Lawyers, If Your SEO Does These 2 Things, Fire Them

1. Blog About Someone’s Death and Call it “Content Marketing”

Rob Woods (@robdwoods) recently tweeted the following, spot-on observation:

If you tie your stupid content marketing to someone's recent death you are a piece of crap and you should quit.

— Rob Woods (@robdwoods) August 15, 2014

This is a really popular one in the personal injury field.

I’ve been pressured into this by clients in the past, and am ashamed to say that I’ve gone along with it. It’s garbage. It’s digital ambulance chasing. Regardless of its efficacy, if you’re cool getting new clients this way, we can’t be friends (or work together).

2. Publish Blog Posts That No One on Earth Would Ever Read

SEOs still do this thing where they write and publish blog posts that no human would ever read. Would you ever read this rubbish, much less share it?

When you ask your SEO why they would publish this type utter crapola, they’ll say things like:

Well, it’s fresh content and fresh content is good for SEO

Well, it’s optimized for good for long-tail searches

Well, it’s good for social media fodder

What all of this means is that your SEO couldn’t come up with any content ideas that were the least bit compelling so they looked at your top competitor’s “blog”, picked a topic, and regurgitated it.

Full disclosure, I have been responsible for this type of rubbish for clients in the past. I’m not above anyone. But I, or any other SEO who delivers this to a paying client deserves to be fired.

Some Things They Should Be Doing Instead

I mean, literally, anything. But here are a few specifics:

Obsess over website functionality, and constantly test conversion rate elements

No matter how well your law firm’s website performs, the traffic will be relatively low compared to other, more “interesting” niches. This means every single visit matters!

Your SEO should obsess over the functionality of your site, specifically the mobile functionality. She should also be constantly making conversion rate optimization tweaks, measuring the results, rinse, and repeat.

Always be gettin’ reviews

Online reviews are the new personal referral. They provide social proof which plays an insanely powerful role in the user’s decision to take a conversion action.

If your SEO is not helping you develop a scalable process for consistently acquiring online reviews, it’s probably because they are spending too much time writing freaking terrible blog posts.

Help you build a referral network online

Skilled SEOs are really good at finding where certain types of people hang out online. One way that your SEO can help you build-up your network online (and build links to your site while they’re at it), is by finding where your peers are dialoging, and then laying out a strategy for connecting you with those groups.

This strategy can include commenting on forums and blogs, engaging in discussions in social media communities, and even guest blogging (that’s right! Guest blogging! It’s not dead!).

Image via businessesgrow.com

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