Correctly structuring website content/pages is just as important as having content in the first place. While search engines can easily crawl content, regardless of where it is located, the same cannot be said of human visitors. If your website isn't easy to navigate, and if information and resources aren't easily accessible, many site visitors won't be encouraged to stay on your website for very long. A short visit means a shallower impression and a lower chance of you getting new business.

A website should be designed to draw the visitor in by offering information and services relevant to their needs. A hierarchical page-subpage structure is one great place to start, though there are, of course, other viable options. 

Recently, we decided to go back and do some reorganizing and rewriting on the website content for our Chicago personal injury lawyers, Friedman & Bonebrake. We expect the revamped site to appeal better to site traffic and search engines alike.

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The Search Engine Guys, LLC handles SEO campaigns for law firms and businesses across the country. We operate on a unique exclusive partnership system, and are proud to say that our track record can speak for itself. Give us at a call at 800-267-1704 to learn more about what we do.

What is the primary purpose of a business website? Regardless of the type of business - whether it is a law firm, a retailer, a consulting agency, or a doctor's office - the goal of a company website is to bring in new business. If a website fails to do so, it is inefficient and a waste of advertising dollars.

In order for a website to bring in new business, it must be able to convert website visitors into actual contacts. In other words, the website must be able to persuade a person who has just come across the site to call, email, buy from, or otherwise interact with the company who owns the site. How does a website accomplish this? A large piece of the puzzle is design, or how a website looks, how user-friendly it is, and what browsing and buying behaviors it elicits. Let's look at this Boston bankruptcy lawyer website as an example.

There are several major features worth mentioning:

- Attractive visual design: consumers make at least part of their judgments based on first impressions. If a site looks bad or cheap, it immediately loses credibility.

- Easy-to-locate contact capabilities: the easy-to-find "Contact Us" button in the navigation bar, the prominently placed phone number in the header, and the large "Free Evaluation" button all provide site visitors with the abilty to immediately take action.

- Testimonials and Credentials: The client quotes and accreditations of Boston bankruptcy attorney Josh Spirn are prominently displayed, allowing the site to immediately build value with a visitor.

Of course, there are dozens more factors to consider in developing, evaluating, and improving the conversion of a website. To learn more, give The Search Engine Guys a call at 800-267-1704.

When launching a search engine optimization campaign, many people seem to forget the importance of location. Consider this: you launch an expensive, time consuming SEO campaign to capture placement for the search term "personal injury lawyer." After several months, you manage to reach the first page of Google, and you start getting site visitors. One problem - your office is located in Austin, TX, but the people who find your site are coming from all over the country. Though your site gets plenty of traffic, people leave after discovering that you don't practice law in their area. 

There are several problems with going after a general search term like "personal injury lawyer."

- First, as in our example above, people who find your site might not be in your area and won't actually give you any business.

- Second, general terms are often harder to capture, taking more time and resources out of your pocket.

In most cases, you would probably be better served by launching a website targeted to a specific location - such as a city or metropolitan area. The size of this target area depends on the resources you are willing to commit to SEO and the scope of your company; achieving web presence in a small community is much easier than achieving good placement over an entire state.

Why build multiple websites? Why not put all your resources into one website that covers all your products, services, and information?

For one thing, multiple websites can help improve your SEO campaign. For example, if you are a lawyer who handles both personal injury and criminal defense litigation, it may be in your best interests to build one site for personal injury and another for criminal defense. By doing so, you create sites that are highly specific to each practice area, boosting your relevance in the eyes of search engines. 

For another, having multiple, dedicated websites also benefits the end user. People gravitate towards specialists and specialized sites. Returning to the legal example, a potential client may be more interested in an attorney who handles only one type of case, rather than an attorney who dabbles in everything.

Compare these websites for the Charles D. Hankey Law Office -

Indianapolis personal injury lawyer

Indianapolis Social Security disability lawyer

Although the designs are similar, the content and focus of each site is highly specific to a certain area of law. Whether a potential client is looking for personal injury representation or Social Security assistance, he will find a website filled with relevant, persuasive information.

Learn more by contacting The Search Engine Guys at 800-267-1704.

SEO may not be right for every company, but it can be beneficial in almost every profession or market. Although the majority of our clients at The Search Engine Guys are practicing attorneys or law firms, we'd like to point out that online marketing is by no means limited to the legal profession.

Many of our clients, for example, are in the medical profession, including Chicago cosmetic dentist Dr. Bagai and Austin facial plastic surgeon Dr. Apostolakis. 

The reality - search engine optimization is advertising, and every business needs advertising. However, instead of buying TV time or billboard space in order to make an impression on as many people as possible, SEO relies on a relatively passive method - which has its perks. For example, while billboard advertising relies on mass exposure, SEO has the advantage of catering to a receptive audience. Visibility through online search acts a natural filter - the people who get to a website are people who have already shown interest (by searching) in the services or products that website has to offer. Not a bad deal, when you think about it.