WSI will be hosting an in-depth Internet Marketing workshop focusing on Law Firms and companies providing Legal Services will be held on February 24, 2010, starting at 8:30AM, at the Hampton Inn in Mountain View, CA.

Thousands of people each day in Northern California search for divorce lawyers, business attorneys, legal aid services, and other similar services on the Internet.  This seminar focuses on how to maximize your firm's exposure on the web, gain opportunities for leads, and measure the return on your Internet Marketing investment.

The value of standard Internet Marketing techniques such as site optimization will be explained, traditional media, and newer Social Media avenues such as Facebook, Twitter, video and more.

The event's presenters are Craig Ruess and Kevin Dean.  Both are WSI Certified Internet Marketing Consultants who work with small and medium sized business (SMB) marketing techniques, successfully generating results for their clients in the greater San Francisco Bay area and throughout the US.

Learn more and sign up at www.BetterWebResults.com. 

While the terms SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) are often used interchangeably, contrary to common thought, there are differences.

SEO concerns using website design and content, backlinks, and other strategies to spawn free traffic. SEM involves traffic that is bought whether through pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, paid inclusion, or even purchasing contextual ads. Both have their purpose and both can be used to successfully develop a profitable online business.

SEM involves much more than forking over some cash for Google AdWords and crossing your fingers, however. It entails finding suitable and effective keywords, evaluating the return on investment (ROI), and understanding the best place to publish ads for the most lucrative return, among other things.

Learning to effectively manage SEM is a career choice in itself, but there are basics that any website designer and wannabe profitable Internet vendor can learn and practice.

Begin with research.

Learn which keywords your target audience uses to locate the products and services you sell, then use those keywords within your content, in all of your advertising, in your SEO and in your SEM. While it may take awhile, and it will take some work, doing so is truly the only way to achieve valuable, long-term results that will take you to the top in search engine rankings.

A poorly designed website can destroy the hard work you put into your SEO and SEM before you even get the site off the ground. When you spend time and effort in attracting visitors, only to drive them away because of a bad design, you’re defeating your own purposes. Certainly, there are a multitude of inadequate design elements, but here are three that are practically guaranteed to send visitors away before they can read your landing page content.

• Slow Page Load Time

While many Internet surfers are fortunate to have DSL or a high-speed connection, many others – especially in rural areas or remote corners of the world - must still endure slow dial-up or satellite speeds to get online. Keeping these deprived souls in mind by crafting pages that load quickly with limited and optimized graphics will ensure you're not driving away visitors who could become your best customers under other conditions.

• Music that Loads Automatically

Sure, some visitors may enjoy that upbeat hip-hop rhythm, or that be-bop oldies sound, but others will find it beyond annoying and close the browser window quicker than you can say Johnny B Good. If you feel music is required to create the right mood on your website, be sure to embed a control so your visitors can turn it off if they don’t like your choice of sounds.

• Inconsistent Design

While a subtle difference on each page, based upon the content, may be an appealing strategy, blatantly unrelated color, graphics and other design elements brand you as an unprofessional amateur. And that’s the last thing you want! Instead, choose a design that fits your content and use the same layout on every page for an invitingly consistent design that will attract visitors and encourage them to stay longer.

Quality content may persuade a visitor to overlook poor site design, but why take a chance with your business? Create a professional, attractive design, include first-rate content (the most significant aspect of a good site), and you’ll go a long way toward creating a strong, profitable presence online.