So the natural conclusion is to look for as many linking opportunities as possible.  In a recent announcement regarding links, Google’s anti-spam engineer Matt Cutts, reminds us to proceed with caution especially when it comes to paid links.  The official Google policy on paid links is as follows:

“Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.”

It now appears that Google has been working on new algorithms and tools to be able to detect paid links.  So although these types of instant rankings boosters may be temporarily beneficial, ultimately they could result in devastating consequences for your website. Once paid links are found going to your website, Google will completely remove your website from search results as soon as they are discovered.  Google also allows for the reporting of link violations, something that your competitors may also be on the watch for.  So between the algorithm itself and vengeful competitors, it’s not about if but more like when you will be discovered.

The better alternative is to build credible in-bound links from websites that do not engage in any link selling.  Although this takes more time, you avoid the risk of having your website disappear all together.  This type of consistent, gradual increasing of the value of your website will show the search engines that your website’s position is warranted and not stolen.

As the old adage says “you get what you pay for” and this definitely applies when building a website.  There are many factors to building a good website and building an effective Internet marketing presence.  When you consider the shear volume of people who are using the Internet to hire an attorney, these “cheap” websites can be a very expensive mistake.

Here are a few questions that you should keep in mind:

Does the website developer understand Search Engine Optimization?

A website that is properly built with basic search engines optimization best practices can make the difference between an effective site and a site that might as well be a billboard in the desert.  Unfortunately I regularly analyze beautiful websites, some even with award winning designs, that have no presence on keyword based search results.  An innovative, cutting-edge website design is great, but it must be coupled with an effective optimization strategy that is in place both during and after the website build is complete. In some cases, it is better to have a basic website design if it means more time and money can be spent after the build is complete on optimization.

Does the website developer understand what your customer is looking for?

The potential customers that are on your website have very specific questions that they need answered before they decide to contact you for more information.  If you don’t address those questions, they will leave your website and search for another that does.  From the content that written to the image it conveys, speaking to the right customer with the right message is essential in making sure your website is contributing to your bottom line.

Will your website developer be around next week?

In basements all across America you will find home-based website builders.  Nothing against these noble entrepreneurs, but a reputable company that has website development as a focus of their business is far more likely to be around when you need to change or update your website.  These ongoing changes to your website are critical for helping your website gain and maintain rankings on the search engines.  Far too many businesses are held captive to a website that can’t be updated because the developer is M.I.A.

This firm was split in their areas of practice. Half of the attorneys at the firm handled family law matters, which relied for years on direct referrals. The other half of the attorneys handled collection matters for some local companies. And this is where their problem began…

When a potential client went on-line and searched for the terms “south bend lawyer” or the name of the firm (referrals), the number one listing on the first page of search results was a local website and message board called “SouthBendSucks.com”. Apparently the firm pursued a collections matter with a local resident. Surprisingly this individual was not to happy with the firm for trying to collect this outstanding debt. So they decided to write a not so nice review of the firm on this website. As a result, when looking at those search results, the description summary under the website link was that review of the firm with the recommendation to “never hire the law firm of…”. Great for the collections attorneys, not so good for the family law attorneys.

Now, there is not much this firm could do to remove this post. This “not so happy” South Bend resident was stating their opinion and they had a right to do so. But the bad thing was the firm had no other source to tell their side of the story. Their website was built several years ago and they had not touched it since. Therefore the website was not showing up for many of the basic terms that it should be, like the firms name.

So the moral of the story is to make sure you often search the name of your firm, the name of your attorney(s), and some of the common keywords that you want to be found for. You have to be aware of where your website shows up on those searches and what other sources are saying about you. The best defense against a poor on-line reputation, is a good offense – a well built website!