Most multi-service companies should not be creating their websites, especially law firms. Competition, ongoing technological advancements, and specialized practices make a firm's website far too complex to attempt on your own. Law firms with any hope of making their website a true online marketing tool should leave it up to the search engine optimization experts. My law partner and I learned this lesson the hard way.

Most multi-service companies should not be creating their websites, especially law firms. Competition, ongoing technological advancements, and specialized practices make a firm's website far too complex to attempt on your own. Law firms with any hope of making their website a true online marketing tool should leave it up to the search engine optimization experts. My law partner and I learned this lesson the hard way.

If you have been in business for any amount of time, you know about WordPress and other DIY website platforms. Having a high level of confidence we decided that we could not only change our firm's website but also refashion how law firms utilize internet marketing. Many late nights and several weeks later, and through a handful of plug-and-play WordPress prepaid themes, our website was just okay. More importantly, wasn't close to appearing on the first page of Google's relevant searches. Our website did not appear for some searches at all. With a feeling of defeat, we left the website in that condition for more than a year.

We ended up assessing several marketing firms who provide SEO services. Some were outrageously expensive. Others were sleazy and aggressive. All promised the same grail of our website landing at the top of Google, but how were we supposed to know who was best for the job without spending a ton of money and time? After all, SEO marketing takes time to build authority for your site and Google updates its algorithm periodically. And anyone can put up a pretty website – aesthetics, sadly, has little to do with SEO.

There are options available, but each one has some risks associated with it. You can go with a more established SEO marketing agency based on the theory that experience equals quality. There's a reason all the other firms are paying those rates, right? As lawyers, however, we know that the more clients you have the opportunities for conflicts of interest increase. The search world appears to face this same dilemma. SEO clients in the same industry share a target audience, therefore, bid against each other for the top search terms for that industry. Yes, there can be only one at the top but does each firm have to bleed cash to get there? Does the client who pays more than others get better treatment resulting in ownership of the coveted search terms?

So how do you choose the right SEO company for your business? Ironically most companies find their SEO partners through referrals or other established relationships. This is a good way to connect with someone who has proven to deliver results, however, it is still a good idea to do your leg work and ask for references and check reviews.

You will be able to tell that you made the right decision selecting an agency when your SEO partner takes the time to educate you on the SEO process and how it relates to your industry. Each industry has its uniqueness and requires a customized strategy to achieve the best results. Our partner took the time to discuss our strategy before beginning work on our website at www.bautistaleroy.com. A good partner understands there is a good way and a bad way to optimize a website and should only deploy the best practices that give your site the results you are looking for. The look of our website did not change very much. We have learned the substance or content is what is important.

Our WordPress dashboard was completely gutted and to be honest we couldn't say what everything does. We are learning terms like -- “guest-blogging,” “domain factors,” “backlink quality,” etc. -- and how they benefit our website. What we can say is our website is now ranking consistently and in some cases ranking on the first page on Google for our relevant search terms.

At some point in the future, our competitors may catch on to what we are doing and who we are working with thus creating the potential conflict described earlier. A good SEO partner will inform you of the potential conflict and provide a plan on how they will differentiate you from your competitors to minimize any conflict. We have come to rely on our SEO partner for a very integral part of our business and hope that our firms continue to grow together. Until then, we are more than satisfied to leave the SEO marketing to the SEO experts so we can do our job as lawyers.