 How Visible Is
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Your firm may have a site on the World Wide Web, but is it accomplishing your goals? In an earlier column (June, 1998), I addressed some of the ethical issues relating to lawyer efforts to promote their Web sites. Here I focus on how to find out how to find out how your site ranks on major search engines.
There is no question that search engines can be a major source of Web site traffic. When your site ranks high in response to a query about your legal specialty, your site is likely to be visited. How can you tell how high your site ranks?
There are a variety of Web tools available to assist you in monitoring your site's ranking with major search engines. They determine your site's present ranking with the major search engines. You could determine this information yourself, but it is laborious and time-consuming work. It is far better to employ the available technology to automate the process.
The current choices fall into two categories: Web based tools and software you install on your hard drive. Some Web-based tools are free, others are subscription based. Software that you purchase to run on your own computer can be downloaded directly from the Web.
PositionAgent at http://www.positionagent.com/ is a Web based subscription service that automatically tracks where your Web in 10 top search engines and directories including AltaVista, Excite, Galaxy, HotBot, InfoSeek, Lycos, Magellan, OpenText, WebCrawler and Yahoo. You pay for 6 months of service, and submit URL/keyword pairs for the service to monitor. Using your keywords, PositionAgent generates reports showing where your site's pages rank within each of the search engines. You are sent weekly e-mail reports detailing your page and position ranking within the 10 search engines for each URL/keyword combination you choose, as well as graphic reports that you can access at any time at the PositionAgent Web site.
PositionAgent has a free trial that is worth checking out. The trial version is limited to a single URL/keyword pair and is somewhat more limited in its reports than the full version, but still yields useful data about your Web site's position in the top search engines.
With its simple learning curve and regular reports, PositionAgent is a useful tool. However, weekly reports may not be enough if you are tweaking your key words and looking to see immediate results. Also, it can be pricey. Six months of service ranges from $60.00 for 5 URL/keyword pairs to $1400.00 for 200 URL/keyword pairs. The high price may be acceptable to corporations with serious investments in their web sites.
The best of the software solutions is First Place Software's WebPosition. You can download the software from http://www.webposition.com/. Install this software on your own computer, and you can analyze, track, and monitor multiple domain names with an unlimited number of keywords and phrases. WebPosition creates summary reports as well as detail reports that show you all the sites that are above and below you in the rankings. The reports also include useful trend analysis and alert reports. WebPosition even has an automatic scheduling feature for unattended operation.
WebPosition checks your site's visibility in major search engines, including: AltaVista, Excite, HotBot, LinkStar, Yahoo!, WebCrawler, InfoSeek, Lycos, Magellan, Northern Lights, WWW, and YellowPages.
WebPosition is reasonably priced with the Standard Edition, which can track up to ten different web sites, selling for $99.00. The Professional Edition, which can track unlimited sites and create more customized reports, is $279.00. The software includes free maintenance updates for life of product, and a 45-day unconditional money-back guarantee. I would recommend this as the professional's choice, as it a tool that no serious Web promotion specialist should be without.
Finally, some firms may simply want to contract out the monitoring of their Web site's visibility to a consultant knowledgeable in this area. If you choose this option, make sure that the consultant you choose is familiar with Web promotion, and not just advertising or public relations in general. Web promotion is a specialty that is changing so fast that you should use someone who is following the developments in this area very closely. Also, a professional in this area can work with you to modify your site to improve your search engine ranking, something that is likely to increase your site's traffic.
About the Author
Stephen T. Maher is a Miami lawyer and legal educator who has practiced and taught law
for more than twenty years. He regularly writes and speaks on issues of law and
technology. After serving as a member of the full-time faculty at the University of Miami
School of Law for many years, he returned to private practice with Stephen T. Maher, P.A.
He also serves as the Director of Attorney Training at Shutts & Bowen, the oldest law
firm in Miami, and trains lawyers in law firms throughout the United States through his
consulting company, The Practical Professor Incorporated. He maintains an award winning
site on the Internet at
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