7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google

Larsons

My name is Matthew Rupp and I am the CEO of Matthew Rupp Consulting in Wichita, KS. We specialize in helping brick and mortar service businesses that serve their local market dominate Google. I love helping companies improve their rankings on Google. It’s challenging, it’s dynamic, and if you have the right client in the right industry, you can bring them a TREMENDOUS amount of real world value.

Actually, I don’t like the word “value”– you can’t pay your employees or your bills with value and that’s what my clients are looking for and what I bring to the table. Growth. A clear advantage over their competition. Dollars in the bank.

The website we will be looking at today is – http://www.timjlarsonlaw.com/

Before we jump in I have to warn you – this is a pretty deep dive. Think 50 pages and 8k words – with lots of images and screenshots so it’s not as boring as it sounds! We are going to review the Larson website, content, and competition, optimize their site, and links, with the goal of lining out exactly what needs done to help them dominate the “estate planning” niche in Wichita, KS. Here’s a teaser of what’s to come:

 Click the link to jump into a specific chapter.

Section 1: Is SEO worth pursuing?

Section 2: Website Feedback

Section 3: How to rank better on Google

If you have any questions about a particular section or just want to get right to work addressing all these items feel free to give Matthew a call at (316) 285-0729 or you can send an email here.

 

SECTION 1: Is SEO worth pursuing

How well is the Larson website helping the business?


Let’s start with how “worth it” is it to the Larson team to improve their rankings on Google?

How much traffic is there to be had?

Where are they ranking today for the highest volume keywords?

Back in 2010, I was running a party rental business and getting that business ranking in the top 3 for 64 of the most important keywords and on the first page for 119 total keywords translated to 200k in sales growth in 18 months but not every industry has that potential – and some have a LOT more to gain.

img01 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Let’s take a peek at Google and see how well the Larson website is ranking for some of the most popular keywords:

img02 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
According to this in depth post from Moz, we get a pretty good idea who is getting what percentage of this traffic.

img03 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
McCafferty is crushing it with 36% of all traffic (for estate planning Wichita,KS) and listed twice in the top 5 spots.

The Larson website is #1 on the second page

img04 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google

Let’s look at “need help with a will”:

img05 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Google didn’t find anything local or return anything useful related to wills.

Let’s try “setting up a will Wichita KS”

img06 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Not much, but there is McCafferty again. #2 for estate planning Wichita,KS.

Let’s look at “trust administration WichitaKS”:

img07 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
A couple new players and there is McCafferty again.

Let’s try one more keyword, “probate WichitaKS” and see who, according to Google, the players are:

img08 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
One new player and McCafferty again. This guy is crushing it compared to everybody else in Wichita.

 

Huge Opportunity (waiting to be capitalized on)


One thing I noticed in browsing through the Larson site (and a number of other estate planners here in Wichita) is a lack of “genuine” content that really related to me personally.

This is an enormous opportunity waiting to be capitalized on.

I see this all the time: the client wants to rank for “insert keyword they think is important here,”I think the greater opportunity is probably “something else” (because I am one step removed from the clients business) and we do some keyword research and find out we were both wrong. That happens ALL the time.

It’s important to realize a couple things when thinking about content for your website

  • 16-20% of searches on Google have never been searched for before.
    img1 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
  • http://www.internetlivestats.com/google-search-statistics/
  • People search for words and strings of words THEY think of when they think of your industry (which may be very different than what you, your competition, your friends, or coworkers believe that may be)

The best plan for success is to create content that answers your actual client’s pain points:

  • What are they struggling with?
  • What questions do they commonly ask you?
  • What are they looking for?

THAT is the content that will resonate with visitors to your website and I have seen very little of that so far.

We have a content section coming up – so sit tight on that idea!

Okay, so now we know that the Larson website isn’t ranking very well for a number of popular keywords. Now we need to know how much search volume are those keywords getting? If 10 people per month are searching for those keywords, there is no reason to even care about ranking on Google better.

 

Keywords (getting your piece of 5k searches a month)


Let’s jump into Google Adwords and take a quick look at how often are people looking for some of the most popular keywords? A keyword is simply a word or strings of words people type into Google when they are searching for something.

We will focus on Wichita and Sedgwick County, specifically.

img2 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
We find a pretty small amount of searches a month for these keywords (in the Wichita area)

img3 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
80 searches a month: Nothing to write home about.

BUT, remember how I touched on how people use an incredible number of keywords when they search for what you would think is essentially the same subject?

This is where that starts to make sense. Check this out.

KeywordAvg. Monthly Searches (exact match only)
1power of attorney90
2Will70
3power of attorney form50
4living will50
5durable power of attorney40
6probate40
7wills30
8last will and testament20
9living trust20
10durable power of attorney form20
11irrevocable trust20
12revocable trust20
13estate tax20
14probate court10
15lasting power of attorney10
16making a will10
17enduring power of attorney10
18trusts10
19power of attorney forms10
20estate planning attorney10
21power of attorney template10
22medical power of attorney10
23powers of attorney10
24power attorney10
25probate process10
26financial power of attorney10
27will writing10
28online will10
29wills and trusts10
30will and testament10
31medical power of attorney form10
32executor of will10
33executor10
34special power of attorney10
35probate fees10
36limited power of attorney10
37wills and probate10
38specific power of attorney10
39probate attorney10
40power of attorney document10
41estate planning lawyer10
42estate lawyer10
43power attorney form10
44executor of a will10
45legal will10
46special power of attorney form10
47health care power of attorney10
48probate lawyer10
49estate planning for dummies10
50durable power of attorney for health care10
51limited power of attorney form10
52estate planning checklist10
53trusts and estates10
54probate a will10
55living trusts10
56asset protection10
57power of attorneys10
58dual power of attorney10
59probate will10
60legal power of attorney10
61estate law10
62estate planning attorneys10
63living will template10
64wills and estates10
65will online10
66special needs trust10
67power of attorney cost10
68will executor10
69living will forms10
70estate planning lawyers10
71poa form10
72power of attorney letter10
73conservatorship10
74probate property10
75revocation of power of attorney10
76make your own will10
77financial power of attorney form10
78making a will online10
79wills and estate planning10
80preparing a will10
81probate lawyers10
82revoke power of attorney10
83getting power of attorney10
84writing your own will10
85power of attorney for health care10
86trust attorney10
87estate planning basics10
88probate estate10
89executor duties10
90forms for power of attorney10
91estate planning trusts10
92will making10
93the power of attorney10
94executor fees10
95probate search10
96simple power of attorney10
97estate lawyers10
98power of attorney papers10
99probates10
100estate planning law10
101estate probate10
102legal power of attorney form10
103power of attorney documents10
104will and probate10
105power of attorney form download10
106will preparation10
107setting up a trust10
108a living will10
109estate executor10
110will trust10
111asset protection trust10
112wills probate10
113estate trust10
114power of attorney form pdf10
115legal wills10
116life estate10
117will and trust10
118register of wills10
119durable medical power of attorney10
120wills trusts and estates10
121blank power of attorney form10
122probate costs10
123personal will10
124simple wills10
125medical durable power of attorney10
126make will10
127joint will10
128testamentary trust10
129power of attorney paperwork10
130simple power of attorney form10
131deceased estate10
132will and estate planning10
133power of atty10
134will s10
135will lawyer10
136last will & testament10
137power of attorney example10
138estate planning documents10
139a power of attorney10
140estate attorneys10
141durable power of attorney forms10
142power of attorney lawyer10
143poa forms10
144will documents10
145probate offices10
146estate administration10
147will testament10
148probate real estate10
149health care power of attorney form10
150power attorney forms10
151inheritance planning10
152applying for probate10
153revoking power of attorney10
154wills and probate law10
155my will10
156probate laws10
157temporary power of attorney10
158power of attorney pdf10
159health power of attorney10
160health care directive10
161legal forms power of attorney10
162trust law10
163power of attorney for property10
164trust and estate planning10
165power of authority10
166probating a will10
167probated will10
168drafting a will10
169family trusts10
170elder care attorney10
171where to get power of attorney10
172create a will10
173power of attorney lawyers10
174printable power of attorney10
175will and power of attorney10
176power of attorney templates10
177make a will online10
178probate attorneys10
179living wills forms10
180will power of attorney10
181trusts and wills10
182power of attorney for10
183power of attorney medical10
184living trust attorney10
185probate attorney fees10
186durable poa10
187trust estate10
188probate cost10
189pour over will10
190trust lawyers10
191living will and trust10
192right of attorney10
193where to get a power of attorney10
194estate planning information10
195write will10
196making a living will10
197forms power of attorney10
198durable power attorney10
199probate records10
200will attorney10
201trust planning10
202medical power of attorney forms10
203probate court records10
204estate will10
205where can i get a power of attorney10
206final will and testament10
207making will10
208living will document10
209will planning10
210probate of a will10
211wills power of attorney10
212ordinary power of attorney form10
213revocable living trusts10
214will format10
215power of attorney for finances10
216local probate office10
217power of attorney financial10
218probate procedure10
219full power of attorney form10
220wills attorney10
221where can i get a power of attorney form10
222will contest10
223writing a living will10
224family limited partnership10
225estates and trusts10
226write my own will10
227probate and wills10
228writing your will10
229probate documents10
230death will10
231creating a trust10
232planning law10
233trust lawyer10
234no will probate10
235elder law attorneys10
236get a will10
237inheritance taxes10
238is probate required10
239wills and probate records10
240a living trust10
241executors10
242lawyer for power of attorney10
243power of authority form10
244statutory power of attorney10
245revocable trusts10
246durable power of attorney for healthcare10
247living wills and trusts10
248durable financial power of attorney10
249power of attorney rights10
250estate planning will10
251irrevocable trusts10
252living will trust10
253durable healthcare power of attorney10
254where to get power of attorney forms10
255legal documents power of attorney10
256elder attorney10
257legal trust10
258wills trusts10
259probate no will10
260living will lawyer10
261family living trust10
262attorney for power of attorney10
263house in probate10
264living will documents10
265make a living will10
266living trusts and wills10
267financial poa10
268power of attorney health10
269poa paperwork10
270power of attorney revocation10
271special needs trusts10
272power of attorney for healthcare10
273is probate necessary10
274where can i get power of attorney forms10
275financial and estate planning10
276power 0f attorney10
277where to get a power of attorney form10
278death probate10
279power of attorney will10
280estate laws10
281financial durable power of attorney10
282will in probate10
283where do i get a power of attorney10
284lawyers estate planning10
285probate proceedings10
286real estate probate10
287create power of attorney10
288will lawyers10
289making a will legal10
290attorney power of attorney10
291power of atty form10
292living will power of attorney10
293where to get power of attorney form10
294does a will have to be probated10
295where to find power of attorney forms10
296planning a will10
297will maker10
298medicaid estate planning10
299will writer10
300probate the will10
301power of attorneys forms10
302family will10
303in probate10
304home wills10
305where to get a will10
306wills & estates10
307trusts estate planning10
308power of attorney pdf form10
309elder attorneys10
310power of attorney for legal matters10
311power of attorney for financial10
312trust will10
313powers of attorneys10
314death wills10
315free wills10
316legal forms10
317free power of attorney form10
318last will and testament forms10
319make my will10
320where do i get a power of attorney form10
321last will and testament form10
322estate in probate10
323sample power of attorney10
324generic power of attorney10
325last will and testament template10
326rights of power of attorney10
327how to get a power of attorney10
328power of attorney for child10
329how to get power of attorney10
330will probate process10
331free power of attorney forms10
332a durable power of attorney10
333free power of attorney10
334example of a will10
335estate administration attorney10
336durable power of atty10
337power of attorney explained10
338lawyer for wills10
339do i need power of attorney10
340texas power of attorney10
341signing as power of attorney10
342elder care law10
343power of attorney form free10
344elder law firm10
345what is power of attorney10
346what can a power of attorney do10
347joint wills10
348letters of administration10
349what is probate10
350non durable power of attorney10
351probate power of attorney10
352probate with a will10
353do i need a lawyer for power of attorney10
354elder law lawyers10
355sample power of attorney form10
356downloadable power of attorney form10
357probate after death10
358estate planning10

3940 searches a month

This is closer to FIVE THOUSAND searches a month related to what the Larson firm offers, right here in Wichita and Sedgwick County. That’s a LOT. Now, not all of these show “intent” like “need help with estate planning” and most of them have a low search volume, but considering this was just a small sample of the total keywords typed into Google each month, yeah, I think it’s safe to say there is serious benefit for the Larson firm to rank better on Google.

A blog post about Keyword Research we did for a spine surgeon that was very interesting

 

REALLY big opportunity (if played well)


If you look at the above sampling there is a TREMENDOUS number of searches related to “power of attorney” right here in Wichita, KS, and not ONE local company is even trying to fill it. When it comes to marketing online, that is a great big present being left on your door with a big red bow on top. It’s a natural fit and I have a hard time believing that if a local estate planning firm went to the trouble to put together a helpful form that people could download for free (in multiple formats), with no hassle, that NONE of those people would be in the market for a smart team of estate planners and trust administrators at the Larson firm.

This would be EASY to rank for and guess what, while they are getting their free form, they also see:

  • What you need to be aware of with ‘free’ Power of Attorney forms you find online
  • Why Power of Attorney might not be the right answer
  • Questions to ask before you sign a Power of Attorney
  • What if you signed a Power of Attorney and now you wish you hadn’t?
  • Options besides Power of Attorney
  • Read this before you think about giving somebody Power of Attorney

I know very little about Power of Attorney forms and not much more about estate planning so without talking to somebody smarter than myself I don’t know how best to capitalize on this niche. I just know there is tremendous search volume and nobody local is filling that need and there is a number of ways, from an SEO perspective, the Larson team could benefit from this.

Not one local result for “power of attorney WichitaKS”

img4 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
On my second pass, I noticed Cathleen Gulledge squeezed in at the very bottom of that page.

OK, so now we know the Larson team isn’t ranking on Google as well as they would probably like. We know there is an impressive number of searches per month, (thousands) right in their immediate area.

SECTION 2 : WEBSITE FEEDBACK


 

I will start with providing some feedback on the website. Why start with the website? Good question.

What is the point of improving rankings and building the Larson brand online, driving 5-10x the amount of traffic to the site if only a very small percentage of those visitors actually act on it?

It’s very common that a handful of tweaks to a client’s site can bring the fastest bottom line results.

3 THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THE LARSON WEBSITE:


The site itself is very well put together. Very clean and professional. Fresh. Not messy or overwhelming like so many sites today.

1. I love the clean, professional, well-lit image of the actual office.
img5 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
2. I love that they are very clear right up front about what they do
img6 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
3. Real people on the homepage is excellent. People want to do business with “real” people.

img7 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google

4 IMPROVEMENTS I WOULD MAKE:


This isn’t meant to be remotely negative in any way. While the Larson website looks great, there are some things you can do to make a significant difference in what percentage of their visitors reached out to them.

1. Adding an ABOUT page.

We install a tool in all our clients’ sites that provides us an actual heat map of their website so we can see exactly what is getting clicked on (and what isn’t).It’s amazing how many times the About page of my clients site is the HIGHEST viewed page of their entire website.

  • While the Larson site has an “our team”page and good bios of the attorneys, an About page will go further: It will answer the who, what, where, when, and why the business started.

Few examples for the tool we use for all our clients.

Here is my site – http://www.sawwebmarketing.com/

img8 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Actual clicks

img9 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Cambridge Family Dentistry – http://www.cambridgefamilydentists.com/

img10 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Actual heatmap of what is getting clicked on

img11 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Treescapes in Andover – http://www.treescapeit.com/

1 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Actual heatmap of the most recent 1,236 visits

2 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
It’s easy to see people want to do business with “real” people that they can relate to, that they can trust or feel can solve their problems.

2. The text on the homepage:

1 1 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
This is such a thick heavy block of text that very few people will read it. Still, there is vital information here:

  • Services provided
  • Services NOT provided
  • One attorney was recognized as a “Top Lawyer” in the State of Kansas.

I think this is a missed opportunity and if the home page quickly informed visitors that they were in the right place, you would have a higher conversion rate. A separate About page will clear this up.

3. www.timjlarsonlaw.com/resources

This is a big opportunity as well. This page has a lot of documents that I am sure people would find very helpful. But there are issues:

  • The documents are “buried” in Word documents that visitors can use, but Google can’t see them, so it doesn’t help you rank.
  • Clicking on one takes you away from the website – it should open in a new window.
  • There is no contact information for Larson on any of the documents.

1 2 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
If this content is original and not duplicate content from another site, the best way to display these would be to make them actual pages of the site with the option to download a copy if they wish. This would allow Google to see a true wealth of relevant content.

4. NAVIGATION / CONTENT

When it comes to this website, I saved the most important for last.

In the navigation we have

2 1 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Let’s see where this takes us. http://timjlarsonlaw.com/practice

Once again, I am going to reiterate I am not being negative or critical when I review this website. My intention is to help show the Larson team what would help them start ranking on Google (without having to pay for Adwords).

This page is essentially worthless. Let me explain:

We have to remember that Googles “job,” their very success as a company, lies in returning the BEST possible result based on what somebody types into that search bar. Google looks at hundreds of factors and are very, very good at this. When we look at this page we see that the Larson team specializes in

3 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
And then we have a whole pile of other areas we can click on to ‘learn more’.

Is there any chance that Google is going to think this one page dedicated to living wills http://timjlarsonlaw.com/practice/living-wills is the BEST possible result in Wichita, KS? No.

4 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Is there any possibility, however remote, that Google might determine this page http://timjlarsonlaw.com/practice/small-business-planning is the BEST possible result related to “small and family owned business planning in Wichita, KS?

No.

5 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
If there is zero chance the Larson website will rank #1 for these terms, all they are doing is muddying the water and making it harder for them to rank for what they really care about – Revocable Trusts, Trust Administration and Wills, their specialties.

Quick story: we moved into our home about a year ago (close to Valley Center and love it). Shortly after we moved in, we had a guy come out to give us a bid on a privacy fence. While he was out, he wanted to write up a bid for pest control, landscaping, the fence and something else.

Did I hire that guy for any of those things? NO.

I know there was no way he was REALLY good at all those things. The same with Google. If you tell Google you are the BEST at fixing everything related to a car they know that isn’t true and when somebody searches for transmissions or windshield repair you will get companies that are good at THOSE things.

The more you can narrow your focus in and really show your users first (and then Google) that you are reputable and very good at that specific item the better you will rank.

The same is true with Google.

When we click on the ‘Revocable Trusts’ we should see as much relevant, useful content related to Revocable Trusts as possible.

  • FAQ
  • Images
  • Testimonials
  • Why is the Larson team uniquely qualified to help with Revocable Trusts
  • External links related to Revocable Trusts
  • Video or useful content related to Revocable Trusts
  • A guide to understanding what they are and what the limitations are
  • When do you need a revocable trust and when you don’t

Let me show you an example of what I see when I Google “windows Wichita KS” that might help.

11 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Take a look at this site if you would – http://www.windowworldwichita.com/

2 2 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google

 

  • Is there ANY doubt in the world this site is ALL about windows?
  • Is there ANY chance you will call them with a question about windows they can’t answer?
  • Is it blatantly obvious they have a wealth of real world experience when it comes to windows? Absolutely.
    1. We have useful links that relate to windows
    2. We have a list of different kinds of windows
    3. And windows inside doors and types of doors
    4. Icons for industry associations
    5. Window styles
    6. Colors of windows
    7. Window styles
    8. Accreditations
    9. 13 reasons to buy from Window World
    10. Company history
    11. Written reviews
    12. Video reviews
    13. Financing
    14. TON of resources

ALL related to windows!

Granted, they definitely went overboard with that site and Estate planning is not the same as replacement windows, but hopefully you see my point. It is very easy for Google to see that website is very clearly all about windows – you name it, financing, repairing, and replacing windows of every shape and size.

The Larson team wouldn’t need to go THAT far but trying to get them to rank for important keywords, that they specialize in, would be much easier with more content that helps Google understand why they deserve to be #1 when it comes to Revocable Trusts, Trust Administration and Wills.

 

4 Questions that need answered


Here is an excellent article about four questions every website should answer as quickly as possible – http://menwithpens.ca/questions-website/

  1. Who are you?
    We know that very quickly.
    Could add an About page and make the homepage more focused on what their clients care about
  2. Why should I care?
    Tell your visitors enough about you that they know you’re qualified for the job, and then put the bulk of your efforts on showing people that they’re dealing with a human being who cares about them, their problems and helping them find a solution.This is an opportunity
  3. Can I trust you?
    While reading your website, your potential client is skeptical. Everyone is. And that person is thinking, “Yeah, right. Why should I believe any of this?”Do you answer that question?I think this is another opportunity. The pieces are all there, but it’s hard to quickly glean which is what people do with websites pages. Some logos or links to some of these organizations mentioned below would give the Larson team a great deal more credibility.
    aq - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
    aaa - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
    I think a handful of well-placed logos and meaningful testimonials could give this website a tremendous of credibility to their visitors, which is imperative when it comes to their business I can only imagine.
    1212 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
  4. What’s next?
    This is definitely one of the greatest opportunity this website has. The look is clean and professional. Bios of real people, Q&A is great, and their practice areas are listed, but there is no ‘Call to Action’ to be had. This doesn’t have to be a cheesy “Call today, operatory are standing by!”It could be a simple “This is where we are located and these are our hours and this is our number, if you have questions about ‘x’ we are here to help.”Or maybe a friendly guide they can download for free for each of the age groups listed on this page – http://www.timjlarsonlaw.com/planning-process nothing pushy just a friendly invite or a way to get more information.A few clients I’ve had were surprised when, after we added an“Ask a Question” box to their site, the questions were coming in late at night. But it makes sense: This is when the kids are in bed and they have a chance to actually work on something. You aren’t around to answer the phone then, so an online form makes sense.With Google Analytics, it is easy to set up these calls to actions as “goals” and then be able to see exactly what percentage of visitors to your site took this action and that one, this can be invaluable in tracking how well your website is actually “working” for your business.

4 SMALL ITEMS (worth fixing)


  1. I wouldn’t make people scroll down the home page to find the phone number or address. Granted it’s right in the sidebar and you don’t have to scroll much, but people find this annoying to have to look for this.
  2. This page is bringing no value to the table – http://www.timjlarsonlaw.com/links (honestly I haven’t seen one of these in years. I admit I clicked on MSN just to see if it worked, that’s how long it’s been since I have been to the MSN site :)
  3. The map of where the office is located on the contact page needs to be an actual working Google Map. The benefits of this alone could be tremendous. This is one of several ways you are telling Google this is who we are and where we are located.
    map - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
  4. I would lose the ‘naked’ email address. This is a magnet for spam. Where this is on the homepage and on the sidebar of some of the pages I would replace it with “contact us” and link to the Contact page. OK, 7810 words and 48 pages in, let’s move off the site and bring this ship back into port!
    cd - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google

SECTION 3: How to Rank Better on Google

Tell Google who you are and what you do


First things first, after the website you need to tell Google who you are, what you do, and where you are located!

To the delight of many in the SEO world, Google rolled out a platform called “Google My Business” on June 11th, 2014. This platform allows business owners to log in and claim locations, edit info and upload photos.

This is step ONE in improving your rankings, especially for companies serving their local area.

More on this subject:

https://matthewrupp.com/marketing/marketing-in-the-age-of-google/#chapter18

WHY CONTENT IS KING


Content. Content. Content.

content is king - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google

 

LONG TAIL KEYWORDS.

In a nutshell (I will provide links below you can read if you want to know more) is this:

  • “Estate Planning” for example is a very general term and has roughly 8,560 searches (nationwide) for this term every month and a tremendous amount of competition (over 67,000,000 website pages all fighting to rank for this keyword)
  • “Estate planning for farmers” has less search volume, only 2,120 searches and only 4,500,000 competing pages.
  • “Estate planning for couples, WichitaKS”has even less search volume, 30 plus a month and very few competing pages.
  • “Estate planning for second marriages, WichitaKS” has about 40 searches a month and by the time I got to the bottom of page 4 on Google, I started getting sites that weren’t relevant or local which means only 40 (local) websites are ranking for this keyword at all. (Of course McCafferty is at the top of that list).

mccafferty again - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
When you add up the hundreds and hundreds (oftentimes thousands) of keywords that people type into Google when they are searching something,the ones at the top of the long tail are called “head terms.”These get a LOT of traffic and are very difficult to rank for thanks to lots of competition and lots of strong competitors. As you move down the tail the keywords get more and more specific and easier to rank for.

What is so great about the long tail of search?

70% OF ALL SEARCHES ARE IN THE LONG TAIL. Regardless of your industry.

70 percent - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Thing about it, which would you rather try and rank #1 on Google for?

  • A very general, very popular keyword like “accident attorney” that gets thousands of visits a month (many of which are very general and have no buying intent) and costs a fortune and a mountain of time to rank for?
  • Or 15-20 mucheasier keywords that get less traffic but are 100x easier to rank for?

The key is to target keywords that, added together, have significant search volume but not a great deal of competition (or strong competitors)

This is a tremendous opportunity for small businesses to beat the much bigger players in their market – while spending very, very little money.

That means you could never rank #1 for ‘home builder,’ or ‘estate planning,’ or ‘body shop,’ or ‘exterminator,’ and STILL have growing traffic and greater and greater sales and never rank #1 for your ‘top’ keyword!

Let your competition bang their head against the wall trying to rank for terms that are crazy competitive, have no intent, will take forever and expensive as can be to try and rank for

You can read more about long tail keywords here if you wish:

http://www.wordstream.com/long-tail-keywords

https://yoast.com/focus-on-long-tail-keywords/

So what is a great way for the Larson firm to create a wealth of Long Tail keywords and dramatically improve their chances of ranking better and turning their website into a true asset that helps grow the firm?

Interview a client (or potential client) once a month. Hell, have a mock interview with their IT guy, receptionist, or a friend.

That’s it. Take me for example. Imagine if one of the attorneys on the Larson team and I were to sit down and we had a conversation where I asked questions and they answered them and we made a blog post out of this every month, what would we have?

A ton of really, really great long tail content. What would make it SO great?

They would be answering MY questions, a potential client who isn’t familiar (very much) with estate planning. This means I would be using verbiage that their customers are using when they search on Google!

I am 43 and married and have 3 kids. I own my home and have a little bit of stocks and cash in an IRA. I own about $140,000 in vending equipment and an SEO business (that I love).

  • What do I need to worry about first?
  • What would happen to my assets if I were in an accident and died tomorrow?
  • How would an LLC help?
  • What can I do to help my family has as little hassle as possible if I were gone?
  • What should I be concerned about most at my age?

My questions, coupled with their simple answers (doesn’t have to be elaborate), times 6-10 of these could work wonders for helping the Larson website rank for keywords that have intent, very little competition yet enough search volume to make them worthwhile – that’s a perfect recipe for SEO success. (Coupled with a handful of these other suggestions of course)

More on this subject

Creating content for a boring industry? No problem.

 

MOBILE FRIENDLY


Yes!

The Larson website is mobile friendly. This is so important and only becoming more and more important. On April 21st, 2015, Google came right out and said that mobile friendly sites will get a boost in the rankings. Less than a month later Google announced that in 10 countries (including the US) more searches take place on mobile devices than on computers.

mobile friendly test - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
More on this subject:

https://matthewrupp.com/marketing/marketing-in-the-age-of-google/#chapter14

 

OPTIMIZING YOUR WEBSITE


 

What does it mean to ‘optimize’ a website page? Trust me, it’s not as complex as many SEO ‘know-it-alls’ want you to believe.J

Let’s run through a GOOD example real quick. We will take this page for example –

http://www.cambridgefamilydentists.com/dental-implants-in-wichita/

(This is a dentist here in Wichita I got ranking #1, #5 AND #6 on the first page of Google – all at the same time!)

Let’s take a look at how well this page is optimized for ‘dental implants’

This is called the ‘Title Tag’ and is the #1 suggestion in the Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide put out by Google themselves.

asdf - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google

 

This is perfect. The most important keyword we want to rank for is FIRST. Not the business name which is a huge mistake I see almost daily. Our goal is to rank for “dental implants” not “Cambridge Dentistry.”

Here we have “dental implants” again in the website address. Perfect!

aaa 1 - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
The title of the page itself mentions “dental implants.”Perfect!

mini dental - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
We have a YouTube video on the page about dental implants

tt - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google

cc - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google

 

 

testimonials - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Is there ANY doubt to Google what it page is about? None. Zip. Zero.

That, my dear friends, is a page very well optimized for ‘dental implants’. A huge mistake would be to muddy the water about how great Cambridge is at all kinds of dentistry or how they have the best waiting rooms for example.

Let’s take a peek at the Larson website real quick and see how well it is optimized around a specific keyword.

I will use this page because it’s the one with the most content and images – http://www.timjlarsonlaw.com/planning-process

The Title tag should start with the most important keyword first, then the city you want to rank in and then the business name (or brand) IF it fits. In this case it would ideally be “estate planning” since “planning process” is very general and could be related to planning a new neighborhood, airport and campout.

The Title Tag is your opportunity to tell Google what this page is ABOUT and what you want it to rank for.

We are off to a rough start. (Plus having the same Title Tag for every page is a big no, no)

tj - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
This is a great example of content that isn’t bad for visitors to the Larson website, but its making it downright impossible for Google to trust it enough to make it a top result related to estate planning. Long term care was mentioned twice. Charities, savings, profession, business, family, attorney, heir’s needs, succession plans, children and grandchildren, protecting assets, worries, retirement planning were mentioned as many times as “estate planning.”

gg - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
None of the content on the Larson website is bad, in fact, it is far from it. And yes, this page has a LOT of content (which is great) and almost all of it is related somehow to ‘estate planning’. By far this page is a lot better than most that I look at.

I am NOT advocating stuffing your keyword on a page even ONE more time than it naturally fits. The absolute top priority should always be your visitor and what helps them, guides them, solves their pain point in some way.

At the same time hopefully its easy to see how the Cambridge Dentistry page was very clearly about Dental Implants. We told Google what the page was about and we reinforced that, and reinforced it and reinforced it until there was no doubt.

Helpful article on this subject: http://backlinko.com/on-page-seo

 

WHAT MCCAFFTERY IS DOING RIGHT (a lot)


Remember at the beginning of this guide when we kept running into the McCafferty website ranking for anything and everything related to ‘trusts’ and ‘estate planning.

There is little wonder why…..

http://www.mccaffertylaw.com/index.php

+ People love video. Keeps them on the site longer and they are clicking on something and staying on the site longer which tells Google they are delivering what they said they would (or people would have quickly left)
+ Video is warm, friendly and inviting
+ The site is reasonably well optimized. Could be better but it’s pretty good.
+ Lots of fresh relevant content (recent)
+ Google Map embedded in the site
+ Nice use of important keywords
+ Newsletter archives (long tail keywords)
+ Videos are also on their own YouTube channel (excellent)
+ Workshops
+ Call To Actions galore

WELCOME

To learn more about Michael L. McCafferty and the services provided by his law office, please visit http://www.mccaffertylaw.com. Be sure to subscribe to his FREE Monthly Trusts and Estate Planning newsletter and browse his Newsletter Archives for instant access to previous issues. While you are vising, be sure to check out Mr. McCafferty’s blog at http://blog.mccaffertylaw.com so you can stay up-to-date on estate planning topics, elder law news and estate tax issues that may affect you, your loved ones or your business. 

+ Text is broken up with big bold headers that make the page easy to scan

ETU - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
+ Active on Twitter (related to what he does)

My best guess is Mr. McCafferty spends a pretty penny with – http://www.integritymarketingsolutions.com/

And it’s obvious whatever he is paying them is money very well spent.

 

MM - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google

LINKS


Last but certainly not least, no SEO analysis would be complete without talking about good ‘ole links.

Links are when you can click on pretty much anything on website A (line of text, an image, a video, a word) and when you do you are taken to site B. This means website A is providing a back link to website B.

Links always have been a massive factor when it comes to ranking on Google. Actually when Google started it was initially called ‘backrub’ and Google ranked websites with the most links (from highly relevant) websites and that is what is what sent them apart.

Convinced that the pages with the most links to them from other highly relevant Web pages must be the most relevant pages associated with the search, Page and Brin tested their thesis as part of their studies, and laid the foundation for their search engine. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Google

Link building is such an involved, in depth subject I will just share what the link profile for the Larson firm (and the companies ranking high on Google) looks like and leave it at that.

sss - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
Clearly this is an enormous opportunity for the Larson team (and every estate planner in Wichita) when it comes to building links.

I could write for days about how I would build links for the Larson team. The FIRST place we would start would be to compile a list of ALL the links pointing to every firm that offers estate planning in all of Kansas (yes, we can do that) and then explore that list looking for opportunities for the Larson team to earn (or take away) that link for themselves.

Here are a handful of links that Cathleen Gulledge has that would be great (and easy and possibly free) for the Larson team to nail down for themselves.

http://www.lawyers.com/business-law/sedgwick-co/kansas/law-firms/

http://www.besttaxattorneyin.com/all/KS/Wichita

http://www.nolo.com/lawyers/profile/law-office-cathleen-a-gulledge-llc

http://www.yellowpages.com/search?search_terms=estate+planning+&geo_location_terms=wichita+ks+

You can think of everything we have covered so far (7814 words and 54 pages) as firewood and links as the gasoline and time being the match.

If we were to implement the majority of these suggestions and intelligently (and aggressively) build relevant links and give it a little time, that’s it, the Larson firm will dominate Google when it comes to estate planning.

This is what domination looks like and a client we were able to help here in Wichita.

jj - 7,716 Words on What Will Make Larson & Brown #1 on Google
This was actually a pretty small sample of what my team and I could do to improve the results you are seeing from http://timjlarsonlaw.com/ Believe it or not there are 5-6 more areas I didn’t even touch on J

I would love to work with the Larson team and help you dominate Google!

If you would like to have these suggestions (and a lot more) implemented and really see for yourself what it would do for your business to start ranking well for potentially hundreds of different keywords you can reach Matthew at 316-285-0729 or by shooting him an email here.

Little about my company and how I got started – https://matthewrupp.com/about/

Upcoming speaking engagements (here in Wichita) – https://matthewrupp.com/speaking/

Some of my awesome clients I work with – https://matthewrupp.com/what-clients-are-saying/

My Massive Guide to Marketing in the Age of Google I created – https://matthewrupp.com/marketing/marketing-in-the-age-of-google/