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Law Firm Websites & Internet Scams
by: Bob Schwartz
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!

Copyright 2005 Promotions Unlimited – www.websitetrafficbuilders.com - All rights reserved.

About the author:
Bob Schwartz (bob@websitetrafficbuilders.com) runs 15 legal directory sites . Legal websites http://www.sandiegolawyerforyou.com/partner-signup.htmcan tade links w/these sites. His main site offers web hosting - domain registration & Internet software. http://www.websitetrafficbuilders.comWebsite awards http://www.web-site-award-winning.com


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 Legal Debt Collection Tricks
 by: Steve Austin

If a customer owes your local business money, it's hard not to feel angry, like you want to do anything possible to get your money back. But the days of going all out to collect on a debt over.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, designed to protect consumers from harassment or intimidation, sets firm limits on what you can do to collect a debt from a consumer. The federal debt collections law even prohibits practices that were once standard, and that you might not consider harassment at all.

Besides, as a local business, you have an even more powerful reason to be especially careful about legal debt collection issues. You have something much more valuable at stake than a lawsuit: your business's reputation in the community.

Legal Debt Collection Best Practices:

There are plenty of articles on the web that lay out in plain English what the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act says you can and cannot do. Just to give you some idea of the law's requirements, here are some of the biggest:

- No telling any third party about the debt (except collection bureaus, collection agencies, or the debtor's attorney).

- No calling on the telephone 9 pm - 8 am, or calling repeatedly in a way that is annoying.

- No postcards or envelopes that mention the debt.

- No threats to take actions you cannot or will not really take, such as seizing property, in the case of an unsecured debt.

- No misrepresenting yourself (e.g., "Hi! This is the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. May I speak to John?").

- No paying down the debt with payments the customer has directed be applied to other debts

Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections:

With all these limits on what you can do to collect a debt, what can you do legally?

- Speak with the debtor personally on the telephone


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