Note: This is my 2014 review of Scorpion Web Design. For my newer review, click here.
This is the next post in my Website Options for Law Firms series. I’ve previously discussed whether attorneys should build their own websites or if they should hire a developer and have provided tips for lawyers who will be hiring a developer to build their firm’s website. In this article I will be discussing whether attorneys should utilize the services of Scorpion Web Design to manage their web presence.
My experience in evaluating Scorpion Web Design as a law firm’s website option
Scorpion is a California-based company that caters to the legal profession. Their website states that they provide services including website design, assistance with search engine optimization, and assistance with pay-per-click marketing. As with other reviews I’ve done in this series, I’ll start by discussing my experience in evaluating this option.
I contacted Scorpion and informed them I was a writer for this blog and that I would be evaluating their company as part of the website option series. The receptionist transferred me to the Vice President of Business Development. He was not available and I left him a voice mail. I called back later in the same day and the same receptionist told me that the V.P. was available and transferred me to him. I explained who I was and the V.P. rather quickly told me to put any questions I had in an email and send them to him. I got the impression, rather quickly, that he did not want to take the time to answer questions about the company or the services it provides.
In the few questions I was able to ask to the V.P. about pricing, I received the somewhat vague information that is described below. After the phone conversation I emailed over a list of several questions and have yet to receive a response of any type (including a “thanks for emailing us” response). Should I get a response then I will be supplementing this article upon receipt.
In addition to reaching out to Scorpion, I ran a series of tests involving three sites they feature in the “Portfolio” section of their website. I made sure I used sites from three distinct practice areas, in three distinct parts of the country, to get a good sample base. After running these tests I feel I’m in a good position to evaluate the service as a website option.
Evaluating Scorpion Web Design as an attorney website option
I’m evaluating Scorpion under the same criteria used to evaluate other options in this series. These options include the cost of the service, the SEO potential of Scorpion sites, how easy it is for attorneys to interact with the service, and how well Scorpion’s sites are suited to the changing web environment.
Evaluating the cost of Scorpion Web Design
As mentioned above, the V.P. I spoke with give me some vague information regarding pricing. He indicated that pricing varied depending on the part of a country that an attorney is in. To be blunt, I find this odd. The level of work that goes into a twenty-five page criminal defense site for a small town lawyer should be no different than the level of work for a twenty-five page criminal defense site in New York. When we design a site, as part of our attorney web design and SEO services, the price is the same regardless of the city the attorney is practicing in and each site is carefully designed to perform well in search. Our price structure, however, is consistent regardless of where the attorney is located. I would hope that this variance in pricing, due to location, is not based on the idea that attorneys in larger locales can simply afford to pay more. I have asked Scorpion to clarify why this policy exists and will update this article if I receive a response.
In conducting additional research I did find multiple articles that described Scorpion’s service as pricy. This finding, combined with the variable price policy, would have to be a strike against Scorpion in the price column.
Evaluating the SEO potential of Scorpion Web Design
I engaged in a comprehensive analysis of three different sites built by Scorpion. The number of issues I found led me to the finding that the company is not a good option if you want to do well in search.
All three of the sites I looked at had very low page loading scores, along with a large number of technical errors, when tested through Google’s page speed analyzer. These low scores mean that Google sees these sites as potentially loading slowly and returning a poor user experience. Given the increasing importance Google is placing on site speed, this is a big negative in terms of SEO potential. Site speed falls squarely on the shoulders of the developer so this is a big strike against Scorpion.
I found several other issues, from an SEO standpoint, that raised concerns. All three of the sites I looked at had incorrectly formatted Meta Descriptions. Other issues included poorly formatted URL’s, poorly formatted page titles, and the use of Flash on the sites (which is increasingly falling out of favor with search engines). Perhaps the biggest red flag was what I saw as a lack of individualized content on the sites; Scorpion holds itself out as writing content that will go over well with the search engines. These issues, combined with others, don’t bode well for search.
I performed a number of Google searches for attorneys in the practice areas of the sites I examined. I also narrowed the searches by location. Two of the websites did not show up on the first three pages of Google for any of my searches. The third site did show up on the first page for two of my searches but not for the other three. These search results, combined with the above issues, lead to my not being able to recommend Scorpion on the SEO front.
Evaluating the ease of using Scorpion Design’s platform
Given that Scorpion is a comprehensive developer, and not a do-it-yourself platform, I would evaluate ease of use by looking at how painless is the process of being able to call Scorpion and get a site up within a reasonable amount of time. Without the feedback of Scorpion, which I requested, it’s not really possible to evaluate them in this regard.
Evaluating how well Scorpion Web Design is suited to a changing web environment
The web is changing rapidly. Since 2007 it has become increasingly important to make sure one’s site renders well on a variety of devices, such a smart phones. Over the next few years there will be a wider range of devices on which the web will be viewed. These will include wearables such Google Glass (which is awesome by the way), smart televisions, and other form factors. We monitor the web traffic of our clients very closely; right now roughly 40 percent of traffic to our clients’ sites is coming from devices other than traditional personal computers. The ability of a company to adapt its websites to the “modern web” is important.
Scorpion didn’t do well in this area. While all of the websites I looked did render well on a mobile device, they did so by using an “m.” version of the domain. In other words, if you go to “www.mydomain.com” you are automatically redirected to an “m.mydomain.com” version of the site. This is an outdated way of handling mobile and actually leads to potential problems, such as splitting page rank if Google thinks you have two different versions of the same website[i]. The fact that Scorpion is not handling Mobile through what we see as an outdated technique raises concerns, in my opinion, as to how well the company will handle future changes to the web.
My conclusions as to whether attorneys should utilize Scorpion Web Design for their web presence
I simply can’t recommend Scorpion to attorneys. Without an explanation of why their price structure varies by geography, I can’t endorse them on the price front. Combine this with the fact that the sites I reviewed didn’t do well in search and had search related issues which fall squarely on the developer, and it becomes hard to say that this is a good marketing option. With the web changing quickly, it is important that a company change with it and Scorpion’s outdated approach to mobile was somewhat alarming. I believe attorneys can find a much better option.
[i] Matt Cutts – Head of Google’s Web Spam Team – Is there an SEO disadvantage of using responsive designs instead of separate mobile URL’s?, Found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D03wRb4s7MU
I agree with you, Luke… If it is 10 pages of content, no matter where, it shouldn’t cost any more money than another 10 page site. It’s just their way of taking advantage of more affluent areas, I would presume.
Thanks for the feedback Keith. Without an articulation of extra work to be performed, I don’t see any justification for extra charges.
I’m evaluating this same company for a client of mine in the painting industry. They send him a very expensive marketing piece by FedEx with a video. I guess they do his industry too. Anyways, I don’t know much about this outfit yet. What I can see online is they seem to really be focused on attorneys.
Curious about one thing on your post. It seems you are a direct competitor of Scorpion if you are providing web design and SEO to attorneys. If that is the case, I could see why Scorpion may have been reluctant to give you pricing info? Am I missing something?
Hello David. My understanding of the information I was able to receive from Scorpion is that their pricing structure varies depending on geography (which I don’t understand why it should). We do offer similar services for attorneys but I don’t believe that is why they did not return my requests for additional information. Lawlytics and Findlaw, for example, also offer these services and were very helpful when I wrote reviews on those options.
In fairness to Scorpion, their varying pricing makes sense. A billboard, television ad, or radio spot in New York, NY costs more than a billboard, television ad, or radio spot in Smallville, KS. Likewise, if you are a law firm in Los Angeles, CA and you want to come up on the first page of Google when someone searches the broad term “divorce,” it’s going to take far more work than if you are a law firm in Needles, CA and you want to come up on the first page of Google when someone uses a more specific search term such as “water rights lawyer.” This should not come as a surprise to anyone in marketing, and certainly not anyone familiar with the basics of SEO.
In my observation, Scorpion is not a website production company (e.g. 10 pages of content costs X). Instead, law firms pay Scorpion for search engine visibility. The SEO appears to come mostly through use of backlinks rather than high-quality original content creation, and law firms must pay a rather expensive monthly fee for continued visibility.
Scorpion has been somewhat successful in dominating some highly-competitive geographic markets with popular legal search terms. However, it’s difficult to tell if a few high-profile success stories are representative of typical results.
There is a big distincition against things such as billboards, etc. The strategy to having a site do well is the same regardless of where you are. Quality content is what leads to the backlinks that actually matter and content is quality or not regardless of where one is. I was highly successful in my practice in a mid-sized market and we’ve used similar strategies in helping attorneys in both smaller or larger markets. If there was a different amount of work that went into achieving results in different markets then I would understand, but there simply isn’t.
Luke, what website design companies would you suggest? I am in the process of getting my website turned from my go daddy.com attempts and into a more professionally looking website.
Hi Brian,
It really depends on your needs/level of service. The most important thing to look for in a provider, in my opinion, is to find someone who focuses on content and user experience (the key parts of SEO) and will avoid reliance on pay-per-click.
Hey everyone – I would be more than happy to answer appropriate questions about our products, services, and pricing. There are several points in this article that are misleading. For example:
– Pricing – While websites are a part of our digital marketing solutions, we do not charge a monthly fee for websites only. Websites are simply the foundation component of our campaign solution; which also includes SEO, paid advertising, reputation monitoring, etc. Because we sell solutions as budget-based “campaigns” the price should (and does) absolutely vary by geo and industry type.
– Responsive design – We have built and manage sites for thousands of clients over the past 14+ years. While we do have clients sites that are not yet responsive, we are working to transition all of our clients to responsive sites. ALL of our new clients have responsive design sites.
I’m happy to talk with anyone who has questions / comments! Have a great week!
Jamie Adams
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdadams
Thank you for joining the discussion Jamie.
I do have to disagree with you. When you say prices vary based on things such as SEO and reputation monitoring, the issue I have is that strategies in these areas are the same regardless of geography. The word “SEO” gets thrown around a lot but the two components in a strategy to do well in search are high quality content, that people will in turn link to, and user experience. Creating quality content is no different in a small geography than in a large area. Also, creating a site that loads fast, etc. is the same regardless of where one is in the country. Could you please provide some specifics as to what steps Scorpion will take for an attorney is a larger area as opposed to a smaller area?
A big issue I have is with “paid advertising” which means pay per click. First, PPC is a trap I suggest attorneys stay away from. This begs the issue of the “SEO work” performed by Scoripion; if the company is working diligently to have the sites perform well in organic search than PPC should not be necessary. Also, when you have multiple clients bidding for the same keywords in the same market you are creating a situation where your clients are bidding against each other and driving the price up for themselves. What specific steps do you take to ensure that your clients aren’t bidding against each other for the same keywords?
Also, when you say that you are “working to transition” clients to a responsive web design, are the clients for whom you are using an outdated approach receiving any type of discount? An attorney would be understandably upset if they were aware that their website was using an outdated approach to mobile while they continue to pay a monthly fee.
Additionally, your comment doesn’t address the fact that Scorpion’s sites, based on my testing score very slow in terms of page loading time (using Google’s measures – and Google is the Judge who matters after all). Also, several sites I looked at had poorly formatted page titles and meta descriptions which were either way too long or simply a list of keywords (both of which are a bad practice). If Scorpion is charging for “SEO services” then why are such important issues arising on the websites?
Finally, one of my concerns is the fact that I contacted Scorpion multiple times in January, trying to get the company’s input, for the article and received essentially no response. To date my prior email to your VP of business development has still not been responded to and the first response, of any type, is your blog comment which is coming five months after the initial article was written. Lawylytics and Findlaw were both very helpful in terms of providing information when I reviewed those services and I would be concerned, if I in the market for a law firm website, about the apparent lack of responsiveness from Scorpion.
Again, your response is very much appreciated and we are happy Scorpion has elected to join what I consider to be an important conversation for attorneys.
Luke,
We can agree to disagree on PPC. You call it a “trap”, but some of the the largest brands in the world invest heavily in PPC. Amazon.com has arguably the best organic website on the Internet, yet they advertise in PPC for their own business name (i.e. Google Search “Amazon.com”) and thousands of other product-based searches. PPC is a great way to supplement your SEO efforts, so while your opinion may be your opinion there are literally no facts to support it being correct. Virtually any credible research supports the importance of investing in SEO and PPC as part of your digital marketing strategy.
You’ve misquoted me a few times in your response.
1) Paid Advertising, in the context of my comment, does not only mean PPC. While PPC is a part of paid advertising, I also meant display, retargeting, directory advertising, video, etc. We offer each of those paid advertising services to our clients where appropriate (no client is the same)
2) You said that I said our pricing varies on SEO and Reputation Management services. You left out what I said about paid advertising impacting price, which is typically the largest variable in our monthly campaign budgets for clients.
Finally – correlating a lack of responsiveness to your inquiries about this article to concern about our responsiveness to clients is fairly amateur on your part. As David pointed out, you offer services competitive to ours, so your inquiry relative to that of a client is quite different. It would be like saying that because Apple didn’t answer Google’s questions about the iPhone for an blog Google was writing; I, as an Apple customer, should probably be weary that my experience at the Apple Store Genius Bar is going to be a poor one. You are comparing apples to oranges.
Since you’ve connected with me on LinkedIn, you have my contact information. I’m happy to talk with you and answer “appropriate” questions for you and your readers.
Thanks Jamie,
Saying that attorneys should integrate PPC makes no financial sense for an attorney. My firm was generating seven figures of annual revenue in less than three years without using PPC at all.
A strategy that focuses heavily on quality content and a good user experience will result in the attorney doing well in organic search which eliminates the highly expensive, and inefficient, use of PPC. If an attorney spends $1,000 on PPC and it generates more than $1,000 in revenue it may have generated a profit but that $1,000 is gone and will generate no additional revenue. Investing in quality content, by contrast, provides the attorney with a marketing asset that will provide a return for the remainder of the time that an attorney has their website. PPC, in other words, forces an attorney to proportionately grow their expenses in order to see a revenue increase while investing in content allows for increasing profit margins. Respectfully, you didn’t answer the question of what steps Scorpion takes to ensure that it’s clients aren’t bidding for the same keywords and, in turn, running the prices up against each other?
Comparing lawyers to a company like Amazon is apples to oranges (to use your language). Lawyers have limited marketing budgets and need to place their money in a place that will provide the greatest return. This is why they need to focus on quality content, which provides more “bang for the buck” than PPC. To simply say that attorneys should use PPC, without acknowledging the fact that it provides a poor return on investment when compared to other methods, ignores the realities of attorneys operating on a limited budget.
Things such as directory advertising, which you mentioned, are even less effective on a return on investment basis then PPC. Also, not only does directory advertising result in few clients, it also provides virtually no SEO benefit. When you say that the “largest variable” in a client’s monthly budget is paid advertising then this “variable” is, therefore, going to things that don’t provide the ROI that can be provided by quality content. You had also mentioned that a part of the monthly budget is for “SEO” but, again respectfully, I will re-ask the questions of why Scorpion sites struggle with site speed and tend to have poorly formatted meta descriptions if Scorpion is taking an SEO focus?
Also, again, are your clients who still have a “.m” approach to mobile receiving any type of discount while their sites are “being transitioned?”
In regards to your company not responding to my inquiries – Lawlytics, Findlaw, Lawinfo, and Lexblog were highly helpful in my generating reviews of their services. I provided an objective review of all the services we looked at and, no disrespect intended, it’s odd that Scorpion wouldn’t take the time to respond to my inquiries but now wishes to take the time to respond to this article roughly 5 months after it was written.
I look forward to Scorpion’s input the next time I review such services.
I looked into Scorpion. What attracted me was that they appear to have some of the top ranking sites on Google in my area. What scared me was the way they get that ranking. They appear to have all their sites link to each other. A Family Law attorney in New York has an anchor text link for a Miami criminal law attorney that is another Scorpion site. Seems Google may eventual notice this link scheme and punish Scorpion as Google proclaims to hate unnatural links. What are your thoughts on that issue?
Hi Jason,
Google is decreasingly placing any value on what are called “unnatural links.” A “natural link” occurs when someone places a link on their site, to yours, because they find it interesting and want the viewers of their site to see it. For example, I once wrote a blog series on “fathers rights in Nevada” and several fathers rights websites linked to it as a resource for their readers. The types of links your mentioning, in regards to any vendor, are something that 1) will have decreasing if any value and 2) can potentially lead to penalties in the future.
Here’s a discussion from Google’s representatives on “unnatural links.” http://youtu.be/3mdMXdQ_VyU
The best way to gain links that “stand the test of time” and won’t get you dinged in future algorithm updates is to ensure that your strategy is based on content and user experience. In other words, create content that is compelling and people want to link to it organically. This is why any marketing consultant you work with should have a strategy centered at content creation and ensuring that your site is unique. Any consultant who doesn’t start with this strategy, and help you develop that content, shouldn’t be given the time of day in my humble opinion.I hope this helpss.
“Things such as directory advertising, which you mentioned, are even less effective on a return on investment basis then PPC. Also, not only does directory advertising result in few clients, it also provides virtually no SEO benefit.”
How did you determine this, out of curiosity? Working with Legal Directories, I have had most of my clients that renew year after year because they are making a ROI. Not to mention, you’re not just getting those clients, you’re getting their referrals, etc. Also, there is an SEO benefit for having follow-links on the profile pages of FindLaw, LawInfo, etc.
Just curious… As always, I love your posts and information, Luke.
Thanks Keith,
Google stopped recognizing any benefit from directories such as Findlaw, Lawyers.com, etc. several years ago. The only directories that provide any type of value are those that exercise a large amount of editorial discretion over who gets included, rather than those who automatically include one willing to pay a listing fee. Here’s a video on the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKUlVquEImc
I tend to be opposed to most forms of “marketing” that require a monthly fee for continued use. For example – if I pay for a directory listing and get a few clients from it than that’s good. However, I have to pay for the directory listing again the next month or I will get no additional clients from that directory. In other words, the return on investment is limited to what comes in during a given month. Investing in high quality content for one’s own law blog, by contrast, will provide ongoing traffic, and in turn clients, for years and years without a recurring monthly expense. The content gets written once and the ROI just keeps growing as opposed to being caught in a trap of paying monthly to see a continuing return.
Just because there’s an ROI on something doesn’t mean it’s the best ROI available. Attorneys who want to grow their bottom line need to focus on getting the best ROI.
Thanks as always for supporting our blog and being part of the discussion. You are very much appreciated as one of our followers.
Hey Guys–
Looking at ILawmarketing for web and seo and paperstreet for the same….Any input on these guys would be greatly appreciated!!!
Hello Jason. We’re actually preparing to do our 2015 review series. We’ve just added ilawyermarketing to the list.