Navigation on the internet is similar to navigation in real life. Good navigation leads to arriving at a desired destination quickly while poor navigation leads to frustration.

On the Internet, navigation consists of the actual links that allow visitors to get to the various pages of the website and the words that make up the link. Ideally, the words that make up the link will describe what information is on the page that the link is directed to. Good navigation also allows visitors to get to the information through only one or two clicks no matter what page they are starting from.

Poor navigation is often characterized by:

1. Ambiguous words which make up the link. (Users can’t easily determine what information is likely to appear when the link is clicked.) 
2. Different navigation on different sections of a website. Instead of being able to go from one sub-section to another, users must first return to the home page.
3. Lack of clearly defined subsections. This is illustrated when users are required to click multiple times to get to information that should be presented at a higher level. As an example, having to click two or more times to find the “Contact Us” page.
4. While extra clicks may not require much time, users have a low tolerance for sites that require multiple clicks to find content. If a potential client becomes frustrated by your website he is less likely to hire your firm.

Good navigation is also critical for search engine optimization. Search engines send out bots, which are known as spiders, to crawl websites and index the content on the pages.

In order to complete the indexing process, a spider must be able to go from page to page via a link it can read. However, a spider can’t read and follow links that are embedded in flash menus. As a result, the spider isn’t able to get to the other pages and therefore isn’t able to index the content on those pages.

A website, therefore, could have valuable content that is actively being sought by potential clients, but the content (and the website’s pages) would never show up in search engine results since they were never indexed.

Since navigation is important, here are a few tips to consider:

1. Have your main navigation at either the top of every page or on the left of every page.
   On the bottom of every page, have a link to all the main pages. (i.e. also have your navigation bar at the bottom of your page. Text links are best. It will solve the flash problem mentioned above.)
2. Make sure to have a sitemap page. A sitemap page will allow a user to find whatever page they are looking for since the page will have a link to all page on the website, not just the main pages. Also make sure the link accurately describes what is on the page the link is taking the user to.
3. Lastly, while it may seem obvious, make sure it is easy to read the navigation. Don’t make the words a similar color to the background or make the letters so small they are hard to read.

Launching a website is much like hanging out your shingle to practice law – your spouse/mother/dog will all be duly impressed, but no one will be able to find your website (or know that your practice exists) unless you do something about it.

Which is why, when starting a firm, common practice is to list the firm’s number in the yellow pages and to send letters to all friends of the firm’s partners (the term “friends” defined to include everyone ever known after age 12).   In other words, hanging out a shingle isn’t enough – active marketing is required.

The launch of a website is not very different than starting a law practice – marketing is needed so that your firm can be found by those seeking your services.  Think of a website as like having a phone number without being listed in the yellow pages: your spouse/mother/possibly dog will all know your number and can contact you, but it’s unlikely that potential clients will happen to dial your number at random when seeking an attorney (and even less likely that potential clients will happen by chance to find your website).

Marketing on the Internet consists of two basic components: search engine marketing (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM).  SEO refers to the process of having internet search engines find your website, and having your website organized so that the search engines can index the content on your website’s pages.  The goal of SEO is to have your website appear at the top of the results page when potential clients enter search queries in Google and other search engines.

Search Engine Marketing has a similar goal – to have your website appear at the top of the search engine results pages when searches are done by clients seeking services offered by your firm.

Because there is significant competition on the Internet and a limited number of first-page listings on the search engine results pages, it’s important that both SEO and SEM be done correctly to ensure having the best chance at receiving a first page listing.  We will be discussing many of the important factors for this process in subsequent blogs and in our Knowledge Base; for right now it’s important to realize that both SEO and SEM are critical if you want to maximize the opportunity of having potential clients find your firm’s website on the Internet.

A few weeks ago (a week or so before Thanksgiving) Google changed the name of their Site Targeting ad program to Placement Targeting. With the new name also came a few new features. Under the old system, one could only choose which site to place an ad on. Now, you can pick which subsection to place the ad on. Also, one can now choose between bidding on CPC or CPM basis. Under the old system, the only option was CPM.

For more information visit Google’s AdWords help center.

Blogging is an easy way to keep clients up-to-date on trends and changes to the law, and to feature your expertise in a specific area of law.  Additionally, blogging affords an opportunity to communicate to current and prospective clients in an informal manner.  By demonstrating your ability to speak clearly to clients in language they can understand, you’ll alleviate potential communication concerns.

Because search engines (such as Google), favor websites that add fresh content in their ranking algorithm, blogging can also help lead to higher search engine rankings for your website.   However, before starting a blog, you should commit to a schedule for adding entries.  We recommend adding at least 2 entries a month (one every other week).  Adhering to a schedule will ensure active communication with clients; while sporadic postings could be viewed negatively (raising questions as to why the blog was abandoned).  By following an active blogging schedule, you can turn your blog into an effective marketing tool.

Law firms often focus on the hard costs of marketing (actual dollars out the door), but seldom convert this cost into a Client Acquisition Cost. The average Client Acquisition Cost, or CAC, may be determined by dividing the total marketing expense for a year by the number of clients acquired during the year through these marketing efforts. 

If possible, firms also calculate the CAC for each of their individual major marketing expense, such as the total cost for phone book advertising divided by the clients obtained from such advertising. Knowing the average CAC and the CAC for each major marketing expenditure can help firms better allocate their marketing spend.

CAC is mentioned here because both search engine optimization and search engine marketing (especially pay-per-click or PPC advertising) offer opportunities to have a significantly lower CAC then virtually every other type of marketing effort. After the initial expenditure for your firm’s website to be optimized, the website should, over time, appear higher in search engine rankings on Google and other search engines. When this occurs, the law firm benefits by being able to reach prospective clients for no additional incremental cost. Also, unlike other forms of advertising, search engine optimization doesn’t need to be renewed or re-done every year.

PPC advertising offers similar benefits. PPC programs can be set up in a number of hours on the major search engines, and firms can carefully monitor expenditures. Over the course of a year, even assuming a low conversion percentage, (people who click who subsequently become clients) PPC programs are still likely to have a significantly lower CAC than other marketing expenditures because of the low cost of PPC advertising vs. other forms of advertising. With this information, firms can better allocate their marketing spend in order to lower their over-all CAC.

Flash is a program that allows for slideshows, animation, and video to be incorporated into a website. Incorporating these features into a website can enhance the user experience if done correctly. Additionally, flash can make your website look slicker and more professional.

If you are going to incorporate flash into your website there are a few things to keep in mind. First, users’ internet speeds vary. You need to make sure to keep the flash file small so it will load quickly even for those users’ with a slow internet connection. A page that loads slowly will decrease a user’s experience. Since the point of using flash is to increase a user’s experience, a slow loading page which decreases a user’s experience will take away any benefit of using flash.

Second, even if the file is small and loads quickly, you need to be conscious of where you incorporate the flash in your website. You need to be careful when using flash on your home page/welcome page. When a user visits your website, they go there you see and read what is on your site. If a user is forced to wait for the flash intro to finish, the user may leave instead of waiting for the intro to finish. If you are going to have a flash intro (which I don’t recommend) you need to make sure to include a “skip intro” link so the user can get to your site without having to wait for the flash intro to end.

Lastly, when using flash, you need to make sure it accomplishes its goal. Before you use flash, you need to ask yourself why you are using flash. If you are using flash just to use flash, it is probably a bad idea. However, if you are using flash to get a point across, you need to make sure the use of flash is getting the point across. If it is not getting the point across you should get rid of it because now all the flash is doing is increasing the load time of the page which decreases a user’s experience.

While using flash correctly can increase a user’s experience, it can also produce certain disadvantages. These disadvantages are from an SEO prospective. The spiders that search engines send out to crawl and index pages can’t read flash. If your entire site is in flash, the spiders won’t be able to index any part of your site since they are not able to read it. Similarly, if your welcome page is in flash, the spider won’t be able to get past the home page and won’t be able to index any part of your site. Including a skip intro link will take care of this problem. The spiders will be able to read the text link and therefore will be able to follow it to the rest of your site. Once inside the site, the spider will be able to crawl and index the rest of your website (so long as it’s not flash).

Including slides shows and animation can certainly increase the user’s experience. However, one needs to make sure not to include too much. Over use of flash will make the pages load slowly and will decrease the user’s experience. Additionally, excessive use of flash will harm your site from an SEO point of view.

When designing a website, you can incorporate flash. Just make sure to use it appropriately.

Having quality content on your website serves a few purposes. First, it helps establish your expertise in a particular area of law. Second, it helps potential clients learn more about the law and understand potential problems and issues they may be facing. Third, it helps your website’s search engine rankings.

How Content helps Establish Your Expertise in an Area of Law
By providing an explanation about a particular area of law, you can quickly convey your expertise to potential client. The more detailed the information, the better, so long as explanations are clearly written and avoid legalese to the extent possible.  Ideally the content should be presented in a clear and concise manner so that potential clients feel like you can communicate with them in a way that they can understand.  Remember – clients can easily feel intimidated by an attorney. By communicating with clients in a clear and simple manner, they will feel less intimidated. Additionally, it will show them why you are the best choice to represent them.

How Content Helps Educate Potential Clients
Often a client will have had no previous involvement in legal matters and may therefore feel anxious about her issue.  If, however, you can provide even general information about her issue, hopefully she’ll feel less anxious.  Additionally, by providing information about potential issues and problems that she may be facing, she will be better able to ask questions concerning her matter, and will be in a position to better assist you in representing her.  She will also have a better understanding as to why you (the lawyer) are recommending a particular course of action.

How Content Helps Search Engine Rankings
Along with link building, one of the primary factors search engines consider when determining search result rankings is webpage content. Ideally, to achieve high search engine results for a particular subject, search engines want detailed content about a subject.  They then want other websites to validate the content by linking to the webpage with the content.  The more important the website that the link is from, the greater the perceived validation will be.

While it’s not always possible to get the links from other websites, it is possible to achieve the first aspect – writing quality content.  As a general principal, content should be at least 400 words in length, and the text should not be in flash or pictures (which the search engines can’t read).

Over time, search engines will pick up on quality content, especially if incoming links are generated.  Until then, you can help the process at a minimum by discussing your area of practice. For instance, instead of simply listing that you practice in bankruptcy, provide an explanation of the types of clients you represent, whether you represent debtors or creditors, and talk about specific topics that would be interest to your potential clients.

Incoming links to a website is one of the main factors search engines use when determining a site’s ranking in search results. When Website A (the linking site) has a link on its page to Website B, the link on Website A is considered an incoming link to Website B. These incoming links from Website A are essentially a “vote” that says Website B has information on a related topic. The more websites that link to your website for a particular subject, the more the search engines consider your website an authority on that topic.

However, it is not just the quantity of incoming links, but also the quality of the link that is important. For search engine purposes, “quality” can be thought of as having two components – (1) the “relevancy” of the linking site (Website A) to the linked site (Website B), and (2) the “authority” that the search engine gives to the linking site.  The more relevant the search engines believe Website A is to Website B, the more weight will be given to the link.  Also, the more Website A is perceived by the search engines to be an authority, the more weight will be given to the link.

For example, if a local hardware store has a link on its website to the website for a corporate lawyer, that link will have less weight than a link from a website that discusses the legal implications of starting  a new business.  If the link instead came from a website such as FindLaw.com, that link would carry even more weight, as FindLaw.com is considered both contextually relevant and also an authority.

Anchor text is also important. Anchor text is the words that are highlight as the link. An example of anchor text is click here. It is better for the anchor text to describe what the link is about. An example of good anchor text would be: Learn more about California real estate law. Search engines give more weight to links that describe what the site is about. Having anchor text that describes what the site is about is beneficial.

A site with a few “high quality” links can rank higher than a site that has a lot of “low quality” links.

In addition to our more technical blog postings, I would like to share some personal insights and experiences as an internet entrepreneur.   First, a bit about my background.

I began practicing law as a corporate finance and securities attorney in Phoenix for five years.  In 1996, I moved to Tucson to serve as in-house counsel for the copper operations group of a natural resources company headquartered in Australia, and in this position, I had the opportunity to travel extensively to South America and other locations, which I greatly enjoyed.  In 2003, after seven years in Tucson, I accepted a position as VP, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary for an aerospace and defense contractor in St. Louis.

Although practicing law was interesting, I always wanted to start a business.  With my fortieth birthday approaching (and realizing that starting a business wasn’t proving to be practical while working full-time), I took the plunge and left the practice of law to start what quickly became several internet businesses. 

The first business, Retirement Life Today (now to 55-Alive!) was started in 2005.  At the time, there was no social networking site for those over age 50.  Through 55-Alive! I’ve had the opportunity to be featured on CNBC’s Power Lunch and in Inc. Magazine, as well as in various newspapers such as the Christian Science Monitor and the Denver Post and in other articles and on several radio shows.

Shortly after launching 55-Alive!, a listings site for used RV’s (www.RVListingsOnline.com) and a site to find active adult retirement communities (www.RetirementCommunitiesOnline.com) were also launched.  Through these two sites in particular, I’ve learned a significant amount about the many factors, particularly search engine optimization and search engine marketing, that are critical to achieving success on the Internet.  These factors will be discussed in subsequent postings.

For now, the purposes of this section of the Esquire Interactive blog (and a blog should always have at least one purpose) are threefold: to Educate, to Entertain, and to Prove that you’re a much better writer than I am (not necessarily in that order).  I hope that you find these comments beneficial.

Of course all thoughts, ideas, or insights that you might have would be greatly welcome.

I look forward to learning from you as well.