Why should I have an Internet presence?

A June 24, 2005 CNN article reported that, "today, the majority of Americans are surfing the Web, exchanging e-mail, reading bank statements and ball scores, checking the weather. Pew (Pew Internet & American Life Project) says, "two out of every three Americans spend time online."  The article also stated that the Internet audience numbers in the billions and that 35 million used the Web to get news.  Advertisers are changing, too, trying to figure out how to best use the Web. JupiterResearch projects that Internet advertising will grow 27 percent, to $10.7 billion, by the end of 2005.

A December 29, 2002 CNN article stated that about 60 percent of 2,000 people surveyed in the Pew Internet and American Life Project study said they used the Web regularly. Two-thirds of those had been online for three or more years. At least 80 percent of the Internet users questioned in September and October said they expected to find reliable news, health care information and government services information on the Web. Almost as many Internet users, 79 percent, said they expected to find a business with a Web site that will give them information about a product they are considering buying. The numbers of users grows daily.

U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Senior Analyst Safa Rashtchy asserts that the online search industry represents a major growth market, which he expects will reach nearly $7 billion in worldwide revenues by 2007, growing at a compounded annual rate of 35 percent. In addition, he believes that the key driver of growth is "the increased popularity of search as the most efficient way to find products and information, and simultaneously the rise of search as the best way for advertisers to find and acquire customers." Mr. Jaffray estimated that the cost per lead was $0.29 for online search, $0.50 for e-mail, $1.18 for the yellow pages, $2.00 for banner ads, and $9.94 for direct mail.

About 60 percent of 2,000 people surveyed in the Pew Internet and American Life Project study said they used the Web regularly. Two-thirds of those had been online for three or more years. At least 80 percent of the Internet users questioned in September and October said they expected to find reliable news, health care information and government services information on the Web. Almost as many Internet users, 79 percent, said they expected to find a business with a Web site that will give them information about a product they are considering buying.

An article in the Triangle Business Journal (North Carolina) Small businesses need Internet strategy states that, "The small business operator has to get in on the act now, not so much to carve out market dominance, but simply to be compatible and survive in a surrounding environment where e-business will eventually be the primary way that buyer and seller communicate with each other."

Your website must bring in qualified prospects in order to promote your product or service.  Search Engine positioning is the best method to obtain qualified traffic according to most experts.

How will people find my web site on the Internet?

Once your Web site is designed and the Meta tags are placed, the site needs to be registered with the search engines.  Search engine and directories are, to domain names, what the yellow pages are to businesses' phone numbers.  A search engine tells people who you are, what you do and where you are located. 

Directories are often included in the term, “search engine.”   Directories are databases of Web sites that are listed by category. Google is a search engine. Search engines use algorithms and other factors to index Web sites.  A number of search engines are becoming both directories and search engines.  In addition to its search engines, Google also maintains a directory. To be successful in directories, you or your Web consultant, must choose the proper categories for your Web sites. To be successful in search engines, you must optimize your sites for each search engine’s algorithms. 

How do search engines rank sites?

With the exception of strictly pay-for-inclusion search engines, most search engines strive to provide high-quality content.  If they provide high-quality content, visitors will standardize on their search engine.  Search engines periodically change their ranking algorithms in order to maintain quality listings.

Websites or blogs are primarily ranked according to “words or phrases" within a Web site or blog.  These “words”, may be within the content, the title, description and Meta key words.  The key words are also found in the page content. Each search engine uses different algorithms and weights to rank sites.

Some search engines, especially Google, consider other factors, such as the link popularity of a site.  Link popularity includes the number of times a site is linked by others.  High quality links, such as sites that relate to the linked site and have good rankings, are more meaningful than sites that are simply "link farms" that have little relationship to the linked site.  The theory is that sites of value will have multiple links (votes) by other quality sites.  As mentioned, Google ranks sites, not just by how well they match the query, but also by PageRank™ popularity .  Additionally, some search engines feel that sites with many links are well established. 

Sponsored ads are handled differently than natural search engine results. Google's ads are ranked based upon the amount the bidder is willing to pay for a word or phrase, along with the number of clicks the ad receives. If the highest bidder receives few or no clicks, the ad will drop in the listings and may be removed. Yahoo/Overture's sponsored ad results are listed in the order of who paid the most money for the top rankings.

To test your site's popularity links, visit LinkPopularity.com or type link:yourdomainname, link:www.yourdomainname.com or link:http://www.yourdomainname.com into Google, MSN and other search engines. See their About (their name) section. A good article on Google's history and popularity link techniques may be found in the April 20, 2000 issue of PC World.

Due to the difference in search engine algorithms, a site may rank in the top 5 in one search engine and 40^th in another search engine.  To further complicate the process, search engines continually change their ranking schemes.  As mentioned above, they change their algorithms in order to maintain quality returns.  Additionally, due to the rapid growth of the Internet, sites are occasionally dropped from search engines.

There are some general Meta tag rules for the title, keywords and description.  For example, you should not have more than 100 characters in the title, 1,000 characters in the key words and 200 characters in the description.  You should not repeat key words more than 6 times.  You should not have invisible key words on a page (words that are the same color as your background.)   However, since each search engine ranks differently and many shuffle their algorithms, results vary.

High search engine rankings can do a great deal for a business.  Many of our clients obtain numerous clients each month from their Web sites.  Continued success requires study, experience and ongoing maintenance.

How do I register my site with a search engine and which ones should I choose?

Registration is typically not difficult.  Most search engines have a link at the bottom of their page that reads something like "Add URL."  You typically fill in your URL and sometimes your e-mail address. 

The most important search engines, as well as our personal evaluation, are located on our Consultwebs.com search engine page. Search Engine Watch also provides a list of search engines and summary information on each search engine.  We believe that manual submissions should be made to the major search engines.  Minor search engines can be submitted at www.savvysearch.com and other promotion services.  Be careful, some promotion services request personal information that can result in spam and most do a poor job of submitting sites.

Directories can be a good way to get your organization's name out.  However, a business can seldom justify the expense of placing its site in multiple paid directories. Many directories list carefully chosen phrases when touting their search engine expertise.  Their rankings may rise and fall.  Fortunately, many directories offer free or attractive pricing. 

Smaller directories are disappearing quickly as the competition increases. We recommend that you invest with established directories who can substantiate their claims.  A list of legal directories can be found on our Law Web Marketing site.

Methods of testing a directory's effectiveness include:

• Review the directory.  If few businesses are listed, the directory is either new or not well received.  Call listed organizations and ask if they have received clients from the directory.

• Most prospective clients look for services on search engines.  Test the directory's visibility in search engines such as Google, MSN and others.  Test your location, area of practice and phrases.

• View the site's search engine readiness by reviewing the meta tags.  See the meta tags discussion on this site.  Click on View > Source on your browser and view the program code.  For example, the title should have no more than 100 characters.  The key words section should have no more than 1,000 characters.  The description should have no more than 200 characters.  The meta tags should virtually mirror the site's content.

• If your time is limited, ask a knowledgeable legal Web consultant to assist.  An hour of a knowledgeable consultant's time may save you a great deal of time and money.  A consultant may, for example, advise you to list in only one to four of the main directories and use the remainder of your budget to improve your main site's search engine readiness.

Does it cost anything to register with search engines?

Most search engines provide free submissions for the "natural listings" unless you wish to pay for express submissions.  Express payment does not guarantee search engine inclusion.  It is more important than ever to prepare your site properly for search engines. Google, the leader in number of pages indexed, does not charge for submissions. 

Some search engines offer sponsored ads, also referred to as Pay-Per-Click ads.  Google offers Ad words which, if planned properly, can provide additional exposure at an affordable price.  Yahoo! Search, (formerly Overture) offers sponsored ads.  We often recommend a combination of pay for inclusion and free listings.

Don't forget to consider directories.  There are many reasonably priced idustry and professional listing directories that achieve high rankings.  Our Lawyers Profiles, N-Carolina and P-I Lawyers sites are examples. Organizations should take advantage of the opportunity to list themselves in free or inexpensive directories in order to gain exposure and popularity links.

If I don't register with a search engine, will they eventually find me?

Some search engines have spiders or robots that travel the Internet and add sites. However, they are very slow to arrive at unregistered sites. An exception can be if the site is linked by sites that have high rankings. Even if search engines spider your site, they may spider the incorrect pages.

A site that is improperly designed will seldom be found by prospective clients. The situation is similar to adding a new phone and hoping someone will find the number.  Google, the leading search engine in terms of popularity and the largest in terms of pages indexed, indexes approximately 8 billion pages.  Google supplies the results for several major search engines. Its results make up approximately 45% of the results found by searchers.  The Web sites that do the best job of anticipating and including the searcher’s content, achieve the highest rankings.

For example, a little more than a year ago, a Google search on the phrase “law firm Web consultants” resulted in more than 2,200,000 pages found. On July 2, 2005, the results increased to 14,500,000 listings. The phrase “law firm web designers” returned more than 943,000 pages.  On July 2, 2005, the results increased to more than 6,000,000 results. Our sites rank in the top 3 and we typically have some additional listings in the top 10.  We are pleased to report that we and our clients achieved top rankings.  The high rankings are a result of proper page content matched with properly configured Meta tags and a good popularity link plan.

If you wish to see a page’s Meta tags, click on View > Source (or View > Page Source) on your browser.  You will view something similar to:
Title Cityname Personal Injury lawyers, Statename Accident Lawyers, Malpractice Attorneys, Negligence, Law Firm (to 100 characters).

Meta keywords Cityname,Personal,Injury lawyers,Statename,Accident,Lawyers,Malpractice,Attorneys,Negligence,Law Firm,Car Wrecks,Crashes... (to 1,000 characters)

Meta description Firm Name is a cityname personal injury law firm concentrating its practice on accidents, malpractice, negligence (to 200 characters).

These Meta tags work in combination with page text to inform search engines about their content.   The city name, practice areas, state name, etc., should be interspersed throughout the content.

Search engines will typically index all of the pages of a new site a few days after it is submitted.  Search engines are often overloaded and sites are sometimes dropped.  Getting into and staying in the search engines is a task that should be monitored every two months.

If I resubmit my site frequently, does it help or hurt?

Beware of services that promise to resubmit your site a certain number of times per year for a small amount of money -- without performing search engine optimization.  It is, of course, good to check your status and make sure that you are in search engines.  However, if your site is in a search engine, you should not resubmit unless you have made significant changes to your site. Search engines frown on frequent resubmissions. Most have spiders / robots that visit your site to look for changes.  Resubmission can actually hurt if you do not maintain your meta tags and content well.  Many Web site owners are becoming more savvy regarding search engine optimization and are seeking ways to improve their rankings.  If others have done a better job of optimizing their site and Web promotion, you may drop in the rankings by resubmitting frequently. 

Why Is Search Engine Positioning Important?

Search engines exert a great deal of control over Internet sales.  Most analysts report that the ten largest Search Engines control more than 90% of all Internet searches.  These major search engines include Google, Yahoo, MSN, HotBot, Excite,  Infoseek, AOL, WebCrawler and Snap.  Northern Light, About.com and Dejanews (also called Deja) are highly regarded.  Please see Consultwebs.com if you would like to see an entire list of search engines.  If you want to generate Internet sales, you must have good rankings in the major search engines.  Positioning is especially important to e-commerce sites.  If someone finds you based upon their criteria and your content and if you site is well designed, you have a good chance of adding a client. 

In order to have a top listing, you must stay informed on how the top search engines work.  Or, you should hire a search engine optimization placement, also known as an SEO or SEOP Web promotion expert, who will maintain the knowledge.

What happens if I do not continue with a search engine maintenance and submission plan?

To maintain quality search results, search engines frequently change their ranking algorithms. The continuous changes prevent hucksters and unsavory sites from appearing in searches in which they do not belong. If you do not pay attention to the search engine algorithm changes, your site will gradually decline in the rankings. It goes without saying that if your competition does pay attention, their rankings will improve.

Another consideration is the fact that search engines are growing rapidly. Sites periodically disappear from search engine listings. Unfortunately, it takes time to get back into a search engine once the site disappears. A search engine maintenance plan with a reliable Web consulting firm will insure that your site is monitored and optimized for current search engine algorithms.

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Methods of generating additional traffic

How can I accomplish niche marketing?

If your market is niche-oriented, rather than general business, you should contact and trade links with associations.  You should review competitive sites, register with industry directories and register with industry listservs (topical e-mail groups) and newsgroups.  E-mail groups can be found on our Resource Links site.

What are specialty sites?

Specialty sites accomplish two primary purposes.  They can show an organization's focus and they can improve search engine rankings.

If your business or law firm has several areas of business or practice listed on a home page, you may not be considered as focused as an organization that has one area of business or practice. You can display your commitment and expertise by developing individual Web sites that demonstrate your proficiency and commitment to an area.  Examples of specialty sites include Bank of America's Loans.com, Belluck Fox, LLP's Mesothelioma Help Site, Branch Law's Car Lawyers.com, Smith Helms Emergent Law, ABN AMRO's Mortage.com, Arent Fox's Advertising Law, Garrubbo, Romankow, Rinaldo & Capece's Municipal Offense, Janet, Jenner & Sugg's Cerebral Palsy Injury and Vioxx Sites, Perkins Coies' Buzz on The Hill, KraftLaw's Family Law Site, Pepper Hamilton's Construction Law, Poyner & Spruill's Environmental Law Site, Robinson & Cole's Deregulation site and State Taxes site, Eckert Seamans Product Defenders, Attorney Gordon Johnson's TBILaw (Traumatic Brain Injury, one of more than 25 specialty sites) and Retail Law.   We have developed more than 500 "focused area Websites" for clients across the United States.

In the LLRX.com article, Should I Have More Than One Domain Name for My Law Firm, legal profession consultants Jerry Lawson, Brenda Howard and Dennis Kennedy agree that, "with multiple domain names, you can get a branding effect, enhance search engine placement, attract a target audience, show expertise and commitment to specific practice areas, and show that you are web savvy."

Specialty site pages, when improperly designed, are sometimes referred to as a backdoors, doorways, entry pages and gateways.  A backdoor is typically defined as a Web page can be designed for the purpose of ranking high in the Search Engines for certain keywords or phrases.  Some Web consultants design specialty sites that have low content, but have high key word relevancy (percentage of key words to total content.)  We do not agree with this practice.  Our philosophy is to design specialty site pages that have high-quality content and value -- and show area of business and practice expertise, while containing multiple pertinent key words.  A properly designed specialty site will often rank higher than a general (non-specific) page if it is optimized and placed properly -- if the site is comprehensive / informative.  One or two-page sites will not establish page rank and rankings.

We sometimes design specialty site pages for other purposes. If a client’s site uses frames, JavaScript or dynamically generated CGI pages, it will not rank well in all search engines.  Flash and other technologies placed on the home page prevent search engines from finding content that they can read and use to rank a site.  However, a well-designed specialty site page can drive traffic to a poorly optimized main site.

A consideration is that Websites with many pages, high-quality content, longevity and numerous incoming high-quality links, will rank better in Google than small, new sites. We recommend placing the specialty site content on both the specialty site and main site and working to improve best sites.

How do I create additional Web sites?

If you are doing business on the Internet, you know the importance of high search engine rankings. The competition is keen, but it can be done. Specialty sites can increase traffic significantly, but they must be designed properly. The goal is to create powerful specialty site pages that rank high in the Search Engines, while containing valuable and compelling content.

A specialty site for a business law firm might be coded similar to the below:

---

(Meta tags)

  title    North Carolina business law by Perry & Mason, attorneys at law -
business considerations and business regulations.
  keywords   business,businesses,business law,commerce,law,business firm,business regulations,services.....
............
description   Business law (related business law terms).......

(Content)

Welcome to businesslawnc.com.  This Business law Web site is maintained by
Perry & Mason, P.A. The Web site is designed to provide information about
business, commerce & business regulations.  Corporate........    ….Commerce.....

Please see our main site, (link to Perry & Mason, P.A.) to view more about business law and our other areas of practice.

---

As you can see, "business" words are interspersed throughout the page. If someone types "business" into a search engine, this specialty site page will come up higher than the more generally worded Perry & Mason main site that includes several practice areas.

You may wish to choose to develop specialty sites for three or four of your most lucrative business areas.  Or, you may choose some areas of business that you wish to expand.

The process must be done properly, however, or you may find that search engines have disqualified all of your sites as Spam.   Search engines welcome a specialty (focused resource) site that has strong content and value.

Specialty site pages should be concise and load quickly. Graphics and banners should not be used too heavily.  Again, the purpose of a specialty site page is to attract specific types of customers.  If your specialty site is compelling and informative, you will succeed. 

Can I use subdirectories for specialty sites?  

In many cases, directories, such as www.yourbusiness.com/~directoryname (example), will not rank as well as a unique domain name.  Since the price for a domain name is low ($9 - $12 per year), we recommend a unique domain name, with the content also placed on the main site.  Some search engines register only one directory per domain. Other search engines give preference to unique domains. Try a search of "law firms", "Web designers" or "Web consultants", "law firms web design" into MSN.com and you will see that domain names do well in the rankings. 

Some search engines give preference to readable key words inside domains, e.g., www.majoraccidents.com or www.major-accidents.com.

Bear in mind, however, that you will pay monthly hosting prices for specialty sites.  Our hosting prices, for example, are $7.50 per month.  Most Web hosts charge $10 - $25 per month to host specialty sites.

See IPLawUS.com for domain links and trademark information.  For more than 300 potential law firm specialty site domains and sample designs, please see our Law Web Success site.

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Do you practice what you preach? Where are your specialty sites?

You should always ask for designers / consultants you are considering for example specialty sites.  We do not divulge the work we have done for clients, such as specialty sites.  However, we use resource sites for our business. 

We own more than 120 sites.  We do not believe in low content doorways developed simply to obtain high rankings.  Our focused resource / specialty sites, while keyword intensive, provide rich content.  They include www.p-i-lawyers.com, www.legalresourcelinks.com, www.law-soft.com, www.triangleentrepreneur.com, www.raleighbusiness.com and numerous others.  Each domain is a resource site, filled with helpful information.

How much do you charge for your specialty sites?  

We typically host our clients' specialty sites, even if their main site is located elsewhere.  A domain name costs less than $10 per year from e.g., our Consultwebs.com Domain Program and others.  We can order the domain name if desired.  Our monthly specialty site hosting price is $7.50 per month.  Design of the specialty site page ranges from $1,500 to $8,000, depending upon the goals of the site, the complexity of the page, the amount of content supplied by the site owner and the quantity of specialty sites to be designed.  We include ten domain-specific e-mail addresses with our hosting services (more are available at $2 each.)  We often provide content for specialty sites.

How long will it take to achieve high search engine rankings?  

This varies by search engine and whether you pay for express inclusion.  Fee-based, express inclusion often provides for a site review within one to seven days.  Though a site may be indexed in a few days, non-payment submissions vary from four weeks to two or three months to achieve high rankings.  

Obtaining a high listing does not mean that you can forget about your site's rankings and move on to something else.  Search engines change their indexing algorithms.  Your position should be checked a minimum of every 30 days.  You, or your Web consultant, need to watch your rankings and tweak your site as needed. 

How much do you charge for search engine optimization?

Search engine / Web promotion requires a great deal of time and expertise.  Although everyone wants top rankings, only a certain number of organizations can achieve top rankings.  As you know, only ten Web sites can achieve top 10 rankings. 

Consultwebs.com reviews a client's situation and determines if the search engine optimization will be a good investment.  For example, for a search engine promotion company to promise top rankings for a common phrase or word such as "cars" is not realistic unless an enormous investment is made.   We and the prospective client must have synergy.

We also review competitive factors.  We only accept a certain number of clients for each locale, practice area or business type.

Search engine optimization prices are based upon your current site’s optimization status, the number of pages and your goals. Some clients simply wish to improve their rankings. Others wish to virtually control a market or area of practice for their locale.

We will advise you of those that charge for submissions to search engines, if applicable, and pass the amount along to you. We will make recommendations based upon your goals and budget.  Google and Yahoo, for example, do not charge for submissions, but offers sponsorships. Yahoo's annual directory price for an express submission is $49 per year.  Many directories do not charge for submissions or are reasonably priced. Sponsored listings range from a few cents per click to up to $20 to $30 per click for popular phrases such as personal injury lawyers. 

Our investment amounts sometimes depend upon the number of search engines for which you wish to optimize and submit and the locale you wish to dominate or have a presence.  For example, you may wish to submit to Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, HotBot, Excite, InfoSeek, AOL, MSN, Northern Light and Lycos.

As part of the search engine package, we assume all costs, including submissions, design pricing, hosting, domain names, entry fees and pre-defined sponsored ads.

Silver Plan

The Silver Plan consists of reviewing a home page and inner pages' content and Meta tags and providing a summary of changes.  The minimum investment for a Silver Review is $1,250.  Silver reviews may have the goal of achieving high rankings and prominent listings for sponsored ad words, resulting in a significant Web presence in a small town or city. Silver Plans typically require up to an initial $25,000 investment.

Gold Plan

The Gold Review includes reviewing competitive sites (which you supply), analyzing their status and then preparing your Home page content, Meta tags and preparing a marketing campaign.  Gold reviews typically have the goal of achieving e.g., top rankings, high sponsored ad listings and a significant Web presence in a city or town. Gold search engine reviews can require up to an initial $50,000 investment.  Gold and Platinum member clients have access to our consultants when planning sites, choosing directories, considering advertising options and our Platinum Clients bulletin board which features proven Web marketing techniques and FAQ's.

Platinum Plan

We interview and accept a limited number of Platinum clients.  Our Platinum Plan involves all of the above, plus a personal visit and interview / consultation by Dale Tincher.  We can work with you, your ad agency or we can recommend an organization to provide consulting services that include TV, radio, direct mail and print advertising planning.  We perform the above tasks and develop a long-range search engine placement, sponsored ad and maintenance plan.  The Platinum Plan typical requires an investment of $15,000 to $175,000. 

Certain markets and situations are more complex and may require a larger investment than others. A portion of our Platinum marketing process is discussed below. We have developed campaigns for more than $150,000 in cases where a client wished to have high rankings in a large city or region. All of the above plans include submission to the major search engines, sponsored ads and follow-up to insure success.  You will receive status reports, as well as being able to review your daily statistics when you host with us or install our tracking software.  Platinum clients have access to our consultants when planning sites, choosing directories, considering advertising options and our "Members Only" Platinum Member Clients bulletin board which features proven Web marketing techniques, client discussion and FAQ's.

We realize that we can not devote the necessary consulting time to clients if we mass-market our consulting services, therefore we accept a limited number of subscribers.

Exclusive Regional Marketing Plans

Consultwebs.com will enter into an exclusive Platinum Agreement for an exclusive marketing plan for a region and area(s) or practice or business.   A region is generally defined as a DMA (typically defined as a designated market area.)  The plan provides a comprehensive, personalized Web site and law firm / business promotion.  Components, some of which are covered in our Law Web Success site and the plans below, include top search engine rankings, ad sponsorships, high-quality domain names (when applicable) and prominent placement in key directories.  The plan typically requires 300 to 1,500 hours effort by Consultwebs.com staff members and approximately 15 hours effort on the client's part.  Ongoing maintenance of the effort is substantially less.  We can demonstrate that clients for whom we have developed this program obtain new clients each month.

We will visit with you and analyze your firm or business.  Please contact Dale Tincher at 919-272-8052 or dtincher@consultwebs.com for more details on the Platinum plan. Certain regions are no longer available.

Our unequivocal guarantee is that you will receive more client revenue in year one than you have invested. If you do not achieve this, we will refund your entire investment.

We also offer Web maintenance plans that cover search engines and Web maintenance.

Do you offer an overall Web marketing / promotion plan?

The Platinum comprehensive marketing plan consists of our consultants learning your business, reviewing your site, studying your search engine rankings, analyzing your advertising, evaluating competition and their search engine status, reviewing your goals, analyzing industry and profession directories, reviewing your current Web status and evaluating available advertising revenue.  Once we understand your target market and goals, we can develop your Web site(s) to attract your desired clientele and achieve your goals. A comprehensive marketing plan typically requires 150 to 1,750 hours of effort and expertise on our part and ranges from $15,000 to $175,000.

Law firms may wish to visit our Law Web Marketing site.  We also offer Web maintenance.  Our plans include status reports that show you your rankings, your progress and how you stack up against your competitors.  

Is the SEO investment worthwhile?

For many businesses, one new Internet customer will pay for search engine optimization.   Our experience has been that an established personal injury law firm, for example, can obtain an additional one million dollars per year of income by developing a professional Web site and obtaining top-10 rankings for their primary sub-areas of practice.  Please see our Search Engine Rankings Calculator to compute your potential.  Our clients who have made serious commitments to their sites receive significant business from their Websites.

In the past, more than half of Consultwebs.com's new clients, including two Top 25 North Carolina law firms, came from Internet activity.  The other 50% came from existing clients and referrals -- we do no advertising.  A March 2000 client, First Flight Centennial, stated that, "we performed a search, you ranked high, your site answered all our questions, we reviewed your clients (listed on the site) and we called you."  Our "first visit" with First Flight Centennial was for the purpose of accepting their order and planning their Web site.  During the week this article was initially written (mid-May 2001), two callers became "first visit" clients. Additionally, we received four request for proposals.  Other clients that have come to us from search engines include Lewis Advertising, Inc., Precision Walls, Poyner Spruill, Attorneys at Law,  Smith Debnam Narron Wyche Story & Myers, North Carolina Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association, Williams & Associates, VATrials, The Marshall Law Firm, Warfield Meredith & Darrah, P.C., Saint Camillus, Martin J. Ganderson, Cary Bankruptcy, Kaufman, Borgeest & Ryan and The Estate Planning Lawyer. We have obtained clients in Illinois, California, Washington state, Idaho, Tennessee, England, New York, Florida, Virginia, Missouri, North Carolina and other U.S. cities.

Please see our testimonials for comments of clients who have received business from their Websites. One 2001 law firm client received two significant cases from their Web site in the first eight months.  Another law firm client receives three traffic ticket and family law clients per week from their Web site.  A personal injury law firm client in a nice area received 10 new cases in the first three months of their niche site's existence.  Another client stated that their specialty sites generated more business than directories for which they had paid several thousand dollars in 2001.  Our Platinum clients receive a significant amount of business from the Internet.

What if I already have a Web site?

Many of our clients had Web sites when we began working with them.  We will perform a Web site audit and optimize your site for search engine effectiveness.  If you need redesign assistance or a makeover, we have a talented team of designers who can design and optimize your site. 

How can I determine how my current site ranks?  

You can visit the major search engines and type your key words and view how your site ranks.  Do not use automated query software; it is disliked by major search engines, including Google.

If you prefer, we will run a free, no-obligation search engine analysis of your site's rankings based upon up to two phrases, e.g., North Carolina Web designers and North Carolina law firms. Our Web Maintenance Plans include status reports that list your rankings, your progress and how you stack up against your competitors.

What should I not do?

Do not use computer generated doorway pages that are key-word intensive and/or identical to other pages.  Do not use invisible/hidden text or links.  Do not participate in link spamming and link farming, especially free-for-all (FFA) links.  Do not cloak. Cloaking is a practice designed to show a search engine a tailored page that is different than the one viewed by the visitor. Do not create multiple pages with the same content. Do not fill pages with irrelevant key-word intensive content. Do not use redirects that are designed to manipulate search engines.  Do not use software to probe search engines to check rankings. These practices can get your site demoted or banned from search engines.

If you develop sites with high-quality content and proper search engine optimization techniques, your site will do well.

Do you provide a guarantee? 

If our recommendations are followed and you do not achieve our jointly defined goals, for example, a top 10 ranking in the mutually designated search engines or directories, a significant portion of your money will be refunded without question.  We will agree up-front on the criteria that determine your success and the formula for refunding your investment.  For example, we often improve the design of existing sites or supporting sites, e.g., specialty / focused resource sites. The design portion would not be a part of the refund formula.

Our unequivocal guarantee is that you will receive more client revenue in year one than you have invested with us.

Many companies say that they can achieve high rankings.  How can I judge?

Good question!  Many Web companies discover that promising high search engine rankings is an attractive way to make money and they suddenly proclaim themselves experts.  Numerous search engine optimization companies can do a good job, but not a great job. A great job is a top-15 ranking.  A superb job is a top-10 ranking. Seldom is there such a clear-cut and rapid method of evaluating vendors as there is in the search engine optimization (SEO) business. You can test search engine results rather than reading the vendor's Web pages and fluff, listening to sales pitches and viewing canned search engine queries.

Only ten Web sites can achieve top-10 rankings.  It cannot be accomplished inexpensively.  If you do not achieve top 20 listings for your key words, your investment is not worthwhile.

Ask the consulting for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm for a list of their Web clients and for the SEO campaign's designated search phrases. Do not settle for less than ten clients. Perform a search and see if the sites come up in the top 10 to 20 returns. Few will.  You will quickly weed out the pretenders. Ask the company for the names of their specialty sites (if they use this technique.) Ask for references.  We invite you to view our client comments for examples of the types of responses you should receive from the references.

The SEO company should be able to quickly show you status reports that show your current rankings and how you stack up against your competitors.

If you are not comfortable asking for this information, try some searches on your own.  For example, type the phrases -- law firm Web designers, Web promotion consultants, law firm Web consultants in Google's or MSN's search box.  Test some of the SEO's clients. Check popularity links by typing the SEO company's domain (link:www.seoco'ssname.com) into the search box of Google.

During January 2002, one of our sites such as Consultwebs.com, promotewebs.com or lawwebmarketing.com ranked in the top 3 out of more than 159,000 to 839,000 pages in Google for the phrases -- law firm Web designers, law web marketing, law firm Web consultants, etc.  The number of results increased dramatically by 2006, typically from three to eight times as many results. Consultwebs.com typically ranks in the top 5 for most law firm Web designer and consultants searches.

The best way to be assured of success is to ask for a significant portion of the payment to be held until you are satisfied with the optimization (e.g., 25% upon eighty percent completion and 25% when you are fully satisfied with the process.)  If the design firm or consultant hesitates or begins to include legal “if's” and “and's”, you know to move on.

I discovered a rating agency that grades SEO firms.  How can I evaluate rating agencies?

Some rating agencies do a good job. Others select their own criteria and grade SEO firms against it. Some are in the SEO business or have affiliations and are obviously biased. One rating agency, for example, does not evaluate "results"; they only evaluate based upon "their" criteria. You should evaluate SEO firms based upon their their reputation and their own and their client's rankings. You can review the rater's Web site to see if they offer SEO services, then determine if you are comfortable that you are receiving a non-biased analysis or if the listing is simply an effort to promote themselves, affiliates and competitors who do not threaten them.

How do I measure my Web success?

If your site brings in revenue and/or saves you administrative and marketing time, you are successful.  If it does not, you are not successful.  A caveat is that your site must be compelling, informational and you must offer a needed product or service.  If you do not have all of these components, your success will be minimal.  Visitors must first find your site.  Then, they make decisions on the site and the services and products offered. 

Some common Web terms include click-through rates, counters, hits, page views, impressions and sessions.  The effectiveness of Web advertisements are measured by their click-through rate - how often people who see the ad click on it. Hits are not a good indication of traffic since they include any response a server sends to any browser.  If a page has six graphics, each time a visitors retrieves a page, seven hits are recorded.  Page views are the number of times a page (document) is viewed.  The same visitor may visit several pages.  Each visit is a page view.  Page views are meaningful.  They show that the visitor has a high enough regard for your site to visit additional pages. Impressions consist of an advertisement's appearance on a visited Web page. For example, if the page you're on shows four advertisements, that is four impressions.  Sessions (also called user sessions) are the number of unique visitors requesting information from the web server during a given period, e.g., one day. Sessions are typically the best indicator of the number of users that visited a site regardless of the number of pages they looked at or files they downloaded.  Counters are not very meaningful in terms of visitors.  Each time the same individual (or the Web owner) visits or refreshes a page, the counter is incremented.  If a visitor arrives on a different page, a home page counter is not incremented.

Separate "landing pages" can be set up for sponsored ads. When someone clicks on an ad and goes to one of your landing pages, it can be easily tracked.

An easy way to track leads is to have separate phone numbers for various campaigns. Your phone bill will quickly show where Web visits or inquires originated.

Web statistics are very important.  They tell you how many people are visiting, which pages they are visiting, what site is referring visitors to you -- e.g., search engines, directories, individual Web sites.  If you don't review your Web statistics, you are operating blindly.  For example, you may be paying a great deal of money to a directory that is not referring visitors to you.  An analysis of one of our clients statistics determined that they were spending more than $15,000 per year on directories that were referring less than 5% of their traffic.  Low priced directories were referring almost 20% of their traffic.  We advised them to increase their visibility on the free directories by purchasing higher profile positions. 

On the other hand, it is very important that you ask prospective clients how they heard about you.  A directory or search engine may be only be sending a small percentage of your referrals, but they may be high quality referrals and may be a significant percentage of your revenue.

In summary, if you track the source of your prospective clients and analyze your statistics, you will know if your Web site is successful.

How do search engines and online marketing compare to traditional advertising? 

While current online advertising still represents approximately only 3% of large company advertising, the percentage growth is impressive -- a 300% growth from the prior year.   By the end of 2005, it is expected to grow to 14%.

As discussed above, the Web is growing as a means for consumers to find services and products. Services such as MapQuest, Expedia, Ebay, CNN and others are helping consumers become comfortable with the Internet. In 2006, it will be a primary method for locating services.

Advantages of the Internet over traditional media include:

• Unlike a one-time print or media ad, Web marketing enables your services to be available for an extended period of time – awaiting the time when prospects ready to buy. Your Web investment continues to pay dividends by working 24 x 7 to attract clients.  The typical price of a few ads will purchase a small Web site or specialty site that will serve you for years;
• Web pages are dynamic to address the changing needs of clients, the legal community and legislation. Unlike printed materials which usually have a limited "shelf life", a Web page can be updated as new information becomes available and printed as your needs dictate;
• Your web site stands by itself. Unlike telephone and other directories, with proper promotion prospective clients will see your firm among the top listings when they search for North Carolina lawyers, attorneys, etc.

Web marketing is rapidly developing as the “weapon of choice” in small businesses marketing campaigns -- with print materials complementing the Web site and being used as a "call to action" that entices web site visitors to contact the firm and request more information.

What additional features can we add to our Web site to make it more functional and compelling?

Interactive quizzes, such as the Trivia Challenge on First Flight Centennial's site, allow you to place questions on an area of business or practice page and permit visitors to "test their knowledge" about an area in which you specialize.  In this case, the visitor and First Flight Centennial receive immediate feedback from the Trivia Challenge.  First Flight Centennial's Trivia Challenge was promoted using press releases and search engine submissions.  First Flight Centennial received 54,000 page views (pages viewed by visitors) February 23rd and 24th, 2001.  

Feedback forms, Information Request and Quote Forms, allow the sender and the recipient to send and receive applicable information. Calendars, address books and business resources, as displayed on Triangle Entrepreneur.com, encourage visitors to return. Discussion boards similar to the one maintained by the North Carolina Paralegal Association, Immigration attorney Douglas M. Holmes and Consultwebs.com's Bulletin Boards allow the visitor and site owner to post and read information, questions and discussion. HTML and JavaScript Portfolio pages allow you to display your client work or products. If you wish to display your products with additional pizzazz, Shockwave Flash's sound and movement can enhance product or client presentations or announce an event. Search Pages allow the visitors to go directly to the areas of their choosing.  Videos such as those on Munley, Munley & Cartwright, Hardison & Associates and Lewis Advertising's sites can add to the presentation of services. Audio applications like Samakow Law and Scott Gottlieb's audio only Flash with audio add another dimension to sites.

Online, searchable databases, resource listing databases and staff (e.g., attorney) and area or practice search forms (Poyner & Spruill L.L.P.) developed using MySQL, ASP, Microsoft Access and other software permit searching and retrieval by a combination of criteria. Table of Contents pages allow the visitor to gain a quick view of our site's contents. News Pages allow you to update the public on happenings within your company. Press Releases provide the news media and visitors to view the latest press related items. See our press release page for tips on writing press releases.  Biography pages such as the ones at Medlaw Legal Team, Garrubbo, Romankow, Rinaldo & Capece and Janet & Jenner introduce your staff to the world. Free downloadable forms, such as Dan Brady's forms, provide assistance and display interest and expertise. Online manuals in viewable (HTML) or printable form (Adobe Acrobat pdf) format save time and money and make specifications and information available to customers. Online articles such as those at Consultwebs.com  present information and show expertise. Industry-specific information such as that on Ullman & Associates sites give clients reasons to visit and return. Calendars such as those employed by the Metrolina Paralegal Association allow members and visitors to keep track of upcoming events.

Financial tools like the calculators at Martin J. Ganderson, attorney at law, allow visitors to analyze their financial situation.  Hyperlinked course or product listings similar to the Undergraduate Degree Program at the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities can save administrative and visitor time. Custom directions pages and maps similar to those at Smith Debnam, L.L.P., ACR Supply (with beeper information) or standard designs are helpful to clients and a business or firm's administrative staff. Employees can be solicited through bulletin boards, such as the board at the North Carolina Paralegal Association. Java applets, thumbnails and animations, such as those at First Flight Centennial Foundation, allow you to present your message in dynamic, animated fashion. Up to the minute, ticker type newsboards or up-to-date national news feeds, such as those implemented at the Teddy & Meekins, encourage visitors to return to your site. Online PowerPoint presentations, such as the Internet and Technology courses at Consultwebs.com display or an in-progress project, allow a different mechanism for presenting information, as well as demonstrating technical proficiency.  Community pages like the ones on Munley, Munley & Cartwright, make a site more locale-oriented and interesting.  Disclaimers and privacy statements can be viewed on our Triangle Entrepreneur site.   Testimonials such as the actual copies on Hardison & Associates and the examples on Heard & Smith and video testimonials like the ones at Ullman & Associates and Consultwebs.com, along with Verdicts / Settlements like those at Munley, Munley & Cartwright and Janet & Jenner provide additional credibility. 

Firms and businesses can establish themselves as experts and also achieve high rankings (if prepared properly) by developing high-end resource sites such as Mesothelioma Help by Belluck & Fox.

Photos such as those at Lichtenstein Fishwick & Johnson P.L.C.'s VA Trials site, Kantrovitz Law and Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan LLP personalize and localize a site and make it more interesting.  Consultwebs.com, Inc., has more than 2,000 U.S. and business photos, plus we feature photo sources on our resources page.

Consultwebs.com can review your workflow and provide recommendations as to how a Web site can assist you.

What are other ways in which we can accomplish the promotion of our site?

These marketing areas are covered in detail with our Platinum consultation clients. Items we discuss include the following: update your site frequently -- no one reads yesterday's newspaper. We can assist you in obtaining content, exposure, links and other data. We can maintain the content and the site if you prefer.

To develop additional content, partner with other organizations in your industry or clients. Post presentation materials online. Include your Web address and e-mail address with your stationary, business cards, letterhead and other correspondence. Announce your site or updates to the news media -- editors are frequently looking for news items. Be sure that you announce the site in an interesting or novel fashion. Mention your new site or updates with a P.S., added to your correspondence. Include your Web address to your voice mail. Collect e-mail addresses from your clients. If applicable, file the e-mail addresses by newsletter topic and plan a newsletter. Give away expertise - it shows that you care. Use a concise but effective e-mail signature. Consider adding your Web site address to billboards and signs. Trade links with other businesses and your customers.  

Are there additional considerations that you have not discussed?

Yes.  Anyone who has experimented with Web promotion and optimization realizes the challenges involved.  Promotion and optimization techniques differ depending upon the situation.  Business Web sites, industry and competitive scenarios typically require custom approaches.  

I am a Webmaster. Can you help my clients?

Many of our clients are Webmasters who wish to help their clients. Few Webmasters and general technology consultants have the time nor experience to work with search engine optimization / promotion and keep up with the frequent changes that search engines make to their algorithms. We have referral and reseller programs.  We will commit in writing not to become involved in the Web design portion of your client's requirements.   We will also make our 500+ domain name listing available for resale at attractive margins.

How do we get started?

If you have additional questions or are ready to get started, please e-mail info@consultwebs.com (or dale.tincher@consultwebs.com) or call 1-919-272-8052.  You will speak with a consultant, not an auto-responder or voice mail.  You may also fax 1-800-515-3549 or use our Feedback form.

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