some sites that use frames, Flash, Sessions, or other technologies that prevent search engines from indexing their web site, so they can never be ranked.

For your site, I recommend the following to obtain higher rankings:

* Change your graphic menu to a text based menu. This will allow good keywords such as “Accounting & Auditing”, “Business Valuations” and other words to be indexed.

* Change your office address graphic on the home page and turn it into actual html text. Again, this would allow New York, Westchester and New Jersey to be indexed. Put your contact information on all pages too.

* Change your frame based web site, to one that is not. Frames make it harder, if not impossible, for search engines to index your web site. Without doing a detailed analysis of your site, the search engines may be missing a few pages. To be safe, you should have individual, unique pages for your entire web site. It’s also just easier for a designer to maintain.

* Change your Title tag on each page. This is one of the most important changes you could make. The title tag should have unique keyword phrases that you are targeting and should match up to your pages information.

* Change your Meta description and keyword tag on each page. Although these are a very minor part of the algorithm these days, the description should be unique and interesting so that it can be used in the search results.

* Some advanced features would be using ALT tags for any images. Also, change your headlines so that they are not graphics, but rather text and relate to your keyword phrases.

* Finally, your content needs to target the keyword phrases. In certain areas, you may need to expand the content, in others simply change a few words.

3. Creating Link & Content Campaigns
Your site is already listed with all the major search engines, so there is no reason to resubmit ever. However, search engine algorithms rank sites based on the number of links to your site. You do need to develop inbound links to your web site.

To put it simply, the more links you have to your site, the higher you will rank. However, search engines record the types of sites linking to you, the text on their pages, the rank of those sites, etc. You want to receive quality inbound links to your site that are topical. The best types of links are one-way direct links from other trusted accounting/legal directories, accounting / legal web sites, and other topical sites. To get direct links to your site, write interesting articles that people will want to link to naturally via their web site or blog. If you have nothing interesting to say, you can always start a link building campaign to buy or trade links. However, beware that Google is cracking down severely on buying links and trading links as of late. So you are running the risk that eventually the bought or traded links may become devalued.

4. Analyzing of Campaign
Once your campaign is setup, run a baseline report to show your current web site traffic and rankings. If done over time, you can increase your rankings and more importantly traffic to your web site over time. The key is that any search engine optimization campaign should be viewed as a long-term investment. Sometimes it takes a month to obtain top rankings for older sites, but often it can be a several month process. However, once done you can begin getting multiple calls per day for your business from the web site.

Extra: Snake-Oil
Finally, a lot of comments about snake-oil salesmen in this field have been made. As with any industry, there are companies that try to “game the system” or sell outdated services. It also helps that SEO is generally an unknown field. My gut reaction is that if an offer is too good to be true, then its probably snake-oil. This is true when I am buying a car, sandwich or whatever.

If you get a top search rankings for your practice areas and geographic areas, its going to lead multiple inquiries per day from your web site. This is not just traffic to your web site, but actual contacts. Depending on your business model it could mean $10,000, $100,000 or millions of dollars more in revenue. Keep that in mind when you are budgeting for search engine optimization, as it should be viewed as an advertising expense that generates ROI.

Extra: Search Engine Optimization Process
Based on the above, our standard four-step process includes:

1. Strategy
* Research Effective Keyword Phrases
* Brainstorm to find the all possible keyword phrases
* Research to find out what people really search
* Selecting appropriate keyword phrases

2. Site Optimization
* Site Structure Modification
* Site Build Modification
* Avoiding Technical Errors
* Title Tag Modification
* Meta Keyword Tag Modification
* Meta Description Modification
* Alt Tag Modification & Other Code Changes
* Content Editing
* Content Writing

3. Creating Link & Content Campaigns
* Link Partner Research
* Link Partner Analysis
* Link Addition
* Content Editing

4. Analyzing of Campaign
* Monthly Reports of Rankings
* Monthly Reports of Web Traffic
* Re-Optimization of text and tags, if needed

by Peter Boyd in Optimization, PaperStreet on July 16, 2007   -    Be the First to Comment
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PaperStreet Will Design New Site for Teri Jeffrey & Associates, Inc.

Teri Jeffrey & Associates, Inc. has given PaperStreet the task of designing a brand new site for them. The new web site will inform clients of the company’s services in a bold, elegant, and professional manner. Come back to see it for yourself!

Teri Jeffrey & Associates, Inc. provides the following national employment and consulting services: 1) Executive and Legal Search, 2) Executive and Partner Placement, 3) Career Transition Counseling, and 4) Marketing Consulting.

Prior to forming her own firm 15 years ago, Teri worked for a Midwest law firm and with major corporations in the U.S. and overseas in the areas of marketing, strategic planning and recruiting.  Her practice focuses on finding cost-effective, practical and innovative employment and marketing solutions.

by Raúl José in Business, Design, PaperStreet on July 12, 2007   -    Be the First to Comment
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PaperStreet Will Design New Site for Wexler Toriseva Wallace LLP

PaperStreet is proud to announce that soon Wexler Toriseva Wallace LLP will have a brand new home on the net. The new site will showcase the firm’s many attributes and services in a simple yet elegant and professional manner. Come back later to see the results!

Wexler Toriseva Wallace LLP is dedicated to making a difference for those consumers, employees, shareholders, and special groups who have been injured by individuals or organizations through fraud, discrimination, unfair competition or other types of unlawful misconduct.

They believe in holding the powerful accountable for their conduct and often the best – or only – way to do that is through the justice system. They also believe that those who seek to hold the powerful accountable are entitled to lawyers of the same or better quality as the lawyers who represent their adversaries. They are those types of lawyers.

Many lawyers do some or all of the types of work they do. Their firm is different, however, because of their passion and their willingness to risk whatever it takes to achieve successful results.

by Raúl José in Design, Legal, PaperStreet on July 9, 2007   -    Be the First to Comment
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PaperStreet Selected to Design New Site for Anton Systems

PaperStreet will be putting its talented creative team to work. Anton Systems has given them the task of designing a brand new web site for them. The new site will present the company’s services and products in an accessible, bold, and professional design. Come back later to check it out!

For the past sixteen years, Anton Systems has helped hundreds of companies in the Southeast US transform their business processes and achieve greater customer satisfaction through a more efficient use of technology.

Their focus on process transformation in Client Relationship Management, Call Center and IT Service enables clients to design technology frameworks to their specific business requirements. The result is more responsive customer service while achieving improved productivity and lower operating costs. Their clients experience three advantages of using Anton Systems over other comparable firms:  1) Business Process Transformation, 2) End-to-end Solution, and 3) Broad Client Experience.

by Raúl José in Business, Design, PaperStreet on July 6, 2007   -    Be the First to Comment
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Fix: IE Flicker Issue / Error with CSS Background Rollover Menus

This is the final fix for a IE flicker issue with CSS rollover background graphics. Sure with regular graphics, you can use a javascript preloader. However, with IE there is still a flicker when hovering.

A working example is here.

1. Javascript to the Rescue
Add this to the header in a javascript area (or use an attached javascript file)

//fixIE6flicker
try {
document.execCommand(’BackgroundImageCache’, false, true);
} catch(e) {}

* NOTE that you must wrap this above in a standard javascript “script” tag or link it to an external javascript file.
Thanks to Dana Popa for the code fix.

2. A single Background Graphic
In the graphics for the rollovers, only make one single file for the background graphic for the button. The graphic would have both the up state and hover state.
Background Menu

3. CSS Changes
Simply change the CSS code to put in a different position value when you need to call them. For instance:

#menu ul li {
background:url(images/bg_menu.gif) no-repeat top left;

#menu ul li:hover {
background:url(images/bg_menu.gif) no-repeat left -36px;

As you can see, the background position was moved to a negative value of 36 pixels, which shifts the image to the hover state.
Note that I removed all the other code that is powering the menu, however, you can view the complete code here - http://www.paperstreet.com/wow/ieflicker/style.css

A working example is here: http://www.paperstreet.com/wow/ieflicker/

by Peter Boyd in Coding, Knowledge, PaperStreet on July 4, 2007   -    Wow, 3 Comments So Far
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