Comments on: Is SEO really this easy, or are expectations just that low? http://www.johnon.com/61/law-seo.html I think there's an opinion on that subject lying around here somewhere.... Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:22:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: john andrews http://www.johnon.com/61/law-seo.html#comment-44 Mon, 24 Jul 2006 05:47:40 +0000 http://www.johnon.com/61/law-seo.html#comment-44 Wow. That sounds pretty bad. I can see paying $5k for the first month, since many sites are ill-prepared for search exposure and there is often much work to do. $5k the second month? It would be hard to burn that, except to conduct competitive research, buy or obtain backlinks, or build out content (such as blogs..plural). Of course if the client has a lot of questions or wants attention paid to certain things, or wants that blog content written, sure - it's billable time. But hey, that's how lawyers work, too isn't it? I guess when I look at what it would cost to take a laywer website to page 1 in the lawyer SERPs, I see hat $5k/month is not excessive for that very competetive space. There are plenty of good ways to spend SEO money. I have a plan that would take 6-9 months at 3 or 4k/month, so I could see $5k/month plans being reasonable. That's for SEO of a target site, with a defined conversation objective, not a blog. Are you suggesting that what most/many lawyers actually need is a single blog, and not a website? (and therefore it's valid to compare your service to $5k/month seo scams)...? Wow. That sounds pretty bad. I can see paying $5k for the first month, since many sites are ill-prepared for search exposure and there is often much work to do. $5k the second month? It would be hard to burn that, except to conduct competitive research, buy or obtain backlinks, or build out content (such as blogs..plural). Of course if the client has a lot of questions or wants attention paid to certain things, or wants that blog content written, sure - it’s billable time. But hey, that’s how lawyers work, too isn’t it?

I guess when I look at what it would cost to take a laywer website to page 1 in the lawyer SERPs, I see hat $5k/month is not excessive for that very competetive space. There are plenty of good ways to spend SEO money. I have a plan that would take 6-9 months at 3 or 4k/month, so I could see $5k/month plans being reasonable. That’s for SEO of a target site, with a defined conversation objective, not a blog.

Are you suggesting that what most/many lawyers actually need is a single blog, and not a website? (and therefore it’s valid to compare your service to $5k/month seo scams)…?

]]> by: Kevin OKeefe http://www.johnon.com/61/law-seo.html#comment-43 Sun, 23 Jul 2006 22:24:28 +0000 http://www.johnon.com/61/law-seo.html#comment-43 “…it’s nice to have SEO without being ripped off” Refers to law firms paying $5,000 a month or more to snake oil salesmen for SEO that could never work. Problem is the uninformed buyer. Our clients don't pay half that sum in a year for all of our services, including SEO. “…it’s nice to have SEO without being ripped off”

Refers to law firms paying $5,000 a month or more to snake oil salesmen for SEO that could never work. Problem is the uninformed buyer. Our clients don’t pay half that sum in a year for all of our services, including SEO.

]]> by: john andrews http://www.johnon.com/61/law-seo.html#comment-40 Sat, 22 Jul 2006 23:51:49 +0000 http://www.johnon.com/61/law-seo.html#comment-40 Hi Kevin and thanks for posting your comment. I have no "gripe". My point is that SEO is a non-trivial endeavor when done properly, and since it is competitive, doing what everybody is doing is not going to make you competitive. As an SEO for many years, I can tell you one of the primary functions I serve for clients is repair man: I have to fix the damage from the "seo" they did (or had done) to their websites before they called me. As you say...you "don't see the damage" re: footer spam. Does that make it ok? If the network gets devalued, would you ever know? Would your clients? I am especially interested in your comment that includes "...it's nice to have SEO without being ripped off". That's probably telling. What happened to you? Hi Kevin and thanks for posting your comment.

I have no “gripe”. My point is that SEO is a non-trivial endeavor when done properly, and since it is competitive, doing what everybody is doing is not going to make you competitive. As an SEO for many years, I can tell you one of the primary functions I serve for clients is repair man: I have to fix the damage from the “seo” they did (or had done) to their websites before they called me.

As you say…you “don’t see the damage” re: footer spam. Does that make it ok? If the network gets devalued, would you ever know? Would your clients?

I am especially interested in your comment that includes “…it’s nice to have SEO without being ripped off”. That’s probably telling. What happened to you?

]]> by: Kevin OKeefe http://www.johnon.com/61/law-seo.html#comment-39 Sat, 22 Jul 2006 21:14:03 +0000 http://www.johnon.com/61/law-seo.html#comment-39 'This lawyer' is me. Not sure what your gripe is. We empower lawyers and law firms to publish blogs. By and large, the lawyers do a nice job. I tell them blogs are a networking tool that allows them to enhance their reputation as a reliable and trusted authority. I also tell them though SEO is important, it's about 20% of the return from blogging. It's nice to be found on the search engines but it's the conversation and networking via blogs via effective use of RSS that makes up most of the other 80%. 75% of lawyers are in firms of three or less. They are small business people. Like other small business people it's nice to have SEO without being ripped off. We do that through proper set up of the blogs, which does include footer text as you found on my blog. My footer probably goes a little further than what is on our clients' blogs but I do not see the damage. Most people find me because of the networking I do online and other bloggers and offline media citing posts of mine. ‘This lawyer’ is me.

Not sure what your gripe is. We empower lawyers and law firms to publish blogs. By and large, the lawyers do a nice job. I tell them blogs are a networking tool that allows them to enhance their reputation as a reliable and trusted authority.

I also tell them though SEO is important, it’s about 20% of the return from blogging. It’s nice to be found on the search engines but it’s the conversation and networking via blogs via effective use of RSS that makes up most of the other 80%.

75% of lawyers are in firms of three or less. They are small business people. Like other small business people it’s nice to have SEO without being ripped off. We do that through proper set up of the blogs, which does include footer text as you found on my blog.

My footer probably goes a little further than what is on our clients’ blogs but I do not see the damage. Most people find me because of the networking I do online and other bloggers and offline media citing posts of mine.

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