For all of those marketing folks and lawyers who ask whether an award or ranking is worth putting on your bio or even worth pursuing in the first place – bookmark this master list of pay-to-play scams by web design company Firmwise today. And the best part? It’s free! And it’s regularly updated.

I asked Firmwise founder Igor Ilyinsky why he created this list and he told me his company did it because small- and mid-size firms are often inundated with requests like this and they don’t have the bandwidth to research their legitimacy, so they sometimes include them not knowing they are actually not worthwhile.

Igor said, “About a dozen new awards pop up each year, and lawyers sometimes think they are harmless to place on a bio, but in reality, they dilute the lawyer’s personal brand and – if they link outside of the bio – they dilute the SEO as well.”

This document by Firmwise is a great example of how you become a trusted resource to others and build your brand in the process.

My general rule of thumb is that if someone is asking for money to be included and there’s little information on the criteria for inclusion or the others who are also listed, ignore it. It can hurt your brand to put these kinds of non-reputable awards on your bio and website.