I have often heard attorneys complain that they are lawyers and not business men (or women). That is why I have been surprised lately to hear a number of attorneys lament that they are lawyers, not internet search engine optimization experts.

I guess it is time for all lawyers to face the reality that clients will use the internet to find their next lawyer or at least to research their legal issue prior to interviewing their next lawyer.

That leaves individual attorneys with the dilemma of figuring out internet search engine optimization or hiring a search engine optimization firm. For many lawyers, this is the choice of two evils.

The reality is that most lawyers make a living by selling their billable hours to clients. Time spent on non-billable non-legal work takes lawyers away from the practice of law and, as a result, it reduces the lawyers income.

That is why many lawyers are turning to woefully overpriced and seedy search engine optimization firms. These firms perform various services under the heading of search engine optimization, services such as analyzing traffic patterns and keywords, creating website content, and building internet links. Many of these firms will not unbundled their SEO offerings, because buying the “package” allows the firm to charge much much more for their services (consequently, the number one service provided by these firms seems to have something to do with overcharging the legal community for basic SEO services…).

I would suggest that lawyers have a third option: namely, working with a solo search engine optimization guru. I have worked with a number of search engine solos in the past to promote my Denver tax lawyer law firm website. Some of these solo SEO gurus were better than others.

I have found that the solo SEO guru has a bit more to offer than the larger corporate SEO team, in that the solo is usually willing to do much more high quality work for slightly less compensation. In many cases the SEO guru will even agree to perform limited or a la carte services, such as merely providing link building services (I can’t help but notice that this is very similar to thee solo and BigLaw dynamic that permeates the legal profession).

I have been using a SEO gal for one of my projects and I have been quite happy with her work. Her name is Huma Maqsood (here is a copy of Huma’s resume). Curiously, she does not have her own website and she only works by referral (feel free to say I referred you if you are interested – and no, I do not get any benefit from the referral).

Does anyone know of other good SEO solos? Has anyone worked or is working with a SEO guru that they are happy with? If so, maybe you would be kind enough to share the guru’s name and contact information? Perhaps you could even list them on this website, so that they can help other attorneys?

Kreig Mitchell is a Colorado tax attorney whose practice focuses on resolving IRS audit, post-audit, and IRS collections tax controversies; tax opinion letters, and estate and business planning.