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Internet Scams & the Law
Are people making huge profits from the Internet? Sure!
Are search engines the tool for driving traffic? Sure!
If properly utilized, are search engines one of the most efficient advertising to generate new legal clients? Sure!
Will your law firm be enticed to participate in Internet based advertising propositions that will be a waste of effort or even a 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.
They may advertise that the phrase "Red Rider Legal Profession Search Engine" will show up on MSN's page one search results. Realize though, that although this is true the chance of someone searching that specific phrase is slim to none. Look for keyword phrases that have a lot of competition and high placement.
#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; these basic actions could save you big money and big trouble!
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