How to Organize Your Website to Boost Response - Part 2

by Suuzen Ty Anderson, Esq.

     Part 1 - Organize by Client Problem, not Practice Area
     Part 2 - Two Techniques for Organizing by Client Problem

Two Techniques for Organizing by Client Problem

To obtain your desired potential clients from search engines, you'll need to determine what search phrases they're using. Two fast, cheap research tools work well for this:

 http://inventory.overture.com (free)
 http://www.wordtracker.com (free trial - use the back button on your browser to keep testing phrases; $8 for one day of full use gives more extensive information than is available on the free trial)

Both tools will report how many searches there were for each phrase you type into the blank. Inventory.overture.com will also show related searches that used at least one of the words in your phrase, and Wordtracker.com will show synonyms and popular related searches.

Once you've tested your ideas with these tools, try some brain-storming to come up with a method of organization that would generate pages that might attract clients. For example, start with the phrase, "selling a business".

      Organization Method # 1: Make separate pages for the little problems that are included in the big problem (selling a business), after researching exactly what "little problems" are the subject of frequent searches. The search process is trial-and-error but the results are very useful.

        To find an example, I began with the premise that potential clients who are selling their business will likely want to know how much it's worth. Inventory.overture.com reported that in a recent month there were about 300 searches for "valuing a business," 1200 searches for "business value," and 275 searches for "business worth." An astute business lawyer could potentially pick up some new clients from search engines by making a page link called "Business Value" and titling the page "Business Value: How Much is Your Business Worth?" The lawyer would then discuss the problem, using related search terms, and explain how the lawyer could help a client seeking to value a business in a sale.

        More interestingly, in that same month there were over 28,000 searches for "business broker" and thousands more in which the phrase "business broker" was coupled with the name of a state or city, such as "Florida business broker " (1500+ searches). Again, an astute business lawyer might devote at least a page to the issue, explaining how the lawyer could protect and assist a seller using a business broker. Although this is not a topic that would instinctively spring to mind in creating a business law website, it could well attract clients, and few other law firm websites would likely cover the same ground. If this page attracted new clients, more research could be done to expand the concept into multiple pages, each page focused on two or three crucial related search terms.

        Using the lawyer's website visitor statistics to track response, the most popular pages could then be further expanded upon, and the pages that were never visited could be taken off the site. Most websites come with basic visitor statistics, but for real firepower in website marketing, I use and recommend visitor stats from http://www.clicktracks.com at $495 one-time (a monthly payment version is also available).

     Organization Method # 2: Make separate pages for different categories of clients with the big problem - for example, make a page for each kind of business in your area that is commonly sold. Inventory.overture.com shows that in a recent month month there were 200+ searches for "selling a restaurant." Area chambers of commerce and government websites usually offer free, extensive information about the kinds of business in each geographic area.

     Examples:

     1. http://elslaw.com: This site is not really written for search engines, and has been marketed through pay-per-click advertising and targeted e-mail. I include it, though, as a good example of how to organize your site by creating separate pages for little problems that are part of a big problem). This site serves one main category of clients: persons injured by asbestos inhalation. It has become successful by offering many separate pages focused on medical and industry information of interest. (The firm also does drug litigation, but this is not the major focus of the website.) This approach is actually the best one for all personal injury firm websites: divide the site into a handful of injuries, then subdivide those sections into "little problem" pages using phrases gleaned from studying WordTracker and Inventory.Overture.com.

     2. http://t-tlaw.com/nonprofit.htm: This awkwardly designed site has nonetheless successfully used search engines to bring in many clients who operate non-profit businesses. It offers pages on the little problems that are part of the big problem of incorporating or running a non-profit, and separate sets of pages for different categories of clients likely to need non-profit legal services.
      -- Best regards, Suuzen Ty Anderson, Esq.