What You Need to Know about PPC Campaigns for Legal Services
In the world of online marketing, visibility drives just about everything. You can have strong and informative content on your website, but if no one sees it, you won’t build your client base. Yes, you can develop and implement a comprehensive SEO/SEM strategy and hope to perform well in organic searches. Another approach that can pay dividends is a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. You need to do it right, though, or you can spend a lot of money and not get the desired return.
Why Pay-Per-Click Can Be Effective
There are a number of reasons why PPC can be a smart strategy:
- PPC connects you with potential clients at the moment they need your services — Your PPC ad will only appear when someone conducts a search, so you’re not wasting advertising that no one sees.
- PPC works far more quickly than an organic SEO strategy — As long as the keywords are available, you can get visibility almost immediately.
- PPC ads are the first ones that people see on a search engine results page — Even though many consumers understand that the first few listings are typically paid for, you still have the visibility.
- With pay-per-click, you only pay for leads that actually click through to your landing page.
- PPC tracking and analytics are relatively easy.
The Different Types of Pay-Per-Click Advertisements for Lawyers
There are generally three different types of campaigns you should consider: search ad campaigns, display ad campaigns and remarketing campaigns.
With a search ad campaign, advertisements show up next to other, organic results when consumers enter terms into a search engine. Typically, you will only incur charges when someone either visits your website (clicks through) or calls your office.
Display ads can appear on other websites, as part of what is known as the Google Display Network. This allows Google to place display ads on more than two million websites, with a viewership of about 90% of all web users.
Remarketing campaigns allow you to track who has visited your website and send or show ads to those individuals. Those ads will typically appear when they are conducting other searches or are on other “partner” sites.
How to Get the Most Out of a PPC Campaign
The market for PPC for legal services is highly competitive, with the average cost per click for generic terms exceeding $50 per click. More specific terms will typically cost more than $100 per click. As a general rule, though, it’s worth the money to spend a little more for more targeted ad words. In fact, the more specific you can be, the more likely you’ll get a better return on investment.
Another effective strategy—use ad extensions. An ad extension gives web visitors more information about you and your practice—phone number, address, reviews, locations. This can make a significant difference when someone is trying to decide whether to click through your ad.
Contact GetLegal for Comprehensive Guidance with a Pay-Per-Click Campaign
At GetLegal, we offer full-service online marketing services for lawyers and law firms, including assistance with PPC campaigns. We’ll handle all aspects of your pay-per-click program, from the formulation of concepts to the creation of messages to implementation and analytics. Call us at 817-359-7077 or use our convenient online form to learn more.