How To Select A Website Design Or Internet Marketing Company For Your Business

Selecting a website design or internet marketing company is a very daunting task, especially when you consider the number of companies out there and the wide variety of services they offer.  Additionally, the price range for website designers and internet marketing companies can vary greatly.  You can easily spend as little as $100 or in excess of $100,000 for a website .  The purpose of this post is to help you know what to look for in a marketing company or website designer.

Consider Your Internet Marketing Goals

What are your goals for your website?  Your goals will be the driving force behind your final decision in selecting a website design company.  Therefore, it is important to have a high degree of clarity for what you want your site to accomplish.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when formulating goals for your website:

• How competitive is your industry?
• What is your competitive presence on the internet compared to that of your competitors?
• Are you just wanting a basic site that people can find if they are looking specifically for you?
• Do you want your site to be a lead generator that will convert into sales for your business?
• Do you want the ability for customers to order your products and services through your website?
• How will you measure success?  Number of visitors?  Number of leads?  Number of phone calls generated? Number of orders?
• How will you promote the site?
• Are there a lot of searches for your business on the search engines?
• How important is it for your site to achieve high rankings on the search engines?
• Do you want your site to be a medium for sharing documents with customers or collaborating with others in your field?
• Do you want your site to position you as a thought leader in your industry?
• How much time do you or your staff have to devote to writing content and developing the website?
• Do you want to integrate a blog on your website?
• Will you be integrating social media such as Facebook and Twitter?

Consider The Internet Marketing Services Offered

Based on your goals, you will need to ask the companies you are evaluating what extent of services they offer in addition to website design.  I have seen some very expensive ad agencies and marketing companies that know a lot about design but very little about optimizing the site to gain high rankings on the search engines.  As a result, you can have a very beautiful site that will never be found on the search engines.  I know of a few law firms that have fallen into this trap.  They spent a lot of money to have such a site designed only to have to spend even more money to have another company take over the site to optimize it appropriately.

Likewise, I have seen some companies that are good at search engine optimization (SEO), but lack in design and branding.  These are the sites that are so text heavy, their visitors will not read the information provided. It overwhelms the visitor sending them to a competitors website.  Ideally, depending on your competition and goals, it is a good idea to hire a company that has a track record of designing great looking websites that provide a professional brand image and are also optimized to achieve competitive rankings on the search engines.

Here are some things to consider when evaluating companies:

• Are their sites designed using Flash or HTML?  Flash sites can offer some freedom for the developer and can be great looking but can also be difficult to optimize for the search engines.
• Are their sites fully customized for your company or are they theme sites?
• Are their sites mobile optimized?
• How much do they know about your industry?
• Do they have any examples of sites they have done for other companies in your industry?
• Do they have any case studies that show what type of website design and content lead to higher client conversions for your industry?
• Do they know enough about your industry to write your content or will you be expected to write the content?
• Will they be optimizing your site?
• If so, how much experience do they have in search engine optimization?
• Are they specific in the SEO techniques they will be using for your site?  For example, do they have a proven strategy for building “on page” content as well as a strategy for building links to your site?
• Do they have a track record of achieving high search engine rankings for their customers?
• Do they offer search engine pay-per-click services?
• Do they offer online video services?
• How knowledgable are they in integrating social media with the sites they build?

Consider Your Internet Marketing Budget

Once you have set your goals and have identified your needs, it’s time to set a budget.  Your budget will be based on what you need your website to accomplish and the breadth of services needed to promote it.  The best advice I can give you is to go with the companies that can provide not only website design, but also search engine marketing and social media services.  This will save you money in the long-run because it will prevent having to start over with another company at some point in the future.  The good thing about internet marketing is that you don’t have to do everything at once.  You can “phase in” additional services based on your marketing strategy and budget.  Finally, evaluate several companies that have a proven track record of success for building sites in your industry.  Companies that are familiar with your industry have the ability to take on the task of writing the content for your site thereby saving you a lot of time.

Launch Of New Personal Website

My LexisNexis Law Firm Internet Marketing Website

I am proud to announce the launch of my new website www.deepsouthlegalmarketing.com.  My site was designed by our LexisNexis website designers.  The site covers all of the internet marketing, website design and search engine optimization services that LexisNexis has to offer law firms in the Birmingham, Alabama, Huntsville, Alabama and Chattanooga, Tennessee metropolitan areas.  They were also able to integrate a portfolio of websites we have designed for law firms in my local markets as well as a page of testimonials from some of my happy clients!

Please feel free to provide me with your feedback.  I would be interested in learning what you folks think of the new site!

How To Rank In Google Places

In considering an overall Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plan, it has become increasingly more important to consider a “local seo” strategy due to Google increasing the real estate under the Google Places section late last year. This important change resulted in many high-ranking firms, who got their placement due to “classic seo”, to lose their page one rankings because the local results gained more prevalence on the page pushing the organic results to page two.  Google has continued to refine their algorithm for Google Places and changed their interface and reviews section as recent as a few weeks ago. So due to constant tweaking by Google to improve Google Places, it is obvious how important they think it is for users to be able to generate relevant, local search results.  Consequently, I spend a significant amount of time trying to help my law firm clients in Alabama and Tennessee gain higher rankings in the Google Places section.

So how does a law firm gain higher rankings in this section?  Well, just like “classic seo”, there are no guarantees.  However, there are some best practices that can help.  Here is some basic tips to increase your chances of becoming visible in Google Places

Steps In Verifying Your Google Places Listing

1. Create an account – The very first thing you need to do is go to Google Places  and create an account.  If you already have a Gmail or Adwords account, you can create an account using the same user id and password.
2. Input your business number – After you sign in, you will be asked for your phone number.  Once you submit your phone number.  Google will then check your number with other listings you have on other websites and should bring back your law firm as a result.  If not, you will be given the opportunity to provide Google with additional information.
3. Fill out your profile – See tips in filling out your profile below.
   
4. Pick whether or not you want Google to verify your business via phone or postcard – If you are at your office location and can answer the phone, then choose the phone option, otherwise, you will have to wait 2-3 weeks for Google to send you a pin number via snail-mail.  When you answer the phone, Google will provide you with a pin number.
5. Enter your pin and complete the verification process

Completing Your Google Places Profile

1. Completely fill out your profile –  In the verification process, you will be asked to provide a description of your firm.  Carefully complete your description.  It’s ok to include a few of your main practice areas in the description which can serve as keywords.  However, be careful not to go overboard with keywords.  It is my understanding that Google heavily frowns upon trying to “keyword stuff” a description which can have negative consequences on your placement or ranking.  Just create a description that is a nice and clean excerpt of what you do.
2. Fill out your business hours and payment options – You have to use the drop down box to select your business hours.  You may accept weekend appointments.  If so, you can’t choose that as option here, but you will have the opportunity to add that under “Additional Information”.
3. Complete your categories – This is one of the most important steps because it has a lot to do with how you will appear when search queries are entered.  Make sure you include variations of keywords a prospective client might type in a search query.  For example, choose Bankruptcy Lawyer and Bankruptcy Attorney as two categories.  You only can choose five categories, so choose carefully.
4. Add photographs and videos – If you have a professional photograph or a well done online video, upload them to your Place Page.
5. Have your clients and/or professional contacts provide reviews – As mentioned, Google recently redesigned their reviews interface to make the reviews more prominent on the Places Page.  Therefore, I think it certainly helps to have a few good reviews. I had one firm that received better rankings once a review was submitted.  Just make sure that the reviews are legitimate reviews written by clients, other attorneys, or professional contacts.

Build Profiles On Online Directories

The final step in gaining good visibility in the Google Places section is to build profiles on other online directories.  With “classic seo”, external links to your website from other popular sites are an important factor in getting good rankings.  With “local seo”, having a presence and links from multiple local directories can offer similar benefits.  Having multiple listings on yellow pages sites and legal directories like Lawyers.com can definitely help enhance your local presence and can assist in gaining a good ranking in Google Places.  In a competitive market, this strategy becomes more important in separating yourself.  It can also be the most difficult strategy to implement because it can take a lot of effort and sometimes money to build profiles on multiple directories. Depending on your market, just creating a good profile as outlined above can help you achieve a competitive ranking.  If not, then having a more comprehensive strategy that involves building additional profiles will be necessary and may require the need of some third-party assistance.

With that said, I believe it is best to implement a combination of “local seo”, “classic seo” and “paid search” to maximize your results.  The more you are visible on page one, the better results you will get!  Therefore, have a strategy in place to take advantage of all three areas on Google.  The firms that dominate page one will generate the most clients as a result!

Law Firm Website Spotlight: Cindee Dale Holmes – Birmingham, Alabama Bankruptcy Attorney

http://www.cindeedaleholmes.com

Cindee Dale Holmes is a well-respected bankruptcy lawyer in Birmingham, Alabama.  A little over a year ago, we sat down with Cindee to discuss her marketing efforts. 

She has traditionally been dependent on the yellow pages to bring in clients with the exception of referrals.  However, she recognized the need to gain a greater online presence.  We were flattered to have the opportunity to take on the project of designing and optimizing her website.  With some direction from Cindee in regards to her goals and design preferences, we were able to design an attractive and effective website…one that is paying off in regards to new clients!

So let’s look at some of the good aspects of her website.

1. 1.  Her site addresses a prospective client’s emotions.  She does not include the overused “Scales of Justice” or the typical photo of the courthouse.  The image changes on every page of the site as a nice effect but the goal is the same…she wants to give her prospective clients hope! 

2.  She highlights her 20 years experience in the second paragraph.  It’s so important to differentiate from competitors as quickly as possible (the top of the page).  This can be in the form of legal experience, additional certifications, or perhaps a rating from one of the rating services such as Martindale-Hubbell.   

3.  Her site includes a “Call to Action” on every page with the “Quick Contact”  and “Contact Our Firm” sections prevalent on the right.  Don’t make a prospective client have to hunt down your contact information…please make it easy for them!

3.  Content is king!  Her site is loaded with bankruptcy related information.  This information is engaging and can help answer any questions a prospective client may have about bankruptcy issues.  As important, the extensive content is a major player in the firm’s search engine results.  Consequently, her site’s content,search engine optimization efforts, and Google Places optimization have contributed to her high search engine rankings for the main search queries such as “Bankruptcy Lawyer Birmingham Alabama”! 

This site offers a good beginning to a comprehensive online marketing program.  There are still other great enhancements that can make a site like this more effective.  Powerful marketing tools like online video, blogging and social media connectivity can provide more traffic, enhance branding and keep prospective clients on the site longer. However, a good online presence always begins with a solid foundation, which is a well-designed site with great content.

 

Search Engine Rankings and Conversions

Due to the competitive nature of the legal industry, I often get asked by firms what is the best way to maximize the return on investment for their online marketing efforts.  Is getting page one rankings on the search engines based on area of practice keywords going to be enough to yield a consistent return?  My answer:  Now that you’re on page one, what is going to make a potential client want to call you at that point?  What separates you from the other firms that are also getting good rankings?  Remember, the goal here is to CONVERT! 

Don’t get me wrong, rankings are very important.  If your site doesn’t rank well, it will not get the traffic necessary to yield a return.  However, rankings are only a piece of the puzzle.  Rankings help drive the traffic.  It’s your website that will provide the conversion.  Keep in mind that if you are on page one, you still are competing against 10-20+ other firms!   Therefore, your site needs to be designed in such a way to convert prospective clients. 

Here are some things to consider when evaluating your website’s ability to convert:

• Does the home page of your site clearly communicate that your firm can provide a solution to a potential problem a prospect is having?
• Is your site well-organized and easy to navigate?
• Do you have an easy way for them to contact you? 
• Is your phone number large and prevalent on every page of your site? 
• Do you have a “Contact Us” email box on every page and is it placed in a position to be noticed? 
• Have you communicated a track record of success via client testimonials? 
• Is you website engaging enough to make a prospective client want to stay on the site for an extended period of time? 
• Are you participating in social media sites such as Facebook®, LinkedIn®, & Twitter®?  Do you have links or buttons to those sites prevalent on your homepage?
• Do you have a blog? 
• Do you have videos on your site?

I will be writing future blogs detailing conversion ideas.  I’m interested in hearing about other “Best Practices” and conversion ideas.