When I speak to lawyers about building credibility and visibility by writing articles, blogs and books there is always someone in the audience that will say something like…

"I don’t have time for that, I think our firm should just pay someone to do Search Engine Optimization (SEO)."

In my opinion that is like sending a proxy to network for you or paying someone to eat for you or getting your neighbor to exercise for you… it will not produce results for YOU.

Plain and simple… SEO does not buy you credibility! It may draw attention to your website but YOU have to build credibility. You can’t delegate or abdicate this task. YOU have to put in the time. 

1. Do good work for your clients.

2. Demonstrate your expertise by writing about your practice area and voicing your opinion on relevant issues.

3. Do what you say you’re going to do.

THESE are not the function of SEO!  Credibility doesn’t happen overnight; so every day you waste wishing your firm would pay for the magic pill… SEO… you are that much further behind. There are no short cuts, so roll up your sleeves and get to work my friend!

Black Pearl: Seth Godin says it clearly…

Long-term manipulation is extremely difficult. In the short run, it’s easy.

It’s easy to fool someone or lie to them or give them what they think they want. It’s easy to write a great block of copy, to sell on credit, to grab the attention of the mob.

Not so easy: to build mutually profitable long-term relationships that lead to satisfaction, trust and work worth doing.

Lincoln was right about fooling people, but along the way we often forget that while trickery is easy, the longer path of keeping your promises is far more satisfying and stable.