Law Firms & Internet Scams
Are people making huge profits from the Internet? Sure!
Are search engines the prime tool for driving traffic? Sure!
If used correctly, are search engines one of the most cost effective
advertising mediums to generate new clients? Sure!
Is your law firm going to encounter Internet based advertising that
waste your time and money or even an outright scam? Sure!
Hopefully after reading this you will be able to avoid a few of
these ever-evolving Internet scams.
#1. “I’m from the XYZ legal professional Intergalactic search
engine. We’re getting thousands of visitors every day and can
guarantee your firm a top position for your location/practice
area/keywords at a special discounted rate just for your industry.”
THINK/VERIFY/QUESTION: Major search engines such as AOL, Ask,
Google, MSN & Yahoo generate the majority of Web traffic. Other
search engines include About, Open Directory, Alta Vista, Lycos,
Looksmart, Mamma & Netscape. The offer you received is guaranteed
NOT to come from one of these search engines. The name of the search
engine and their site looks and sounds very professional, but these
are not factors that are crucial in making a cost effective
investment.
First, if you have the Google Toolbar, check the PageRank of their
home page. If the PR is not at least 5, pass. Then do a search on
your favorite search engine for your keywords, if this ‘search
engine’ does not show up within the first two pages of returned
results, pass.
Do not be fooled, the standings in the featured/sponsored/selected
listing section of your search engine are all paid-per-click
advertisers. They are paying for top positions during their
solicitation phase to show the unsuspecting. It is much more
rewarding to obtain a page one placement in the 'organic' listings.
Finally, they may advertise high placement for a specific keyword
phrase, but watch out for phrases with little or no competition. For
example, they say that "Red Rider Legal Profession Search Engine"
will come up on page one results when entered in MSN search, but who
would ever use that specific phrase in a search engine?
#2. “Pay us $XXX and we guarantee to get your legal website on page
one of Google, MSN, etc!” Again, there are many things to watch out
for here. Get your legal site on page one of exactly what search
engines and exactly which of your legal keywords? You’re just going
to buy pay-for-click terms so ask whether you are in the sponsored
ads or will you be in the organic listings? What other law firms in
my area/state have they done this for? Get names to verify. Get a
detailed list of at least three other law firms. Look at their home
page. Do they have a PageRank of at least 5? They are selling an
optimization service, and therefore one would think, if legitimate,
their own website would have top organic positions for search engine
optimization keyword phrases. Verify this for yourself. Here are the
most popular keyword phrases they should rank for on page one or two
of AOL, Google, MSN or Yahoo: URL placement, URL position, SEO,
search engine optimization.
Even though we have not done individual site optimization for over
three years, as an example, www.websitetrafficbuilders.com as of
this writing had the following rankings: AOL – URL placement, URL
position –PAGE ONE., Google: URL position – PAGE ONE., MSN: URL
placement – PAGE ONE, URL position – PAGE TWO.
There are indeed some techniques out there that will have your site
on page one instantly, but it is surely to be banned from the major
search engines. Search engines will eventually banned your site for
spamming the engines.
Think, verify and question; researching will definitely save you
some time, money and effort.
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