How best to optimize for a law firm that specializes in 3 different areas

[Mrupp44]

I realize the importance of keyword research and finding keywords where there IS demand and not TONS of competition and optimizing your title and descriptions etc AND content on the different pages for those same specific keywords..........

But....

What do you suggest I do to BEST optimize a site for a law firm that handles family law (divorce), bankruptcy AND criminal. It's one firm with 3 attorneys who specialize in different areas.

I know SEO is challenging and ever changing and I read and study and have made significant, noticeable, improvements for some sites but I have to admit this is over my head.

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you in advance and have a GREAT weekend!

Matthew

[RobertFisher]

Sorry Matthew, Just got this. 
Make sure each attorney has his/her own listing in Places, Bing Business Portal, Yahoo Local. You can also set them up individually in major/local directories or review sites.

[Mrupp44]

Im sorry, this might sounds stupid - what do you mean when you say "set them each up in local?" - you mean local seo or in seomoz when setting up the campaign?

Thanks!

[RobertFisher]

Good move Matthew on the campaign...you will hug yourself one day soon. PS: Make sure you set them each up in Local.

Let us know if we can help.

[Mrupp44]

Kevin, Brandon, Josh, Robert - thank you VERY much for the excellent information. Truly superb points, thank you for being generous with your time. I made a list of everything and yes, Robert, I created a campaign for them the minute I got back to the office with a check for them and I haven't even started building their site yet. Thanks again guys!

[RobertFisher]

Matthew,

Josh, Brandon, and Kevin all make great points and, I would write down each of their suggestions as a list.

Handling attorneys (notice I did not say Law Sites) is a horse of an odd color. First, you need to set up your GA and GWMT for the firm so that you have impeccable tracking. Now you are a pro member and you need to immediately go into Campaigns and set up a campaign for this firm. Matthew - Don't read anymore, go set up the campaign and come back and finish reading when that is done

Then you are going to want to consider two things: First, a click to call system that allows a searcher coming to the site to put a number in and be speaking with a lawyer/etc. immediately or very quickly and a system where in you have chat available that pops up on the screen. Both of these will help and most track everything as the companies want to keep the business.

Next, for where you are you need to go into the keyword tool while logged into an account (not external tool) and do keyword research on the three different areas. If you are unsure, just put keyword research in the search bar on SEOmoz and you will have a hundred resources. Personally, I do not believe you need anything other than the Keyword Tool in AdWords for this project. Get a good list of keywords and see where your competition is missing the boat. Brandon mentioned using a city locator and he is spot on. Be sure you look at how keywords are ordered: city-bk-atty vs bk-atty-city. Trust me, most of your competitors are not looking at this.

Now, use what the others have given you with your best 5 to 8 pages per atty. BK - Chap7,11,13, how to (do this), etc, Criminal (here I am not listing anything I have ever done....) DWI, theft, robbery, etc., Divorce - child custody, how to, etc.

Do not spend a lot of time on ego pages... about attorney smith who walks on water in between being an astronaut and playing first base on the local slow pitch team....

Control them now. Tell them what YOU need from THEM. Tell them what reports they will get and when. Show them the first report out of the campaign wherein they rank for nothing. Give them a report monthly on keyword rankings, etc.

Lastly, as to blogs, they will all tell you how they are great writers, etc. Say, "that is super, we need about a dozen blogs to start with. Nothing tomorrow, but one a day for the next few weeks." Then give them a list of potential titles. If one of the three follows through you have an asset. If not, don't push it as you have just put the blog page to bed unless they want to pay you to write (hire a copywriter) a blog a week for each, etc.

Hope this helps, control them, best.

[BrandonShoupe]

I agree with Kevin and Josh in that you need a separate page for each type of legal service. The only thing I can add to this conversation is that I know from first hand experience that doing a legal advice forum is probably going to be a non-starter. I've had a handful of legal clients and the last thing they want to do is to provide legal advice on their website. In fact, all your web copy will usually have to be reviewed by them to make sure their site is not providing legal advice, so don't go changing their copy willy-nilly - always suggest changes and get them to review it first.

Most legal keywords are going to be fairly competitive, but if you add your client's location to those keywords, e.g. Cityname Bankruptcy Lawyer, then you will reduce your competition considerably. In my hometown the person that ranks #3 for one of these types of keywords scores a D on their on-page optimization and only has one keyword-rich link from an external website. Of course the larger your metropolitan area the more competition you will have.

[kwoolf]

Keywords related to these areas of law are very competitive, and technical SEO advice will only get you so far. Josh has got the right idea of publishing at least three separate pages that specify and detail each area of expertise. I wouldn't go too crazy with internal linking, but a similar format to squarespace dot com for each page will allow you to get quite a bit of important information to your potential clients. You can link each section title to more pages, but remember not to canalize link juice by trying to rank two or more pages for the same key words.

I'm going to go out on a limb here only because I've seen it work really well for another client. You're no doubt going to need to embark on major link building campaigns and advertising to direct as much traffic to your site as possible. Now, a legal advice forum might help you out in this department. Having users generate content and lawyers answer these questions will drive more legitimate traffic to your site. And this content will be rich with key words related to your firm, even some you haven't thought of yourself. Of course, you'll need to consult with someone on the best solution for your company, but the forum should be on your own domain and not hosted somewhere else unless that association will benefit your ranking. Start a blog as well with great content for potential clients.

Also get on HARO as there are always reporters looking for professional legal sources. Linkmosses is a great link building newsletter. Get on directories, social media, all that. I imagine you're busy, so you'd be best to find someone or some company to do this for you.

P.S. Remember that your goal is conversions, turning leads into paying clients. Make sure you web site has some sort of web-to-lead form and call to action.

Hope I helped a little.

[JoshPugh]

Hi Matthew,

The key to good SEO is good and organised content.

If you've got three different fields, then ensure that you have on page for each of these sections. Under these pages should be more pages of information that link, relate and add more information on the topic.

On the home page you should have lots of links to all this content, and you should cover all three of the fields in a more general sense.

Keeping the site linked (internally, as well as externally) is crucially important.

If you pick one (or two if you're game) terms for each of these pages, you will be able to focus your SEO and target particular terms for each aspect of your site.

Start there and you should start to get some numbers