So you know you need to acquire links, but you're having a difficult time of coming up with ideas about where to get links. Here's one, check out your State Bar's website. Many State Bars offer members advertising opportunities on their websites. And many of these opportunities include links. Here is an example from the Louisiana State Bar's site:
In this example, technolawyer.com has received a link from the Louisiana State Bar Association. A quick look at our tools reveals that this is a rather impressive link:
In addition to having strong search quality signals above, links from State Bar Association websites are highly relevant and also highly trusted both online and offline. If you decide to pursue links from your State Bar, here are a couple things to keep in mind:
Before you agree to any link relationship, check out the source code of the page where your link will appear. Then, when your link goes live, check back to ensure that it's been coded properly. We see a lot of lawyers that think they're acquiring great new links, only to find that they're "nofollowed" or coded in a way that doesn't provide any search engine benefit.
In general, if you take a "top-down" approach focusing on identifying quality trusted websites that are relevant to your practice, location, or field, you will get a lot more "bang for your link building buck." State Bar Association websites are just one of many types of trusted legal link sources that you should consider.
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So how do you ensure that all those provisos are in place before you make the ad buy?
Hi Jay,
If the primary purpose of the link is for its "search benefit," then yes. Obviously, there are other reasons to consider advertising on these types of sites.
We have also worked to "negotiate" these provisos with sites that don't have a formal program.
BTW, really good, useful post.
Even if search benefit isn't the primary benefit, I think it's still good marketing practice to get as much out of your ad buy as possible, and you shouldn't be shy about asking for link love up front.
Seems like it would be in the best interest of the bar associations to specify that kind of stuff in the rate card, as it could enhance their revenue.