Before Google(GOOG) cracked down on Adsense abuse, mesothelioma-related pay-per-click (PPC) keywords were undoubtedly the most expensive and lucrative. Rumor has it that at its peak, these words cost as much as $200 per click. Wow! So, now that things have normalized (whatever normal is), is mesothelioma still king? While doing research for BRBS & HBN (mesothelioma lawyers in Philadelphia), I discovered that mesothelioma is still one of the most expensive PPC keywords. For example, “mesothelioma attorneys san diego” goes for $51.03 per click. (more…)
Written by marc on September 17th, 2008 with 27 comments.
Read more articles on Legal Websites and Paid Advertising.
Pay per click (or “PPC“) advertising is familiar to most people as those tiny ads that show up along the top and right column of Google and Yahoo sponsored search results. As little as 2 years ago, money ruled the paid advertising marketplace – he who had the most $ got the number one spot. More recently, Google AdWords has added a Quality Score or “QS” to how paid ads are ranked. This makes sure the ad and landing page both talk about the keyword being bid upon. Money + Quality = better placement within the sponsored results. So, what are the top PPC management tips in this new age of “QS” if you’re going to maximize traffic and minimize cost?
- Base your paid advertising keywords on your website’s copy – if you don’t talk about it on your site, don’t bid on it. Conversely, if you want to break into a new area of practice, add content to your site first.
- Segment your ad groups based upon your site’s available landing pages. The search engines like to see that you’re delivering visitors to a page appropriate for their query.
- Make sure you use your target geography and as many keywords as reasonably possible in your advertisement itself. State that you are Ft Lauderdale lawyers or an Ohio criminal lawyer
- Create multiple ads per ad group. Hey, let the search engine test and choose the best copy.
- Turn off Content Match. Too often, this is nothing but a moneypit.
These five things alone can significantly improve the performance of most legal, paid advertising campaigns. Of course, if the website you’ve built to receive these visitors is of poor quality or without clear contact methods, even a huge volume of traffic will result in little business for your firm. These recommendations assume your website is able to convert PPC traffic to leads.
See Also:
[tags]PPC Management[/tags]
Written by jclayc on March 4th, 2008 with 5 comments.
Read more articles on Paid Advertising.
Knowing the maze of regulations surrounding legal advertising (that vary state by state), I suppose I thought lawyers would never pursue spammy marketing tactics. In a general sense, I never thought lawyers would pursue broadcast email marketing, just because of the difficulty in targeting qualified candidates, extremely low conversion rate and the negative reflection of the firm I believe it imparts. I was entertained by a piece of perceived lawyer spam I received via email the other day.
Now I’m sure I’ve never indicated I was in need of legal services. I honestly wonder how many clicks and/or calls the law firm will receive from this – the conversion rate? As the Wikipedia entry on Spam says:
Although only a tiny percentage of their targets are motivated to purchase their products (or fall victim to their scams), the low cost may provide a sufficient conversion rate to keep the spamming alive.
It’s the broadcast nature of this kind of solicitation that breeds mistrust of the brand (your law firm’s good name). Is it worth 500000 negative impressions of your firm for, say, 5 leads? Granted, that’s assuming a low, spam-like, 0.001% conversion rate, but the overall message is that, in my opinion, broadcast email marketing that’s perceived to be spam by 99.9% of recipients isn’t the best way to market your law firm. What can lawyers learn from this?
Take away: don’t be tempted by offers to conduct broadcast email on behalf of your firm. Be skeptical of (nearly) all “pre-qualified” lists of email addresses. The most effective email marketing your firm can conduct will start with opt-in lists developed through your own website or client list. This protects your good name by making sure that you approach recipients that are receptive to your message and it pays off in ROI by delivering more leads than non-targeted lists.
The next question is “how does my firm effectively build an email marketing list that I can trust”? Start with a reference or two such as:
Selecting Specific Targets When Marketing Your Practice by LexisNexis for general advice (disclosure)
28 Ways to Build Permission-Based Email Lists by EmailLabs
Email Marketing Tips, Tricks and Secrets by About.com
Then move on to deciding what success will mean to you in this campaign. Meaning, do you want X number of new clients? Then your message should target potential clients. Do you want to spread the news of a recent verdict? Increase referral business? Then your message should target other law firms.
Above, I’ve used this example of lawyer spam to advise the average small law firm on the do’s and don’ts of email marketing. Am I the end-all expert on email marketing, list development and targeting? No. But I do hope I’ve at least stirred a gut reaction from you on the approach that was taken recently to deliver this un-targeted message. That aversion should lead you to explore the right way to pursue an legal marketing campaign via email.
[tags]lawyer spam, email marketing[/tags]
I probably forgot to turn off some opt-out when filling out an online form, so this may not truly be a 100% "unsolicited" email message but that’s why I’m “protecting the innocent” law firm by not revealing their name.
Written by jclayc on January 6th, 2008 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Email Marketing and Paid Advertising.
Quick post – Google AdSense publishers can now elect to feature YouTube videos in conjunction with Google advertising. It’s an interesting idea. I’m giving it a test run on my travel video page but I’m not sure of the value for professional organizations. I suppose with the right targeting… maybe a test is in the works.
[tags]adsense, youtube[/tags]
Written by jclayc on October 26th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General SEO Discussion and Paid Advertising.
