Search Engine Optimization, done right, can support referrals and drive work directly to a law firm and lawyers.  Our national surveys of consumer law firms, litigation boutiques and business law firms reveal this to be true and it’s a best practice we include in every law firm marketing plan we write.

Done wrong, as alleged in the RICO lawsuit this link takes you to http://lawyerist.com/lawyerist/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FairleyComplaint.pdf,  SEO can cause the search engines to make you invisible to search.  This is caused by using so-called “black hat” practices which you can always read about by doing a simple search.

SEO is a specialty area of marketing practice.  It’s hard work that requires ongoing attention.  How to best achieve the results you want requires you hire and continually with an SEO experts who, like any professional advisors, must stay atop of the latest techniques and restrictions.  Those experts need to work with marketing consultants like us or, with your resident marketer to marketing partner to ensure whatever content is generated is original and then its value extended as compelling information properly pushed out to clients, prospects, friends and referral sources. (See our blog post on developing an overall firm communications strategy for how to do that.)

Beware promises of quick results and little work or little monitoring being needed by you or your lawyers to achieve success.  Otherwise you’ll end up in trouble like the plaintiff in the lawsuit above, or with inane copy like this we saw posted by a well-known national third-party blogging service to a personal injury firm website:  “Every day, numerous motorists drive on the roadways.  Among them are truck drivers who regularly pass through those roadways to reach their appointed destinations.”  Can you imagine paying to have someone write that for you?  What would a prospective client or another lawyer think of your or your firm when they read it?