The Truth About Lawyer Internet Marketing

Before the Internet, marketing for law firms was so much simpler. Certainly there are more opportunities now that the Internet is such a big part of our lives. However, instead of a handful of choices of marketing programs available, an attorney has dozens or even hundreds-depending on how you slice it! What makes this even more challenging is that most of the Internet marketing programs are sub-par at best and scams at worst. No wonder most law firm marketing programs are bad, and most attorneys are still frustrated with the whole Internet marketing world.

So in this post, I will highlight what I have seen first hand to be some of the biggest mistakes Law Firms made in 2009. Don’t worry-my next post will be more positive. It will be all about what strategies you should be implementing in 2010!

Here are the mistakes I saw-did you make any of them?

Local Internet marketing mistakes:

• Picking the wrong local Internet marketing program (most of them are bad, but a few are worthwhile and great opportunities you are probably missing)
• NOT localizing their SEO efforts, for example: optimizing for “auto accident attorney” instead of “Atlanta auto accident attorney“

Just Do It…or don’t!

• Just doing “something”
• Just doing “nothing” (at least if you do “something” and fail, you have the opportunity to learn from it)
• Just putting “anyone” in charge of Internet marketing for your company
• Putting “no one” in charge of Internet marketing for your company
• Just throwing a bunch of links in a blog post to your website, without thinking about potential negative ramifications or how you should structure the links
• NOT putting links from your blog posts to your website

Embracing “absolutes”:

• Deciding SEO was the only way to go
• Deciding SEO was dead
• Deciding Pay Per Click marketing was dead
• Deciding social media was the only way to go
• Deciding that blogging for business was a waste of time
• Deciding a blog was the major or “only” key to success
• Deciding Internet marketing was a waste of time
• Deciding they did not need a website
• Deciding Social Media Marketing was a waste of time
• Utilizing the wrong solution provider:
• Trusting a big company because they are big
• Letting Google manage a PPC program
• Buying a search engine marketing program from a yellow pages company

Fire…Aim…Ready!!!
(Strategies implemented before goals were set and a strategy for reaching those goals was mapped out)

• Implementing an Internet marketing strategy and then asking good questions
• NOT analyzing the competitive landscape before or during the development of an Internet marketing strategy
• Buying the wrong website
• Signing up for a Google Adwords program without consulting an expert
• Building a website and then asking the question “What do we want to do with our website”
• Building a website and then asking the question “How are we going to get people to our website”
• Implementing a social media marketing strategy
• Spending too little
• Spending too much

Opportunities Missed
(Due to perceived “cost”, laziness, busyness, or unwillingness to look at options)

• Not implementing a social media strategy
• Thinking that implementing a social media strategy was the answer
• Not considering search engine optimization
• Not considering pay per click marketing
• Not building a website
• Not utilizing marketing automation tools
• Not utilizing Internet analytics or website analytics tools

Lack of Research

• Asking the wrong questions
• NOT contacting Dan Stratford, Peter Kent, or someone else who is as honest and straightforward as he and I are.

For help on developing the right strategy for your firm, you can call Dan at 303-952-0844 anytime

 Internet Marketing Blog: www.nobseo.org, website: www.integrityroi.com or visit the marketing for law firms page.

Ever since the announcement I saw on Friday, it seems my online subscribers for Twitter have increased exponentially.

So go ahead, follow me. I dare you
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/danstratford

Legal Marketing Twitter: www.twitter.com/lawseoexpert

Professional Blog:www.nobseo.org

Personal Blog: www.istratford.com

Join me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/integrityinternetmarketing

Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/istratford

Join me on Naymz: http://www.naymz.com/dan_stratford_2754970

I will still blog here as a reference for information on SEO, PPC, Social Networking, Press Releases, Twitter Marketing, Facebook Advertising, etc., but all of my new posts will at the new blog.

After 2 1/2 years of working for LexisNexis Martindale Hubbell I have left on good terms. It was great run, and I very much enjoyed working for a great team of sales professionals, managers and executives.

The travel was really burning me out, so a while ago I began looking for a company to join that could meet my criteria:

• A company that did an honest and transparent job of Search Engine Optimization, Pay-Per-Click martketing, and other types of Internet marketing
• A company with a track record of success with major clients across the country.
• Did I mention how important Integrity is to me?
• A company based in Colorado, so I would not have to leave my kiddos every week and enjoy this beautiful state I can now call “home”.

So now I am the Director of Search Marketing for Integrity Internet Consulting and Marketing Creation Group

Call me if you need anything-720-985-7945.

Common Internet Marketing Mistakes Attorneys Make When Building a Website
 
As I have stated many times before in this blog, in my conversations and in my seminars; there are more bad Internet marketing programs available for attorneys than there are good ones.

One of the most common mistakes I see them make is in the website building process.

MOST attorneys believe they need to have a website. So the first thing they do is build a website or hire someone to build it for them.

Example One: The attorney or law firm may decide to choose to “save money” by building a site themselves or having it done the “cheapest” way possible.

Example Two: The attorney may decide that they are willing to spend whatever it takes to have a beautiful site designed by a competent and creative web designer.

Which one of these attorneys is making the biggest mistake?

Answer: With this limited information we cannot really know which attorney or law firm is making the biggest mistake, but it seems they are both making the same mistake:

They may have both made the mistake of building a website as their first step to improving their web presence, when there are many other things they should have considered first.

Before building a website you need to ask yourself some key questions:

What do you expect from your website presence?

If you want to get new customers from your website, then you need to consider search engine marketing as an option. More people use a search engine like Google, Yahoo! or MSN to find an attorney than the yellow pages. (according to TMP Marketing). You may also want to consider local directories like yellowpages.com, dexknows.com, or vertical directories like lawyers.com, martindale.com and others.

If you simply want someone to find your site when they have been referred to you then you do not need to spend a lot of money on marketing your website.

However, in both cases you need to invest wisely in a website that will meet the following minimum criteria.

A: Represent your firm well online. More people will see your site than see your office. If you have a clean, professional office that puts a good foot forward for your firm, then you should also have a website that is clean, professional and content rich (like you!).

If you skimp on a website with an ugly template or fail to put good content on your site you may hurt your firm’s reputation rather than help it, and you may even lose a referral that checked out one of your competitor’s websites. When you are being compared online your referrals may feel your competition is better qualified to handle their legal needs.

I met one firm who apologized for their site when they got a referral call from someone who began the conversation; “I was looking at your website…”

As you can tell by my blog I am not a website designer; I am a search engine marketing expert. If you came here for some honest information about Internet marketing you have come to the right place, but if you want a website designed for your firm I would have to recommend an expert that works for me to do it for you.

Conversely; most web designers are not up to speed on the latest search engine optimization (SEO) best practices.

B: Your site needs to be search engine friendly.

You may not need an extensive SEO program to meet your needs, but if your website is not search engine friendly then your prospects or referrals may not even be able to find your site when they look you up by name in your city. Furthermore, if your site is built correctly from the start, then driving your site to the top of search engines like Google is going to be a lot easier, and you might even get up there for specific searches with very little additional effort.

I think it is worth repeating: most website designers are not up to speed on the latest search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. If it was my firm, and I was looking to build a website I would first begin looking for an SEO specialist. They can help you find a web designer that will build a site with search engines in mind, or they can manage the process for you so that your web designer builds your site correctly from the start.

Come back soon to learn how to find the answers to the questions below-and do not hesitate to call me at 720-985-7945 for a free consultation.

For what types of searches do you want your site to appear on Google and other search engines?

How competitive is your market?

Who are your competitors and what do their websites look like?

What is your budget for your website?

What should your budget for your website be?

How do you select a website designer?

How will you track the success of your web presence?

How much should you invest in an Internet marketing program?

Should you build your site yourself?

Most Common Internet Marketing Mistakes:
Letting your yellow pages salesperson talk you out of a good plan and into a bad one.

Both of these cases studies are based on true stories I have heard from attorneys. Names and possibly genders are changed to protect their anonymity.

Case study one:
Tom is waiting for his yellow pages rep to meet with him to go over his yellow pages plan. He is prepared to cancel his whole plan because he remembers; “The calls are not coming in like they used to, and I am tired of paying $5,000 a month for a yellow pages ad because I am afraid that I will miss out on that one I case I would have received had I been in there. I am going to put this money towards something that will bring me more and better business or buy a Porsche and give up on this advertising thing.”

The yellow pages rep, Joe, arrives with Judy; his “Internet Specialist”.

They explain the “power of the Internet”. They say “Online yellow pages yada-yada, Google yada-yada this, Yahoo! yada-yada that, and yada-yada websites.”

Then they say:
“If you take advantage of our Internet marketing/SEM/SEO/PPC/online yellow pages program for $3,000 a month, we will lower the price of your print yellow pages to $3,000 a month.”

Tom thinks: “Wow, I only have to pay 20% more than I paid last year, and I will now have a website and an Internet marketing program from my trustworthy yellow pages salesperson and their brilliant Internet Marketing Guru! This is going to be my year!”

Stories like this have been going on for years nationwide, and they still happen every day across the country; especially to attorneys.

The next day, week or month Tom realizes he has just signed a 12 month contract he cannot possibly get out of, and he is worse off than he was the year before. He does not have a $3,000 Internet marketing program. He has a sub-par website, a sub-par Internet marketing program that is at best over priced, at worst completely useless and he still has a yellow pages ad that is generating fewer calls than ever.

He has invested more money, he is getting fewer clients and now there is less of a chance Tom is going to get a Porsche, a boat, or buy a house for a homeless family anytime soon. (You were thinking of doing the last one, right?)

Ouch!

Case study two, part 1:

Eva cancelled her “double-truck” (2 page) yellow pages ad last year when the yellow pages rep visited. The rep, Justin, called shortly before the close of the book and said; “Eva, we would like to invite you to get back in the book for half price. Would you be interested in that?”

Eva said “Certainly-come on out and let’s talk about it.”

Justin came out with his “Internet Guru” Judy. They offered the Yellow Pages ad at $7,500 (half the “rack rate”) and an online program for $2,500 a month.

Eva was mad. She said; “I only paid $10,000 for my double truck last year. You have two choices:
1-Leave now.
2-Give me my ad this year for $5,000 like you ‘implied’ (promised?) over the phone, and then leave.”

She got her ad for half price.

Case study 2, part 2:
Mike and Dan from the company that built her custom website the year before came in to visit with her a few days later and began to talk to her about the advantages of SEO.

They had a sound strategy that made sense:

1. They could show her examples of other law firm websites they had optimized in other competitive markets.
2. They offered conversion tracking-not just clicks and impression tracking.
3. They offered transparent reporting of the work being done on her website and monthly ranking reports.
4. They offered limited exclusivity, so she knew they would not be providing this service to all of her competitors.

She asked for references and she got them. Mike and Dan came back a week later and she signed up for the program.

Case Study 2, part 3:
8 months later the yellow pages came back with the tactic attempted in case study one. Eva said: “My SEO is working. I dominate Google and other search engines for my search terms and I am getting clients from the program every month. There is no way I am going to mess with that. Either renew my yellow pages at the same rate I had last year or take me out of the book.”

And so it goes…

By the time you read this you may have read the books, blogs, or listened to someone you trust explain how to get your site content “optimized”. You researched your search terms (“long tail”, “short tail”, “no tail”)You update your site more than your competition (you hope). You know about all of the acronyms; “URL”, “SEO”, “SEM”, “PPC”, “SERP”, “CPC”, “CTR”, “ROI”, “CPA”, etc.

Now what?

Just wait?

No.

If you haven’t done so already, you need to get the highest quantity and quality of links to your site. How many? How high of quality?

How long is a string?(It’s all relative)

If you have a better website than your competitors, and better and/or higher quality links to a website that is more consistently updated than your competitors, you may beat them to the top of Google.

Could I BE more ambiguous? Short of stealing the “secret sauce” from Google, this is about as specific as it gets.

Back to links:

How do you get links?

1. Internal links
   • Link content within your site to other pages within your site-in ways that make sense.
   • Example: Link the words “divorce lawyer” to the page on your site that is about “divorce lawyer”, link the word “links” too your page about links.
   • Level of difficulty-low
   • Time consuming? Yes, but still easy
   • Beneficial? Yes
2. Link your site to other sites. This is very easy-and easy usually means you will not get much SEO value from it. However, more Internet users may appreciate useful and relevant links and come back to your site after realizing you give them valuable information.
   • Level of difficulty-very easy.
   • Beneficial-possibly a little.
3. Reciprocal links:
   Linking to someone else’s site in exchange for their site linking to yours.
   • For a while this was the “game” everyone played.
   • This is still a good way to get links to and from relevant sites.
   • Get links from the highest ranked most relevant sites you can:
   • The bar, other attorneys you would like to recommend, and who would like to recommend you.
   • Level of difficulty-medium to hard
   • Beneficial? A little bit.
   • Biggest problem with this type of linking-lots of time to get lots of them with minimal value.
4. “Narcissistic” links, or one-way links: links that are all to, for and “about” you.
   • Links from legal sites-but you don’t link to them
   • Links from blogs
   • May be easy to get from your own blogs or friends
   • Very time consuming
   • High time to link ratio
   • Can be a very high quality link.
5. Links from press releases about you or your area of law
   • Not too hard to get
   • Take time
   • Take money
   • Need to be done right to achieve value
   • If they are not done right they could be a waste of time and/or money
6. Links from non-news articles about you and/or your area of law
7. Links from forums
   Examples: Lawyers.com blogs and forums
8. Links from directories
9. Social Networking
   Setting up profiles about you and/or your firm can be a great way to improve your web presence and get links.
   • Linked In
   • Facebook
   • MySpace

Links can be a lot of work. Finding someone who has successfully optimized other law firm websites could save you a lot of time, but make sure they have a track record of SEO work they can show you.

The Wild Wild West.

I used to love that show (the original one-as much as I enjoy Will Smith, the movie version was not the same). I never dreamed that I would be living the life Mr. West in my 40s. Actually, I was hoping to be more like Superman.

Anyway…

How about SEO in the Wild Wild West.

In my job with LexisNexis I am the SEO/SEM/Internet marketing consultant for all of the states West of Kansas except for New Mexico and Arizona, but including Hawaii (is Hawaii West of Denver or East of Denver-trick question). As I have been making my rounds this month I have met with attorneys from Los Angeles and Seattle, to Hillsboro, OR, Salty Lake City and Honolulu. In every city and town attorneys are trying to figure out the most cost effective way to market their firms online. In Hillsboro I met an attorney that is doing his own optimization-and doing it pretty darn well. Conversely, in Seattle I meet attorneys that are STILL trying to figure out how the heck to get SEO done properly and who the heck to trust-and they are in the same town as Amazon, Microsoft and Google!

Below is my basic criteria for choosing an SEO service provider. These are the questions I would ask if I was looking for someone to optimize a website for my firm:

1-Can you show me multiple examples of your customers who are getting high rankings on Google for terms that are at least as competitive as mine?
Not from my direct competitors, but if I am going to have confidence that you are going to be able to optimize my site for “personal injury lawyer seattle” or “intellectual property lawyer seattle”, then you better be able to show me that you have success optimizing a site for “Medical Malpractice New York City” or “dui lawyer las vegas”. If you show me that you have optimized a site for keywords like “landscaping contractors Denver”, then I cannot be confident you can the same thing for “personal injury lawyer seattle”. The landscaping market is just not that competitive on the Internet.

2-Will you take the time to develop an SEO strategy based on the needs of my firm and the competitiveness of my particular geographic market and area of practice?

If your SEO consultant is saying “We CAN do this, or we could TRY this.” Then you should be leery.

After I tore my 1st ACL on my left knee after my brief professional soccer “career” came to an end, I met with the first Dr. I could for a consultation. I will never forget when he looked at me and said “Dan, I am not sure what we should do here. We could this, or that, or maybe this-what do you think?” At the time I was 25, it was my first knee injury, and I had not even completed my undergraduate degree. How the heck could I make a decision on what to do with my knee? I still didn’t even know what an ACL was. (After 4 ACL reconstructions I feel like I could “virtually” perform the surgery if I had to-”virtually” meaning in a video game or something like that).

Lucky for me, I was coaching the sons of Jim Bartimus, a top medical malpractice attorney in the Midwest. He was able to get me to the top of the list to meet with Dr. Yost, one of the KC Royals orthopedic surgeons, and one of the top Orthos in the KC area. Dr. Yost took the bull by the horns. He looked me in the eye, and while his assistant took notes he told me what he wanted to do, he scheduled my surgery, and sometime later I was back on the field playing better than I had played before.

As an attorney, you realize that ultimately your clients make the decision on what they want you to do for them, but if you do not give them competent and confident recommendations you are probably not providing them with a good service. (hopefully, as an attorney you can back up your recommendations with a track record)

3-Will you report to me on a regular basis the work you are doing on my website, the progress you are making, and your plans for the future of my website?

Not just Webtrends, impressions and clicks, but ranking reports, backlink reports,  and call reports, along with a summary analysis at least monthly of what the heck all of these reports mean.

Some SEO specialists act like they have the secret to SEO success, therefore you should just give them some money and trust them. They cannot tell you what they are doing, because it is a secret.

It’s not a secret. YOU could learn how to do SEO yourself. YOU could hire an SEO consultant for a few hundred dollars an hour to teach you how to do everything yourself, just like I could try my PI own case if I wanted to do so. The reason you want to hire someone to optimize your site is because they can do it more effectively than you, they can do it better than you because it is what they do every day and they can and will do it well for YOU. Not because they have the secret. If they claim to have the secret, I would eliminate them immediately as an option.

4-Do you offer any kind of exclusivity?

There are only 10 spots on the first page of Google organic results for a particular search. Few of the companies who do SEO offer exclusivity. They will sell the “first page of Google” to as many PI firms in Denver that will pay them for it. In the hopes that the lack of their reporting combined with the fact that their attorneys will not have the time to babysit their programs.

5-Have you been in business for a while, and how do I know you will be in business next week, next month, and next year?

I have heard more than once from attorneys and other business owners where someone has given thousands of dollars to an “SEO specialist”, with no results, no recourse, and no more “SEO specialist”.

6-Last, beware of:

A. Non descriptive SEO agreements combined with Pay-Per-Click programs. Pay-Per-Click can be profitable, but often it is hidden in a $1,000-8,000 a month program that has very little SEO and a lot of PPC.

B. Guarantees of placement.

Doood! Come on! You are an attorney! How could you fall for this trick? The only guarantee you will get from an SEO placement guarantee is that it will be written in such a way as to guarantee that the “SEO specialist” will set the standards so low that they cannot fail to meet the guarantee. Read my post where I expose the fine print of Network Solution’s SEO guarantee. It’s bogus.
If and when one of your peers says they guarantee they will win a tough case-what do you think? Of course the come back I hear from attorneys is “well, we work on contingency-why can’t you?”
I will. The first personal injury firm that offers me 30% of the revenue they generate from my search engine optimization efforts will be able to obtain my SEO services for free. I would expect to earn about $300K + my first year with this type of arrangement.

C. They tell you SEO is the only way to go, and to avoid PPC marketing. The truth is that both can be done well, and both can be done poorly-it is usually the latter. They both have their place when implemented strategically and with the proper expectations.

Of course that’s just my opinion. I might be wrong.

On two occasions in the last two weeks someone has told me that one of my SEO competitors is “guaranteeing” 1st page placement or they will give them their SEO investment money back.

I have dismissed it, poo-poo’d it or avoided it, because it is such a ridiculous idea-NOT because I think it has any legitimacy. It is a tool used by companies who have inexperienced “Internet Marketing Consultants” who have to have a gimmick to entice businesses to spend money with them. I have heard of other companies providing ”bogus” clicks that they were driving to their customer’s website as part of a “guarantee.” Since then, any time I hear the word “guarantee” and search engine marketing in the same breath I assume 2 things:

1-The guarantee is only that the guarantors will not fail to meet the terms and conditions of their guarantee.

2-It could be interpreted as “bogus” by an educated observer.

What is bogus?

bo·gus
–adjective 1. not genuine; counterfeit; spurious; sham.

 Here are the details of Network Solutions guarantee, taken from their website:

 It is boldly titled:

“Top 10 Search Results Guarantee”

 Part one is reasonable:

“Any Web site that is all Flash, contains frames/layers or adult content is not eligible for the guarantee. Guarantees may be voided for, among other reasons, Web sites that have downtime for one day or more, Web sites that have been altered after they have been optimized by Network Solutions, Web sites that are cloned, or that do not use 301 for redirects.”

This might be considered Reasonable:

“If customers do not respond to communications from Network Solutions for more than 60 days, the optimization project may be considered “abandoned” and payment will be surrendered in full.”

This is where it gets fishy:

“For optimization packages (”Top 10 Search Results service”), Network Solutions guarantees a minimum number of top ten listings in one or more of 12 search engines within 10 months from completion date. Most engines will index your site in about three (3) months, but it takes time to gain the popularity and ranking needed to compete using competitive phrases. Network Solutions will only submit keywords to search engines in the United States. The search engines included are: AOL®, AlltheWeb®, AltaVista™, Ask.com ® (formerly known as AskJeeves.com®), Google®, Hotbot®, Looksmart®, Lycos®, MSN®, Netscape®, and Yahoo!®. The minimum number of top ten listings guaranteed is 5 for the 20 keyword phrase package, 10 for the 30 keyword phrase package and 20 for the 50 keyword phrase package. There is no guarantee for the 10 keyword package. The guarantee is a full money back guarantee, subject to these and the other terms and conditions of our Services Agreement, provided at the 10 month mark from date of completion if results are not obtained.”

Why is this fishy?

In the best case scenario you will get 20 keywords out of 50 in the top 10 search results. That sounds reasonable, right? 40% of YOUR keywords in the top 10 of the search engines?

Not so fast-it is 20 placements out of 12 search engines. Not so fast-it is 20 placements out of 12 search engines. This means only 20 keywords out of 6oo opportunities have to be on the first page of a search engine. That is only 3.3% of your keywords. It could be your lowest 2 (least competitive) out your 50 keywords on the first page of each search engine to meet their guarantee-and they have 10 months to do it!

Like many performance statistics in the business world, you are likely to get 80% of your performance  results from the top 20% of your performers, and 90% from your top 10%. Target keywords are no exception.

You would likely get 90% of the traffic to your site from your top 10% most searched keywords if you were ranked number one for each of your keywords.

The point is that you have NO guarantee of an even moderately successful campaign from this example of a “guarantee”.

(back to the guarantee)

This is Reasonable:

 ”In no event will Network Solutions be liable to you for any lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising from the optimizations services provided.

This service(s) does not guarantee any sales or traffic to your Web site. Traffic and sales depend upon the demand for your particular product or service, the design and layout of your Web site, and many other factors that are beyond the control of Network Solutions.

This is Reasonable, but a cost that a good SEO specialist could include as part of your investment…

“Network Solutions services do not include the paid submission fees that some engines charge for inclusion. Network Solutions is not affiliated with these submission services in any way. You may opt to pay these fees directly to the search engine for inclusion. Additional fees may apply for changes, modifications, updates, and optimization alterations that exceed the scope of these optimization services.”

So is this a “bogus” guarantee? Based on my analysis and these dictionary.com definitions, well, I will leave that up to you to decide…

bo·gus
–adjective 1. not genuine; counterfeit; spurious; sham.

coun·ter·feit
–adjective 1. made in imitation so as to be passed off fraudulently or deceptively as genuine; not genuine; forged: counterfeit dollar bills. 

spu·ri·ous
–adjective 1. not genuine, authentic, or true; not from the claimed, pretended,or proper source; counterfeit

sham
–noun 1. something that is not what it purports to be; a spurious imitation; fraud or hoax.

coun·ter·feit
–adjective 1. made in imitation so as to be passed off fraudulently or deceptively as genuine; not genuine; forged: counterfeit dollar bills. 
 
Here is the guarantee without my interjections…

“Top 10 Search Results Guarantee
Any Web site that is all Flash, contains frames/layers or adult content is not eligible for the guarantee. Guarantees may be voided for, among other reasons, Web sites that have downtime for one day or more, Web sites that have been altered after they have been optimized by Network Solutions, Web sites that are cloned, or that do not use 301 for redirects.

If customers do not respond to communications from Network Solutions for more than 60 days, the optimization project may be considered “abandoned” and payment will be surrendered in full.

For optimization packages (”Top 10 Search Results service”), Network Solutions guarantees a minimum number of top ten listings in one or more of 12 search engines within 10 months from completion date. Most engines will index your site in about three (3) months, but it takes time to gain the popularity and ranking needed to compete using competitive phrases. Network Solutions will only submit keywords to search engines in the United States. The search engines included are: AOL®, AlltheWeb®, AltaVista™, Ask.com ® (formerly known as AskJeeves.com®), Google®, Hotbot®, Looksmart®, Lycos®, MSN®, Netscape®, and Yahoo!®. The minimum number of top ten listings guaranteed is 5 for the 20 keyword phrase package, 10 for the 30 keyword phrase package and 20 for the 50 keyword phrase package. There is no guarantee for the 10 keyword package. The guarantee is a full money back guarantee, subject to these and the other terms and conditions of our Services Agreement, provided at the 10 month mark from date of completion if results are not obtained. In no event will Network Solutions be liable to you for any lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising from the optimizations services provided.

This service(s) does not guarantee any sales or traffic to your Web site. Traffic and sales depend upon the demand for your particular product or service, the design and layout of your Web site, and many other factors that are beyond the control of Network Solutions.

Network Solutions services do not include the paid submission fees that some engines charge for inclusion. Network Solutions is not affiliated with these submission services in any way. You may opt to pay these fees directly to the search engine for inclusion. Additional fees may apply for changes, modifications, updates, and optimization alterations that exceed the scope of these optimization services.”

“BSEO”:

BSEO obviously stands for “Bad Search Engine Optimization”, but some people seem to think it implies something else.

The major problem with “BSEO” is that it is difficult to define. “BSEO” programs are usually vague “BSEM” (Bad Search Engine Marketing) which include other programs like online yellow pages and pay-per click programs that provide very limited or no results in terms of ROI (Return On Investment). The Best case “BSEO” or “BSEM” scenario is a low priced “SEM” program that is very expensive due to the amount of wasted time and wasted money. Worst case scenario is a long contract costing a LOT of money that wastes even more time and more money.

I have to give credit to LexisNexis Territory manager Mike Mahoney, who came up with the term “BSEO” after he heard me describe a Seattle yellow pages “SEO” program.

Something different: Transparent SEO:Transparent SEO is an integrity based SEO service. It is a service where the SEO expert informs you along every step of the way as to what you are paying for, and what you are getting in the way of service and results. They do not make you sign any long term contracts (more than a year), nor do they ask for huge sums of money up front. You will own the content that you are paying to have developed for you, and you own your optimized site. This minimizes your risk and builds continued trust between you and your outsourced SEO expert that you can keep, promote or fire at any time. In this partnership environment the SEO expert strives to continually earn your business by under promising and over delivering results.

How to detect “BSEO”

1)      Your “SEO expert” implies a lot, but never says anything definitively. For example; “See all of our customers who are near the top of Google? Sign here, pay us only $500 a month and we will build YOU a website.!”

Questions to ask that will thwart their evil plan:

a.      “Are you saying that for $500 a month I will experience the same results your other customers will experience for my competitive keywords like (for example) ‘injury attorney seattle’?”

b.      “I see you have a few customers whose sites are well optimized-how many firms do you limit your services to in a given geographic area for specific areas of practice?”

c.      Can you put any of this in writing?

2)      Your “SEO expert” gives you a quote for a service that includes some sort of landing page, and/or a Pay-Per-Click program combined with an SEO program.

Questions to ask that will expose their elusions:

a.      How much of my money will go towards Pay-Per-Click vs. SEO?

b.      What specific services do you provide on a regular basis that will help my site rise to the top of organic search results?

c.      Do you have examples of other attorneys in my area of practice in a comparable market that you have successfully optimized sites for? 

More on this in my next post. In the meantime, for a free, comprehensive and honest Internet marketing analysis call me on my cell anytime at 206-501-4569.

Is it the Amway salesman?
No.
Is it a used car salesman?
No.
Is it the “cure all” juice salesman? (formerly known as the “snake oil salesman”)
No.
It’s the Internet marketing consultant! Run for your lives!!!

The great thing about blogs is we can vent and complain freely, but as a friend once told me; just because I am only venting doesn’t mean I do not offend.

So let me apologize to the honest Amway sales person; Sorry-you guys do have some great products.

I also want to apologize to the used car salesmen-NOT including the guy I bought my Lexus from. I actually had to put in a new engine 2 weeks after I bought it. Now I have to drive it for another 10 years to get my money’s worth out of it. I am sure somewhere out there lives an honest used car salesperson, but I am a little bitter about them right now.

Some of that juice stuff from Australia tastes really good, but my wife swears we can do better at with her own concoction from ingredients found at Whole Foods. Since she makes the food choices in our home, I can apologize to the juice people but I can’t buy their juice.

As far as the Internet marketing consultant goes, I am sorry. Sorry that you have made my job so hard.

Why is that? What’s the story? Why can’t I proudly raise my head as I tell people what I do for a living without adding-”but I am an honest Internet marketing consultant.”

Well in the late 1990s, ”Internet marketing consultants” walked into small businesses and fortune 500 companies and took them for a ride. They spent millions and got little in return.

After Enron, Worldcomm, and 9/11 the advertisers got a realty check and pulled their money out of the Internet. It wasn’t until the end of 2003 that more money was spent on Internet marketing than was spent in the 1990s heyday.

Starting a few years ago local search became a big deal. People started looking for local service related businesses that were well suited to the information and efficiency offered by the Internet. Insurance, real estate and lawyer searches have gone through the roof.

The result has been everybody and their brother trying to sell all of you law firms every kind of “Internet marketing solution” under the sun. At best, the people selling you all these programs are/were naïve, at worst-dishonest and greedy. They want your yellow pages, television and your banner advertising budget, and they are willing to say just about anything to get it.

Whatever the reason, the truth is that I can tell you from my experience 90%+ of the Internet marketing strategies out there are bad ones.

I have yet to meey an attorney that has figured out how to market their firms on the Internet perfectly (it’s an imperfect world). Here is a paraphrase from a blog I wrote over a year ago, and looking back it still holds true.

In this post I try to answer the question: “As a business/firm owner; do you need an Internet marketing consultant?” In the next post I will answer what questions you can ask to figure out WHO you can trust. (Of course, you could just call me at 702-966-9414, or 206-501-4569)

Whether you have just started a law firm or you have been in business for years, you probably fall into one of these categories when it comes to Internet marketing:

Level 1 Internet Marketer:
You do not have a website; however there is a good chance that you have some kind of Internet presence that you may be unaware of through your local Yellow Pages, Lawyers.com or some other source.

Level 2 Internet Marketer:
You do not have a website, but you have an intentional Internet presence through different organizations like Lawyers.com, City Search, a local Yellow Pages Company, the local bar web site, the Better Business Bureau or some other organization. You are probably getting decent results from your efforts-at least your referrals are finding you by name.

Level 3 Internet Marketer:
You have a website, but have no intentional marketing presence where people can find you, other than what you may have as a Level 1 Internet Marketer. Your web site is probably dated, and more people will see your web site than see your office. I would argue that you could be better off at Level 2.

Level 4 Internet Marketer:
You have a website, you have spent money on a marketing it, but nothing has worked so you have a bad feeling about Internet marketing. Again, you could be better off at Level 2, because at least then you would have an optimistic outlook on Internet Marketing.

Level 5 Internet Marketer:
You have a website, you have spent money on a marketing it, you are getting some results that you are happy with, but you could be getting a better return on your Internet Marketing investment if you were implementing better strategies for your firm.

Level 6 Internet Marketer:
You have a web site; you have done a perfect job of marketing it and you have reached the full potential of the Internet with your brilliant Strategic Internet Marketing Plan that includes strategic email marketing and cross-marketing. I have yet to meet anyone who is at level 6.

If you are at level 1-4, there is a good chance that you could benefit by utilizing an Internet marketing consultant. If you are at Level 5 and want to get to Level 6 or if you think you are at Level 6, it is probably worthwhile to at least sit own with a consultant and see if they can help you increase your return on investment. There is nothing wrong with a free consultation-if the consultant is looking out for your best interests.

Who can you trust to be your “Internet Marketing Consultant”? Well, for attorneys, my peers at LexisNexis/Martindale Hubbell and I are a professional bunch of knowledgeable and integrity based consultants. I have met them all and I believe they know the market and they look out for their customers. I am sure that there are also good consultants from other companies, but it seems to be the exception, not the rule.

Here are some other options, which I will discuss in detail next week.

-Your Yellow Pages representative. (Good, bad and ugly suggestions from this talented and persuasive bunch)
-A Google or Yahoo! Representative. (Can you trust Google?)
-A website developer. (Is he or she left or right brained?)
-An SEO firm. (How do you select the right one?)
-A PR firm. (Do PR firms know Search Engine Marketing?)
-A Pay-Per-Click management firm. (How can these guys help you?)

The two easiest ways to get your site to the top of Google:
 
1-Follow SEO best practices so people can find you by name in your geographic area.
 
Even if you spend thousands of dollars on SEO or some other form of Internet marketing, it is likely that around half of the traffic to your site will come from people searching for your firm by name and usually including your city and/or state in the search.

This is because your referrals often search for you before they call, or your other advertising media such as television, radio, magazine, billboards and yellow pages drives people to search for you online.

If your site does not come up at the top of the search engines over other information then you do not give the first impression you desire to give to your prospects.

It sounds simple, but there are still sites out there that attorneys are spending thousands of dollars on that Google and the other search engines cannot read, or what the search engines read does not identify the firm.

I saw a site last week that very nice-but it was all written in flash. Google saw nothing on the site. It was designed by a ‘PR Firm’ professional who was talented and creative, but like many talented and creative web designers, he or she gave no consideration as to how the search engines were going to find the sites.

Here are some basic rules to follow:1-Meta-tags:

Meta tags will not alone get you to the top of Google for competitive keywords, but if they are not done correctly you may not even come up by name.

There are 3 types of meta-tags you need to consider: 
Title Tags:

Title Tags need to be different for each one of your pages. Your home page should have your firm name and geographic location in the title tags and have no more than about 60 characters.

Don’t know what title tags are? You aren’t supposed to if you are an attorney, but if you do then proper title tags will make sense to you. I am not even sure what “tort reform” means, but I have an idea, and I could find out in seconds. However, it is not my job to really know how to rattle off the definition of “tort reform” on a regular basis.

This is why you should look to hire a true SEO professional for $100-$150 an hour, instead of spending your $300+ an hour time learning something new.

Off my pedestal and back to the other Meta-tags:

Description Tags:

Description tags are the textual results that appear on the organic search results. It is important that this accurately describes your firm, and you may even consider putting your phone number in the description tag to drive calls before a searcher clicks on any web site. Keywords in the description tag are good, but not as important as the title tags; therefore first and foremost make sure you put your best foot forward in your description tags.

Keyword Tags:

I often see web site designers make the mistake of putting all of the site keywords on everyone of their pages’ Meta keyword tags. It is much better to have the keywords focused on the content of the page, and therefore the keywords should be different for every page.
2-Sitemap:

A sitemap helps the search engines read your site. Having a Google sitemap is a great way to go, but not necessary. Most sitemaps can make up for a site that is hard for Google to read due to javascript or some other issue (I am not a programmer, I just keep up on these things).
3-Pictures and Videos

Make sure your pictures and videos have names relevant to your site.

URLs

www.myfirm.com/updsaufisua?ioupioudf=+-? Is not a great URL.
www.myfirm.com/keyword-keyword-keyword is much better way to go.
‘nuff said
The “last” best way to get to the top of Google and other search engines?

Have your site listed on a site that is already there for the keyword searches you want your site to be found.

You want to be at the top for the search “las vegas attorney”? Do the search yourself and see who appears. Some of those sites are directories that will pay for you to be listed on.

Lawyers.findlaw.com (Westlaw’s Directory) and Lawyers.com (a LexisNexis owned directory) are the two sites that consistently get the most searches of all of the lawyer online directories. This is confirmed by Nielson Ratings, ComScore and Hitwise-3 of the top 3rd party verification sources.

Essentially you have Lawyers.com and Findlaw.lawyers.com as the top two lawyer directories, with Lawyers.com getting about twice the visits as Findlaw.lawyers.com, and all the others getting significantly lower search volume.

In some markets you will find niches where a local directory may compete with these search engines, but again-that requires some research. In Nevada the oen I have heard positive feedback about is www.attorneyguide.com.

Whatever you do don’t just take someone’s word for it. Other attorneys aren’t likely to tell you what works for them if they compete with you in any way.

On Google, lawyers.findlaw.com does a better job at coming up for local searches in many cases, while Lawyers.com comes up at the top nationwide; therefore being on both helps you cover your market. When someone searches for “lawyer”, “lawyers”, “attorney” or “attorneys” on Google they are likely to end up on Lawyers.com and then work their way down to the city and/or state in which they are looking for a lawyer.

Lawyers.com often comes up on the first page of Yahoo! for local searches.

There are other sites that come up on various searches, but these two have the most consistent results.
Another benefit of being on Lawyers.com is that when you list there you are also put on Martindale.com, Superpages, CitySearch, GoogleLocal, Business.com,CNN and a host of other search engines.

Another place to consider listing your web site is online yellow pages directories. Each market has directories that get significant usage from placement on search engines and/or brand recognition.

As mentioned in an earlier blog of mine-many online yellow pages are a waste of time and money, but consistently superpages.com, yellowpages.com and in some markets Dexknows.com receive significant traffic. The problem is that the yellow pages reps will try to sell you products they have developed that may work for landscape contractors, but are a waste of time and money for attorneys.

I was speaking with a Las Vegas attorney who had just committed to a $500/month “SEM” product with Dex Media. I told her the problem is that while a program like that may work for a landscape contractor it is not likely to work for an attorney.

I gained instant credibility with her when she said “They demonstrated their product with a landscape contractor-which is why I bought it.”

Go figure.