A an effective SEO and online legal marketing campaign requires a website and content management solution that is SEO friendly. If you don't already have a website for your law firm or law practice this is a great time to read this article. When you decide to develop a website in the future refer back to this article and review it with your developer. If you already have a website, read this article and then review your website's functionality to determine if there are any areas that can be improved upon.
There are several important issues to consider when developing a law firm or attorney website from an SEO standpoint. There are also other considerations such as aesthetic appeal and usability. When planning to design and develop a website, focus on the core functionality issues first and then build around that. With respect to core functionality that is related to SEO, here are the three most important things to should consider:
- User Friendly Content Management Solution - A content management solution (CMS) is software that allows a user to create and manage content on her website. This is important because creating regular content for your website isn't easy if you have to call a developer to add your content every time you have something to publish. Before you hire a developer to build your website ask them about the platform or content management solution he proposes to use and see if you can take it for a test drive. I use an open source CMS solution called Drupal for most of my sites. It is easy to use and offers a lot of great add on features that are all free.
- Customizable Page Titles - Page titles are a piece of code on a web page that tells search engines what the page is about. Page titles are one of the most important aspects of a well-optimized web page. When you view a web page in a web browser the page title shows up in the top left hand corner of the browser's title bar. It is important that your website platform easily allows alteration of a web pages page title. Ideally, you should be able to do this without the assistance of your developer.
- Meta Descriptions - Meta descriptions are code areas that provide brief descriptions about a web page's content. When you conduct a search in Google, the meta description is the information that shows up under the title and link to the website in the search results. Meta descriptions are helpful for SEO and if well-written help entice searchers to visit your site. The platform for a good law firm website should allow you to easily add, edit, and update your meta descriptions.
The ability of any SEO firm to help you optimize your site will depend heavily on the ability of your website's platform to provide this functionality. iLegal Marketing is available for consulting to help you work with your developer to make your website as SEO friendly as possible. If you would like assistance please contact us.
