Many still say the Internet is like the Wild West. When it

comes to the proliferation 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 researched 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

mutate over time. The core remains, but, the exterior packaging

(a.k.a. sales pitch) appears totally different.

One of the most enduring of such Internet scams is the offer to

list your law practice in an Internet legal directory at what

appears to be a huge savings over the legitimate legal

directories. The perpetrators of such scams provide 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 figures can be manipulated. For about $50, anyone

can purchase ‘traffic’ directed to any site. The way this

‘traffic’ is generated is the problem. The majority is machine

generated overseas, or funneled 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 major 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 exact

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 skip over such

‘sponsored’ listings in favor of the ‘organic’ listings. Almost

any high school student 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 taken the bait. 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

reply was because they only charged $99 for a full page ad for

one year.

The old adage of “You get what you pay for” really applies

here. Be careful out there, very careful!