Should You Invest In Pay-Per-Click?

When law firms want to step up their marketing goals, they often look to pay-per-click advertising. Pay-per-click ads are a dynamic way to get your law firm noticed and beef up your efforts beyond the organic search results. The most popular venue for this type of advertising is Google Ads, but a company can use other search engines and social media sites as well. Pay per click for law firms advertising can be game-changing in a competitive market like the legal industry, so its benefits are definitely worth investigating.?

What Are PPC Ads?

Pay-per-click ads are written ads that a company places on a site. If you place your ad on a search engine site (such as Google), you will need to bid for certain keywords which are relevant to your business. If you bid the most, your ad will show up in a premium, top position, and if you bid low, your ad will show up in a lower position. The advantage of PPC advertising is: you pay only when a consumer sees the ad, clicks, and ends up on the landing page of your law firm’s website.?

Pay-per-click ads rest atop the unpaid, organic search results, so they capture consumers’ attention more easily and tend to draw in the first clicks. The advertiser pays only when consumers click on the ad, giving real results for the investment.

Pay Per Click For Law Firms Ad Types

Your?pay per click for law firms?ads can be placed in different ways and on a variety of platforms. Where you decide to place your ads will depend on who your law firm is trying to reach. Consider the following choices for an ad campaign:

Search Campaigns

Perhaps the most common way to use pay per click for law firms ads is through a search engine. Using a search engine, you can start an ad campaign that focuses on certain keywords. Google Ads is an extremely popular choice for PPC ads, but do not rule out other search engines such as Bing, also known as Microsoft Ads.?

Social Media Campaigns

Social media campaigns?offer the benefit of more focused ad targeting. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are popular venues for this type of campaign. With search engine PPC, your ad may be displayed only when certain keywords are entered.?Social media?pay per click for law firms campaigns display ads without the necessary addition of keywords.?

Remarketing Campaigns

Remarketing is another way to use PPC ads. Instead of reaching out to an entire audience, remarketing is even more focused. Aiming its ads at people who have previously interacted with your website, remarketing brings your ads around again to remind them of their previous connection with you. Remarketing can be used in many different places, including social media.?

Tips For Using Pay Per Click For Law Firms?

Generating a successful ad starts with careful planning and research. You may decide to reach out for expert help when organizing a pay-per-click campaign, or hire a writer to create ad content. Perhaps the most crucial step which can be easy to forget, is that the click of an ad is only the beginning. Once they click, it is most important to offer them a compelling and engaging destination: your compelling, content-loaded website. Here are a few tips to propel your successful ad campaign.

Create An Ideal Client Persona

One of the most important steps is to understand your ideal client before you launch your campaign. It can be helpful to create an imaginary persona who embodies your ideal target client, and once you discover where that ideal client hangs out online, then you know where you should place your ad.

Choose the Right Venue

There are many pay-per-click ad venues, and it is crucial to choose the one that works with your ideal audience. Consider these steps as you decide how to spend your marketing dollars:

• Pick a platform where your ideal potential clients will see your ad.
• Choose a price plan that falls within your budget.
• Seek quality client support as you look for a network.?
• Look for helpful analytics, so you may assess your ad campaign’s performance.?

Provide a Call to Action

Every word is important in a pay-per-click ad, so craft copy that will compel viewers to click and visit your website, then keep them engaged with relevant content that addresses their concerns. Your landing page should provide a call-to-action that will take visitors to the next step: contacting your law firm.?

Watch Your Ad Rank

It is important to bid on choice keywords, but the most profitable PPC campaigns do not always come from the highest budgets. The Google algorithm and its search bots consider various elements of the ad and its connected website. As mentioned, Google is one of the most prominent platforms for pay-per-click ads.? Its most successful ads are the ones with the top “Ad Rank” — a metric that measures an ad’s relevance to the user. Your law firm’s Ad Rank is calculated by adding up your ad relevance and website quality. One more factor in your Ad Rank is the way you use ad extensions, which are elements featured adjacent to your ad. These display helpful material to the user, such as appropriate links that may help users find what they are searching for.

Combine Strategies

Depending on your needs, PPC ads may be used alone, or as part of a combined plan. Pay-per-click advertising can be used solo, perhaps to spotlight your newly formed website, and drive traffic to it. You can also use PPC ads together with SEO strategies, as well as other marketing methods. Anything you do to improve SEO will likely carry over into better results for your advertising, increased website traffic and more business.??

Utilize PPC Tools?

Pay-per-click ads could be the perfect choice for your law firm, but you may be wondering how to get started. Fortunately, there are tools available to help you navigate the world of online advertising and get results quickly. Besides Google Ads, there are some other services that can assist you in advertising on?social media?and help you create remarketing ads. There are also specific companies that let you in on what marketing strategies are working well for your competitors. Companies such as AdEspresso, SEMRush, SpyFu, Optmyzer, Opteo, WhatRunsWhere, Adalysis and Ubersuggest are worth investigating, and many of these offer a free trial period.

How Much Should a Law Firm Spend on Advertising?

Overall, there is no exact figure to spend on PPC advertising for lawyers. According to the American Bar Association, just under half of the law firms in the U.S. have the available funds to spend on marketing efforts and 14% of independent firms have a dedicated marketing budget. Most likely, many of these firms still rely on verbal referrals to gain new clients, meaning they miss out on the potential to significantly improve their client numbers and sales through law firm PPC advertising. For the firms that do have a marketing budget, they typically spend between 2%-15% on PPC advertising for law firms. Smaller law firms tend to spend toward the lower end of this scale due to budget constraints. Due to this, it is advisable for small law firms to learn how to get the most out of their marketing budget and use PPC advertising effectively. If your law firm lacks the funds for law firm PPC advertising, remember that you can always focus on organic marketing efforts instead, which is far cheaper and often generates better long-term results. ?

What Is the Best Form of Advertisement for a Lawyer?

Generally, digital advertising is a more effective form of advertisement for small law firms, as they are more cost-effective, targeted, and measurable than physical advertisements on billboards or in print publications. This includes PPC advertising for law firms, email marketing campaigns, social media, and search engine optimization (SEO). Law firms with an extensive budget can benefit from focusing on a combination of these types of digital advertising to improve their firm’s reach and gain as many potential clients as possible. However, it is generally more effective to focus on SEO and organic marketing, as these are very cost-effective and produce excellent results for law firms. For example, you can implement many SEO strategies for free and then complement these efforts by contacting Law Quill for additional assistance. Over time, you can then focus on PPC advertising for lawyers to boost your firm’s marketing efforts.

Does PPC Advertising Really Work?

PPC advertising does produce results for law firms, and can even be effective when firms have small budgets. Unlike other forms of advertising, PPC allows law firms to target searchers throughout the buying process. Moreover, with PPC advertising you can easily experiment with your ads to see if certain changes lead to positive results. This may involve adjusting the wording of the copy or its order, changing the headline, or moving the call to action and then looking at your PPC metrics to see if the adjustments led to improved click-through rates.

Overall, PPC advertising does work, but it can easily produce poor results, making it vital for small law firms to use it effectively. Usually, PPC advertising efforts fail because the firm does not do enough planning to develop effective strategies. To prevent this, law firms can benefit from doing the following:

• Gain an excellent understanding of their target audience.
• Write carefully crafted advertisements that encourage possible customers to click on the ads, including relevant keywords, engaging copy, a persuasive call to action, and an attention-grabbing headline.
• Create effective offers that entice potential clients to click on the ad.

How Law Quill Can Help?

While Law Quill does not do any Pay Per Click Advertising, we can work with you to?create organic content?that can work alongside your paid digital marketing strategy.?

We are here to help and would welcome the opportunity to visit with you for free regarding your law firm website’s content. Schedule a free visit with us by scheduling a quick phone or zoom call at your convenience on our calendar today. You can also email us at [email protected].

Annette Choti, Esq. has over two decades of combined legal and digital marketing experience. She founded Law Quill, a full-service digital marketing agency for law firms and businesses in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Annette is a sought-after CLE and keynote speaker for Bar Associations and legal events throughout North America. She founded Click Magnet Academy, where she teaches professionals how to leverage the powerful LinkedIn platform. She creates and hosts the?Legal Marketing Lounge?podcast, and is the author of the bestselling book, Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so far from the law, if we are all being honest.