Search Engine Optimization question

[Oceanbeach]

For around a year now I have been working on the advertising of my friends business.  Since I have been disabled for over 13 years and no company anywhere will hire me, I work for free.

When I started working on the web page, Google and Yahoo had him listed so far into obscurity, the site could not be found.  I signed his firm up on every free attorney directory I could find and this morning... I found my work resulted in his firm being found on Google at Page 10.

I was impressed, sent off an email to tell him of this search engine placement improvement and damn, I was good.  Less than an hour later, I wanted to see this again so I logged on to Google for the same search and it dropped from Page 10 to Page 45 of competing law firms.

It is my belief that a person chooses which business within the first 3 pages of a search or they quit looking.  During the last year there has been zero response from any of the free legal directory web sites.  Last week, I attended a seminar at the Hilton whee the presenters were offering ecommerce solutions.  When I booked my seat, I asked id search engine optimization was going to be discussed, they said yes.  They did discuss, it is included in the cost of services, end of topic.  The first 6 links in a search of that company were complaints against said company because they do not deliver the product as paid for.

Does anyone know how or what I can do to get the site within the first 3 pages in a Google and Yahoo search?     Have the best day
Michael

[dtwpuck]

http://www.submitplus.com/freetools.htm

and just because I think it's funny
http://google.about.com/od/searchengineoptimization/tp/badseo.htm

Anyway, the best way to get your site at the top of a search engine is to hire a professional.   Good advertising is expensive.   

[Dennis]

Here's a free too you can download that I've helpful.

The free edition is pretty basic. They do have a more advanced version for purchase.

www.webceo.com.

Also, are you using any of the social media sites to promote such as FaceBook? Have you considered implementing a blog?

[freaky_dream]

The major thing with Google are link backs. The more link backs you have to your site the higher ranking you will get. The big law firms are going to place higher since they probably have a bigger media presence hence they get cited in blogs, local news sites, etc. Some companies even hire people to go out and create link backs for them.

One trick is to have multiple domain names. Rather then have something like www. Herbertfinkelstein-attorneyatlaw.com you can have some general domain name like www. sonomalawyer.com or www. sonomaattorney.com. So when people search for an attorney local to the area your friend resides in his site would come up.Remember you can have multiple domain names pointing to the same ip address. The key here is get your friends website to come up when someone does a specific search. Brochure sites are tough to get a good placing because they are pretty static and don't get regularly updated often except for cosmetic reasons. Maybe add a wordpress blog to your friends site to generate a little more traffic.

[Oceanbeach]

Anyway, the best way to get your site at the top of a search engine is to hire a professional.   Good advertising is expensive.   

Before there was a computer on every desk and possibly before there was an internet, I owned an agency, worked in another and worked in several radio stations, plus a couple of newspapers.  One of my oldest and closest friends once said, "Michael, you can't be sincere, you are in advertising."  I am required to use the free tools because this project is one from the heart, I have been dating this man for nearly two years.

His site was built by a college student at U.C. Berkeley around 4 years ago.  I am retaining the overall look of the site and with the tools you guys provided, I can make it work, as I rewrite and add some pages.  Many thanks    Have the best day
Michael

 

[Oceanbeach]

The major thing with Google are link backs. The more link backs you have to your site the higher ranking you will get. The big law firms are going to place higher since they probably have a bigger media presence hence they get cited in blogs, local news sites, etc. Some companies even hire people to go out and create link backs for them.

By link back, do you mean like reciprocal links, where Joeblow.com exchanges links with Johndoe.net?  I signed him up on many free lawyer directories but with the existing links to the bar assn, the courts and all the legal guru's, 30 free directories which list hundreds of competing firms, having those directories would be clutter and could be viewed as an invitation to contact another firm.  The original designer left an icon, which does not function as he was a student earning his tuition and not a professional designer.  I was thinking and wondering if hiding a page with all those links at that space because the average person on the internet does not open those pages.     Have the best day
Michael

[J.R.E.]

See if any of this info may help you ;


http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Get-on-Page-One-of-Google&id=1256257


http://ezinearticles.com/?3-Easy-Steps-to-Increase-Google-Page-Rank&id=2715648


http://ezinearticles.com/?SEO---Choosing-Keywords-That-Are-Just-Right&id=2589473


Ray

[freaky_dream]

Before there was a computer on every desk and possibly before there was an internet, I owned an agency, worked in another and worked in several radio stations, plus a couple of newspapers.  One of my oldest and closest friends once said, "Michael, you can't be sincere, you are in advertising."  I am required to use the free tools because this project is one from the heart, I have been dating this man for nearly two years.

His site was built by a college student at U.C. Berkeley around 4 years ago.  I am retaining the overall look of the site and with the tools you guys provided, I can make it work, as I rewrite and add some pages.  Many thanks    Have the best day
Michael

 

Not necessarily reciprocal but just having a link on another site back to your friends site. Some people go around to forums, blogs and make posts with links back(like in a signature or just casually mentioning it in a posts) to a particular website whose placing they are trying to manipulate. What happens is when googles bots come through the website they will see the particular link and note it. The more links that the bots pick up on other sites the higher they will rank your friends page will get. You were doing this already by placing your friends website in those lawyer dirctories. You also might want to submit his website to dmoz.org if you haven't done so already. It's a little tricky and takes a while but will increase your placement considerably. If you want pm here and i will take a look at his website and tell you what you can do to improve it.

Domain age is another thing to consider. Here is an explanation http://www.webconfs.com/age-of-domain-and-serps-article-6.php

[Oceanbeach]

I ran the free web page tools last night and found where improvements can be made and purchased a city and field of law specific domain name today.  Oddly enough goDaddy sent an email about his new domain name before I did.  How can you surprise someone with a gift if the store tells him before you get home?   Have much reading to do     Have the best day
Michael

[Oceanbeach]

Today, I Googled my friend's business and found... I not only put him on Page 1 of results but he is the first listing on the page.  The former #1 listing spends at least $10,000 per year with Findlaw as most Findlaw clients do, while we spent nothing.  Yes, the Page 1 results of Google placement can be had for zero dollars and zero cents.  Damn, I'm good, thank you all for your help     Have the best day
Michael