When you're looking to redesign, build or improve your website it is important to partner with a consultant or web design company that can deliver results. Here are some things to look for in a good internet consultant:
1) Past Results: "We build great websites and all your SEO is included." Great! Then they should be able to prove it. Ask them for 4 or 5 clients and then leave it up to Google. What do their clients do and how do they show up in the search engine results? Don't just focus on one keyword phrase. If they built an attorney website that focuses on criminal law run searches for drunk driving, home invasion, license restoration...anything that they have on their website. This will give you a realistic picture of what type of results you can expect. If they aren't delivering for their current clients how will they for you? If they are then you can expect the same. It's impossible to hide if you can deliver results or not because they are so easily tested.
2) Clear Communication: Most attorneys do not come from the IT world or have a very strong technical background. If you're working with a consultant they should be able to explain things simply for you when you need it and go into detail when necessary. If you sit through a meeting and feel that everything that was just talked about was way over your head there is something wrong. You are going to be working with this person and communication is going to be an important part of the process.
3) Big Picture Talk: Consultants do everything with the end game in mind, but if they leave out the details or avoid questions you ask about how results are achieved it could be another way of telling you, "I have no idea, but I'm going to fake my way through this meeting to get your business." It's nice to hear something about being number 1 in search engines, but it's even better when it actually happens.
4) No Real Experience: If the consultant has never really built a website or performed SEO services successfully on a website than you are more or less talking with a sales person that has a cool title on their business card. This is where it gets a little bit tricky because sales people can be very different from one another. Try to figure out if your "consultant" gets their hands dirty in the project or if they just talk with people to deliver business to people that do. If they are sales people ask them questions to see if how confident they are in their project and the delivery of it.
5) One time fee's: I don't really know if this is a personal thing or if some of you agree with me, but think of your roll as an attorney for a moment. A person comes in and needs help with a drug possession charge and you decide to quote a flat rate. You do a nice job for them and your client gets a reduced charge and you part ways. Four months later they return with another drug charge. Since they had already paid you they want you to do this one for free. Are you likely to take that case? Or if you do are you doing your best for them and giving them the time you normally would?
I don't think one time fee's make sense if you're trying to get your law firm to seriously compete online simply because your site needs to be constantly updated, fresh and improved to keep it relevant and fresh for search engines. I find most companies that charge a one time fee simply sit on your website until you call with complaints or additions and then they react to it. The truth about SEO is it does cost you either time or money to do it right (and often both). If you aren't spending the money then you need to spend the time on it. If you paid someone upfront for your website how confident are you that they are optimizing it correctly every month to give you the best chance to succeed?
1) Past Results: "We build great websites and all your SEO is included." Great! Then they should be able to prove it. Ask them for 4 or 5 clients and then leave it up to Google. What do their clients do and how do they show up in the search engine results? Don't just focus on one keyword phrase. If they built an attorney website that focuses on criminal law run searches for drunk driving, home invasion, license restoration...anything that they have on their website. This will give you a realistic picture of what type of results you can expect. If they aren't delivering for their current clients how will they for you? If they are then you can expect the same. It's impossible to hide if you can deliver results or not because they are so easily tested.
2) Clear Communication: Most attorneys do not come from the IT world or have a very strong technical background. If you're working with a consultant they should be able to explain things simply for you when you need it and go into detail when necessary. If you sit through a meeting and feel that everything that was just talked about was way over your head there is something wrong. You are going to be working with this person and communication is going to be an important part of the process.
3) Big Picture Talk: Consultants do everything with the end game in mind, but if they leave out the details or avoid questions you ask about how results are achieved it could be another way of telling you, "I have no idea, but I'm going to fake my way through this meeting to get your business." It's nice to hear something about being number 1 in search engines, but it's even better when it actually happens.
4) No Real Experience: If the consultant has never really built a website or performed SEO services successfully on a website than you are more or less talking with a sales person that has a cool title on their business card. This is where it gets a little bit tricky because sales people can be very different from one another. Try to figure out if your "consultant" gets their hands dirty in the project or if they just talk with people to deliver business to people that do. If they are sales people ask them questions to see if how confident they are in their project and the delivery of it.
5) One time fee's: I don't really know if this is a personal thing or if some of you agree with me, but think of your roll as an attorney for a moment. A person comes in and needs help with a drug possession charge and you decide to quote a flat rate. You do a nice job for them and your client gets a reduced charge and you part ways. Four months later they return with another drug charge. Since they had already paid you they want you to do this one for free. Are you likely to take that case? Or if you do are you doing your best for them and giving them the time you normally would?
I don't think one time fee's make sense if you're trying to get your law firm to seriously compete online simply because your site needs to be constantly updated, fresh and improved to keep it relevant and fresh for search engines. I find most companies that charge a one time fee simply sit on your website until you call with complaints or additions and then they react to it. The truth about SEO is it does cost you either time or money to do it right (and often both). If you aren't spending the money then you need to spend the time on it. If you paid someone upfront for your website how confident are you that they are optimizing it correctly every month to give you the best chance to succeed?
