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Inbound links are critical to your site's performance. Monitoring them, adding to them asking your bar or alumni association all takes work. However once you get them they are an investment that keeps growing.

If you do not understand or want to perform inbound linking, you are not alone. Search engine Land has highlighted that if you do not want to do inbound link you are no alone They also make a great point, that if you do not understand it, I need to show you how. Would it be a class, would it be a powerpoint, or a step by step guide? Any ideas on how you learn? Any ideas on what would help you as attorneys to do more inbound linking? Please comment with any ideas you have on help with inbound linking. I know you are busy but these links are as essential as making sure the front light is on.

Give em a piece of you mind and a way to find you!

I know I keep harping on inbound links but they are crucial to page rank. Page rank not only insures a site show up high on ”Divorce Lawyer New York City” but all of those other random searches you see on reports, what is called the long tail search.
A great way to get quality inbound links is to comment on blog and articles. When looking for news, use a search engine. Find a news source or blog where you can comment on the news. Most have them. When you find something of interest, click the comment button (like the one you see below) and leave a comment. When you sign it, leave your web address. I put in an example under this post.
The higher the rank of the blog or news site you are commenting on, the more valuable. So look to the bygones first. Even one you are a regular reader of and become a regular commenter. Not only will it help your site, there is a chance a reader might become a client!

Recent CNN link to FindLaw.com

CNN refers to FindLaw.com as a trusted legal source, pointing the ever important inbound link to the FindLaw portal. The obvious benefit here is once again millions of people see the FindLaw site and go to it to read about the law. CNN’s value as a news source reinforces FindLaw’s value as a legal resource. Many people that may have never used FindLaw will go there and discover all it has to offer, including information about your firm.
There is also a greater benefit. That inbound link from such a highly regarded, often visited vast site such as CNN.com pushes up FindLaw’s importance in the eyes of the search engines. Once again, your sites link to FindLaw becomes more valuable. Not only is there now a better chance to be found on FindLaw.com, your site has an even better chance of being found on its own.

Inbound Links: DO IT!!

Inbound links are a must. Adding correct ones continuously is one of the most important things you can do for your site once you have everything working properly on the site. I can not emphasize this enough.

In case you do not understand, an inbound link a “button” on another site that goes to yours. If you have one to theirs it is termed a “reciprocal link”.

Inbound links are votes of confidence. It is the virtual method of the old catchphrase “It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.”

Besides quantity, links are judged on
· Relevance of the link Links from a bunch of pet stores wont help
· The rank of the site A link from a brand new site can be beneficial but not as much as from an often indexed( read by the search engines) site
· The Age of the link- If you have been linked to FindLaw for a few years, it counts for more in the ranking equation than a few months. This explains the duration from launch until you are ranked highly in every search. It is also the reason time is of the essence in linking.
· To what part of your site they are pointing- Don’t have them all pointing to your home page
· The word that links to your site The link will often not readily say the name of the site but be under a word or phrase such as Long Island School Bus Accident Attorney or Construction and Business Contracts in Nassau County (Remember the thing with George Bush/Jimmy Carter where if you typed in failure they came up? Linking was the reason.)
· Speed of the addition of the links

If someone adds a hundred links to your site all at once, it may shoot to the top but then get flagged by Google, Yahoo, MSN or one of the others. Several large companies have fallen prey to frowned upon linking practices only to have their sites removed completely from search results. As you can imagine, that is very detrimental to keeping business flowing.

If you keep asking legal directories, local directories, your bar associations and anyone that references you to add your site, you should be fine. Also make sure they are adding the relevant pages.

There is also the option of having it done professionally. FindLaw offers a couple of services that will manage your linking, and give you access to links almost no one else has. The Search Engine Specialists (some of the top in their field) doing this will not only work to increase your sites rank but prevent it from being admonished by the search engines. The results from these programs have been phenomenal, but they are in very limited availability. Call or email me to discuss them. If you really want to get serious about getting volumes of business off the internet, this is the way to go.

It can be confusing and that is why you have a consultant and the teams at FindLaw to help you navigate the waters. Adding a link or two a week will quickly add up and continuously help your site ranking. I offer in my newsletter one or two such links a week. Staying on top of that will help keep your site on top of many different pages.