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Law Firm Internet Directory Services: Not Worth The Investment

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Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and there was no internet, most advertising was done in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. The internet has changed that dramatically. Businesses have figured out that a high web presence is just as effective as print and television ads. And just as in almost every other aspect of business, a group of sly and utterly unnecessary middlemen have figured out a way to make a buck out of it.

There used to be a profession that existed on the margins of the print publishing world, and they were called “space brokers.” They worked like this: A man would walk into the offices of a newspaper and buy advertising space. Preferably a large ad, maybe a quarter or half page, mainly because many newspapers offer larger ad space at reduced rates. The advertisement would be for something innocuous, maybe a ringing endorsement of “what makes America great” or a public relations piece celebrating the community work of a non-profit or a church. It would generally be something that had the air of a non-profit venture about it.

And sure enough, on the appointed day, the ad would appear in the paper, with a paragraph or two extolling the virtue of one cause or another. The rest of the space would be covered with the names, addresses and phone numbers of various shops and businesses, who were listed as “sponsors” of the message but were in fact just advertising. They all paid the person who placed the ad (the “space broker”) a certain amount of money, and when all the fees added up they were worth far more than what the newspaper had charged. The people who advertised were told that they were going to be part of an enormous ad in a newspaper, and, strictly speaking, they were. But so were dozens of other businesses.

Savvy newspaper editors and advertising sales chiefs began to figure out what was going on, and eventually only smaller newspapers with inexperienced staff would fall victim. It is the sort of thing that only happens to a newspaper once.

But with search engines, and particularly with law firms, it happens all the time. Many companies that promise to get your firm’s website to the first page of Google can certainly do that, but what they don’t tell you is that the link to your firm will be part of a “directory,” along with dozens (if not hundreds) of other firms. This is essentially no different from just placing the “Attorneys” section of the yellow pages under one link in Google. Although most directory services will allow some firms that pay a higher fee to have their links placed in a prominent position once you get past the first page, most of the listings are handled alphabetically. This isn’t a bad thing if your firm is called “Aaronson and Associates,” or if you want to go with the dubious move of changing the name of your practice to “AAAA Law Firm,” but for the rest of you that definitely isn’t an ideal expenditure of your marketing money.

Another thing to consider is the amount of time spent on each visit. A search engine is a directory, after all, and a common reaction to a directory that simply leads you to another directory is annoyance. People might click on the directory link due to its high ranking, but once they find that they have to sort through another series of links, they won’t stay on that page for very long.

Having your web site bundled in with dozens of others is the sort of high ranking that is meaningless, as it does very little to improve the visibility of your site or to get you clients. With directories, your site is about as unique and distinguishable as a middle of the pack runner in the Boston Marathon.

At Foster Web Marketing, our job is to increase the visibility of your site. It is our goal to get you high rankings in Google using constant updating of content, information, news, blogs and videos. Bundling and directories are not part of our practice.

Using our DSS system, our clients have the option of constantly updating their own sites with ease. Using our CMP program, our clients can have their site updated with relevant and unique content automatically. Whichever option you choose, the end result will be higher rankings, higher practice visibility, and more clients.

Contact Foster Web Marketing for a site consultation today.

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Law Firm Internet Directory Services: Not Worth The Investment

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