Developing PPC for Law Firms can feel like a complicated process. There are keywords to pick and costs to determine. These tips and tricks will make sure that you get a firm footing for your PPC campaigns and find success.
PPC for Law Firms
Before you get started on your PPC for law firms, it’s important that you know exactly what you’ll be getting into.
The Realities
If your law firm has decided to get into the world of PPC, it’s not something that can be done halfway. You must really commit to the process or choose to walk away. PPC can cost up to a few thousand dollars each month if you want to see real ROI results.
If you put in that kind of investment, you should be highly specific in the keywords that you choose to use. A good example of this is using the keyword ‘divorce attorneys’. This keyword campaign could cost thousands of dollars only for you to learn that 90% of your clicks are coming from people who aren’t geographically close and have no interest in hiring you.
This is why you need target specific, long-tail keywords. Keywords like ‘divorce attorneys in Chicago IL’ or ‘divorce attorneys for men in Boston MA’ will get you much better results, and the kinds of results that you’re looking for because they’re more specific.
Being as targeted as possible means that you’ll only attract, and pay for, the clicks from people who are most likely to convert to clients.
SEE ALSO: What You Should Know Before Creating Adwords PPC Campaigns
Choosing Your Keywords
With keyword research and competitor analysis, it is possible to make informed decisions about which keywords you want to target. The odds are good that if your competitors have chosen to use certain keywords, you should use them too.
As you begin to gather in keywords, you’ll need to look logically at how much you’re willing to spend per day on your PPC for law firms campaigns. If you decide that you want to budget $500 per day and you don’t want to spend more than $25 per click, then the highest number of clicks you can get in a day is 20.
Now you have to look at your conversion rates. You might already have a good idea of how many people fill out your contact form or make another conversion once on your site. If your conversion rate is approximately two percent, which is often a generous estimate, then for every five days of running your PPC for law firms campaign you’ll get about two leads. This will mean that each lead you acquired cost you around $1,250.
Will it be affordable?
Unfortunately, now your leads will need to be worth $1,250 to even break even. When this is a possibility for your law firm, then PPC will make a viable option.
However, with the numbers laid out, it’s easy to see how poor PPC management could cost your firm a lot of money with nothing to show for it. If you make the mistake of using too broad keywords and you still pay $25 per click for conversions, then you’ll be out $2,500 in a week with no new clients.
This is why it will be so important to actively monitor your PPC for law firms campaigns and revise any that aren’t working.
Potential Variables for PPC for Law Firms
Law firms and their PPC campaigns can be super competitive. When you start to get more business, your competitors will notice. It’s possible that they’ll try to outbid you, which will force you to raise your PPC rates.
As law firms already know how valuable each click can be in a PPC campaign, it’s common for aggressive bidding to occur with terms related to law. It will be up to you to monitor the cost per click of the keywords you choose and make a decision about how much you’re going to spend on our PPC for law firms campaign.
Furthermore, you’ll need to ensure that your PPC ads are actually compelling. If you offer a phone number, a link to a targeted landing page, and a strong call to action, you will attract more clicks from real potential clients.
If you try typing law-related queries into a search engine and read the PPC ads in the sidebar, you’ll find that they’re all pretty similar. This is because the formula for making an assertive sell, followed by a call to action is a method that has been proven to work.
Tips for PPC for Law Firms
When you’re ready to start your PPC for law firms campaign, these are a few tips to get you started on the right track.
Think Like Your Customer
Sometimes law firms can get trapped in a marketing echo chamber. They try to imitate what their competitors are doing without adding anything new from their own law firm in order to better connect with their online audiences.
Scoping out your competition is a must and can be useful for your law firm, but you need to keep a close eye on search patterns and habits.
Start by using an analytics engine like Google Analytics. This program will give you vital facts about your inbound traffic and PPC traffic. Google Analytics will tell you what search terms brought in the most people, when your traffic volume spiked, and how different search terms yielded different results in your conversions.
Use Cross-Channel Marketing
It is important for your law firms success that you make all of your marketing efforts work together rather than against each other. If you have an inbound SEO strategy, you can add that to your PPC for law firms campaign. If you have a popular social media presence, then use that audience to see what keywords will bring more clicks.
Should you choose to recycle old catchphrases and unique selling prospects from any paid advertising you’ve done like print, radio, or tv, it will allow people to quickly recognize your firm and connect it to the PPC ad they find online.
Think Local
If you’re not aware of how to correctly configure your geo-targeting settings for your AdWord campaigns, then try to find a more limited market. Indicate your specific city boundaries, county lines, or zip codes to target only the people who are most likely to come into your office.
The Biggest Mistakes When using PPC for Law Firms
These mistakes have been made over and over again by many different law firms and can damage your PPC campaigns.
Create it and Leave it Alone
You can’t just create your PPC ad and expect it to run successfully by itself. Bids will change regularly and old ads tend to look stale next to new ads. It’s essential to use optimizations like ad scheduling, bid adjustments, and geo-targeting to make sure that your ad stays relevant.
Choosing Not to Utilize Ad Extensions
Google’s ads have character limits on how much you can say about your business. However, ad extensions can give your law firm the capability to tell all you want to about your business. You can even link to your About Us page and type even more about what a visitor can expect to see once they reach your page. These are additional likes that Google will give you right under your paid ad. It will take up more room on a searcher’s screen and will take them directly to you which will lower your bounce rate.
One Campaign with Several Ad Groups
When you only have one ad campaign, you’re telling Google that every ad group carries equal weight. This is most likely not true. Some of y0ur keywords and ads will need a lower budget and a smaller target. Other keywords and ads will need larger radiuses and a more extensive budget. By not separating your campaign, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Don’t put more than three ad groups in any given campaign, and make sure that your three ad groups have similar topics and can have the same settings.
Lackluster Ads
Your ads are going to be what will set you apart from your competition. You need to highlight what makes your law firm different and include an active call to action. This will give clients the incentive to click on your ad immediately. Furthermore, you should create several different variations of each ad so that you can test which one will work best for you.
Final Thoughts
Developing PPC for law firms can be a great way to build your digital brand. Having your ads out there will give your brand more recognizability, and if you link it in with your website and social media accounts, you will find even more clients interested in your work. Every time your name goes out on the internet, its all a part of your digital brand, even when using paid ads.
What are your favorite keywords for law firms?
