Las Vegas lawyers - attorneys legal directory
Law Firms & Internet Scams
By Bob Schwartz, CRS, GRI ©2007 Promotions Unlimited All rights reserved.
This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorized use, copying or
mirroring is prohibited.
Many still say the Internet is like the Wild West. When it comes to the
increase of scams, this is certainly true! As webmaster for over two dozen
legal, real estate, and other business oriented websites, we receive a lot
of email and phone solicitations. Often our clients ask our opinion on an
Internet service or software product. We have looked into it and found the
majority of offers directed toward law firms are what I call the half-truth
variety.
It is interesting that these offers directed at small to mid-size firms are
like live Internet viruses, they seem to transform over time. The core
remains, but, the cover packaging (a.k.a. sales pitch) appears totally
different.
One of the most large savings over the legitimate legal directories. The
perpetrators of such scams give impressive ‘traffic’ figures, and in many
cases, even show that their directory is listed on the first page of a major
directory.
Looking at one scam in detail revealed the following facts:
A. Traffic numbers can be manipulated. For about
$50, anyone can purchase ‘traffic’ directed to any site. The way this
‘traffic’ is produced is the problem. The majority is machine generated
overseas, or channeled through MLM /porn/music sites. In either case, your
site will register visits but no business will ever be generated.
B. For placements on the first page of top search engines, there are two
highly used methods. The first method, usually just makes the statement that
the site has page one placement. Ask further and it is usually the name of
the directory that has page one placement. The directory name might be
www.lawyers-intercontinental-directory1.com and a search for lawyers
international directory could appear on page one of many search engines.
However, how many potential legal clients in Houston, Texas, will be likely
to type in this precise directory name into their search engine? What they
may use will be phrases like: Houston lawyers, Houston attorneys, Houston TX
lawyers, Houston Texas lawyers, etc. The other method used is bidding on
popular legal phrases on the major pay-for-click search engine programs. The
problem here is that these ‘sponsored’ ads have to be differentiated from
the real or ‘organic’ results. Once spending limits on the bids are reached,
or the bidding program is terminated, the standing vanishes. After all,
these standings were only achieved by cash payment, not a properly designed
and optimized legal website. Another factor to consider here is that current
webmaster opinions suggest 50 to 70% of searchers look over such ‘sponsored’
listings in favor of the ‘organic’ listings.
Almost any high school teen can create a ‘legal directory’ with an
impressive sounding name like
www.professional-law-legal-advice-directory1.com, but do you really want to
be listed there? Believe it or not, many naive lawyers have bought into it.
I asked one such attorney what results his law firm had achieved during
almost a year with the listing. The reply was NO BUSINESS, and he believed
they never received any phone calls. I then asked why he chose to advertise
with this firm. The answer was because they only charged $99 for a full page
ad for one year.
The old phrase of “You get what you pay for” really applies here. Be careful
out there, very careful!
Copyright 2007 Promotions Unlimited - search engine optimization - All
rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bob Schwartz, is the founder of Promotions Unlimited, an Internet legal
directory (CA, TX & Las Vegas) publisher and search engine placement
technology analyst. You can contact Bob via e-mail at seo711@gmail.com or
visit his San Diego legal directory at: http://www.sandiegolawyerforyou.com/special.htm
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