Bradley Johnson Offers a Free Four-Part Symposium on Internet Marketing for Lawyers

 Posted on December 01, 2009 in Uncategorized

1. September 17ish, 2009: Seattle lawyer Bradley Johnson, using the name seattle injury attorney, tries to leave a spam comment at Popehat:

Really enjoyed reading your blog post. I will have to bookmark your site for later.

Patrick writes about it, naturally.

2. November 14, 2009: a representative from Bradley Johnson's office contacts Popehat:

to request we remove a post naming Johnson as a spammer, and explaining that it was all a misunderstanding caused by an overzealous marketer. After an email exchange, we got an apology, and a promise not to spam again.

Popehat, in a surfeit of gentlemanliness, removes the September 17, 2009 post.

3. November 30, 2009: Seattle lawyer Bradley Johnson, using the name seattle criminal attorney, tries to leave a spam comment at Crime and Federalism:

Great post about the law. I found it to be very useful. I will have to bookmark your site for future reading.

He also leaves the identical comment at the Blog of Legal Times and the Washington Rebel (h/t Mike at C&F for both).

Mike writes about it, naturally:

Mr. Johnson is attempting to trick Google. The thinking (which is wrong and outdated) is that sprinkling "seattle criminal attorney" into blog comments sections will lead to a better Google result for those terms. When a potential client Googles "seattle criminal attorney," they'll be more likely to land on Mr. Johnson's site. By wasting my time and taking a shit at my site, Bradley Johnson hopes his site will have a better result in Google.

4. Shortly after December 1, 2009: People Google "Bradley Johnson" and find, on page one, both Popehat's post and Crime and Federalism's post.

Johnson could have saved himself a lot of heartache by reading my Sixteen Rules on November 16th.

Outsource your marketing, outsource your reputation.