The Importance of a Domain Name

When building a legal website, one of the first questions that needs to be addressed is, What domain name or URL should I use? If the client has an existing URL with content, the answer is simple. We will want to use the existing URL as it would be considered an aged domain by the search engines. (An aged domain is hugely important to the search engines- see my post on
September 13th on this subject)

But what about the attorney who registered a URL a long time ago but added no content? In this case there is absolutely no search engine advantage and the lawyer would be best advised to pick the most advantageous URL possible. So what makes a good URL? While a relatively small factor in search engine optimization, the name of your URL does play a role in ranking, particularly in MSN and Yahoo. Therefore, you want to maximize the opportunity by incorporating practice specific and geographic keywords in the URL. Phoenix Divorce Attorney, Rebecca Owen, did this when she selected http://www.arizona-divorcelawyer.com/ as the URL address for her new website. A brand new URL, the site already ranks well for very competitive keywords like "Arizona Divorce Lawyer" in MSN. The keyword rich URL is one of the reasons why.

"Shouldn't I use the name of my firm as the URL name?" Having the name of the firm in the URL serves no advantage. Remember, one of the goals of most online campaigns is too bring in clients that don't already know your name. So I usually recommend maximizing the search engine marketing of the title. (Besides, we will always ensure that your site comes up in searches for your name.) Another reason not to use the firm name in the URL is that law firm names tend to change over time, which may require you to change the URL later. The only time that I recommend using your name in the URL, is if you do a ton of advertising that would create name recognition of the firm name. Otherwise stick to a keyword rich title if you don't have an old URL.

*Both Networksolution.com and godaddy.com will allow you to select different URLs and determine the availability.

Adding Client Testimonials

I am often asked if its a good idea to add client testimonials to a site. The answer is a resounding yes! People searching for legal services have lots of options. To differentiate yourself in a crowded market you need to sell yourself. While the content of your website should communicate your skill & abilities, nothing will sell you more effectively than a testimonial from a happy client.

Phoenix personal injury lawyer, Paul Englander, has an extremely effective testimonial page on his website. The page features a number of heartfelt and moving stories from people that Paul has helped over the years. Anyone reading them will walk away with a picture of a skilled, responsive, hard-working, and compasionate attorney who will go the extra mile for his clients. The good news for Paul is that people do read testimonials, as they are typically one of the most viewed pages of any website. Finally, one of the ancillary benefits of having a testimonial page, is the addition of unique custom content which can only help in regards to search engine visibility.

The Perils of Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

There are 4 reasons why I tell my clients to avoid Pay-Per-Click (PPC) programs.

Organic vs. PPC: Depending on the study, only 15%-20% of search engine users click on the sponsored ads, as there is a known bias towards clicking on advertisements. Of the people that do click on the ads, the very expensive ads on the top of the page get the lion share of the clicks. The vast majority of searchers prefer the organic search results.

Click Fraud: Most pay-per-click programs come with a management fee, where a company receives a percentage of the click revenue as their fee. In my mind this creates a conflict of interest, as the company has an incentive to get you as many clicks as possible. The other model often used is the “click guarantee” where a company guarantees a certain amount of click thrus for a set price. With this model, a company could bid very low say 2 cents a click and then have a bank of computers in Bangladesh click on your ad. It’s easy to see why online advertising is such a profitable venture for the online yellow page companies. Amazingly, these companies always meet their guarantee, while the client rarely if ever gets any calls or clients. Finally, your ad will be clicked on by competitors and salespeople constantly.

Google Syndication: Please look at the Google ad on the left hand side of my BLOG. As I write this post, an attorney from Minnesota is “advertising” on my BLOG. If you click on the ad, I make money!!! Why in the world would an attorney in Minnesota be advertising on an Arizona Lawyer Marketing BLOG. Well, chances are the attorney signed up for a click guarantee program, where he was promised a certain number of clicks based on selected keywords. In order to reach the desired number of clicks, Google finds it necessary to syndicate the ad to websites like mine that contain those same keywords. Because of this, a number of domain parking sites like www.personalinjurylaw.com have sprouted up, where the sole purpose is to capture Google adwords revenue. The end result shortchanges advertisers who will receive lower quality clicks as a result of these practices.

Key Word Exaggeration! (This is my word-should I copyright?). Key Word exaggeration is how most people are sold on the internet. Sales people will often quote staggering traffic figures for keyword phrases like “Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer” that they get from the search engines. For example, in January '07 Yahoo advertising says 2687 searchers typed in that exact phrase! at It is no wonder why so many PPC advertisers throw money at this phrase and other vanity phrases like it. But the reality is that the majority of search engine traffic in the legal field comes from long tail searches—searches that are unique and are rarely repeated. How do I know? I have access to the traffic reports of thousands of legal websites. For example, in Los Angeles we have the top two websites that rank for the phrase “Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer”. In a week those two sites might get one visitor who types in that exact phrase. Variations of the phrase may yield 4 on a good week. The good news is that each site receives traffic from over 140 other unique searches in a given week thanks to their optimized content. So what about all those sites that are doing PPC for that phrase and getting tons of hits but few calls? My theory; various forms of Click Fraud, Ad Syndication, and Keyword Exaggeration.

The bottom line is that attorneys should stay away from PPC programs until they become more transparent and click fraud is eliminated.

The Importance of Age

One of the factors that the search engines have long considered is the age of a website's url. This is particularly true with Google who rewards sites that have been around for long time with great rankings. (Provided they have great custom content, SEO, links, etc...)

This can be particularly frustrating for the owners of brand new urls, as their sites will have to endure the dreaded "Google sandbox". While never officially disclosed by Google, the sandbox refers to the period of time before a site begins to rank for competitive search words. While there are some strategies that will mitigate the effects of the sandbox, it will always take some time for your new site to build trust with the search engines. When it comes to search engine optimization, patience is a virtue.

Patience has certainly paid off for Scottsdale personal injury lawyer, Shane Harward. Shane has been a FindLaw client since 1999. Starting with a small template site, Shane upgraded to his current site in 2004 after getting a large case from the internet. Today his site enjoys a preeminent position atop many personal injury searches in Arizona and he picks up a consistent stream of business from the web.

*For the last few years FindLaw has been aging practice specific URLs. So if you are considering building a new site in Arizona, we may have an aged url for you to use.

Good Linking Practices

Inbound links are one of the most important factors that Google uses to determine the position of a website in the search results. Some years ago, it was sufficient to get a lot of inbound links to top Google's search results. Nowadays, it's not that easy. Google has started to detect unnatural linking patterns. So what is an 'unnatural linking pattern'? They are links that have no topical relevancy and exist solely to increase the search engine ranking of the website.

Links that are useful to web surfers are links that search engines find relevant. Therefore, it is extremely important that new inbound links are topically relevant to your website. A link from another attorney, legal association, or legal directory would all be considered relevant. A link from a patio-furniture store would not. In fact a non-relevant link from a patio furniture store will actually hurt your ranking. This is why you want to avoid anyone promising lots of inbound links within a short period of time. They are likely link farms that will get your site in trouble with the search engines.

So how do you know who is linking to you? Input your firm's URL into the website www.linkpopularity.com, and click on the Yahoo results page. This will give you a pretty accurate picture of your inbound link profile. If you need help with adding quality links to your firmsite or removing bad ones, contact me and I will be happy to help.

$475,000 Settlement

Congratulations to Scottsdale personal injury attorney, Jeffery J. Hernandez! He has had a very productive summer so far. Recently, he had a client who suffered a hip fracture in an auto accident. Medical bills were approximately $85,000.00. Liability and need for future medical care were hotly contested. No independent witnesses saw the accident. However, despite those facts, Jeff was able to convince the other party’s insurer that his client was NOT at fault and that the client deserved $475,000.00! Nice job!

In another recent case, Jeff was able to get $150,000.00 (3rd party policy limits of $50,000.00 and UIM policy limits of $100,000.00) for a client involved in a rear-end collision, who had $16,000.00 in medical bills (mainly therapy and epidural injections) and pre-existing back problems! Way to go, Jeff!