PPC for Lawyers: A Complete Guide to Law Firm Pay Per Click Advertising

Running a successful law firm today requires a solid understanding of how to market your services effectively. Your marketing efforts must generate brand awareness and collect leads to convert into paying clients. In the past, this meant spending a lot of money on traditional marketing methods like print ads and television commercials, which took a lot of work to determine who was seeing your ad and whether it was having any impact. Digital marketing has changed the advertising landscape and provides law firms with a much more targeted and cost-effective way to reach potential clients. As the internet builds in popularity, becomes more integrated into our daily lives, and advances into new platforms like wearable technology, it’s important that law firms keep up with the latest trends in digital marketing to remain ahead of the competition and dominate their field.

What Is PPC Advertising for Law Firms?

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is one of the many digital marketing tools that law firms can use to reach new clients. PPC is a type of online digital advertising where you, the advertiser, pay a fee every time someone clicks on one of your ads. PPC advertising is a great way for law firms to get their name out there in the digital market and resonate. By bidding on certain keywords and phrases that match up with what potential clients may be searching for, your law firm can appear as a top result on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Not only does this give your law firm more visibility, but it also helps to build essential trust and credibility with potential clients, as they are more likely to click on a result that appears first on the page.

Why Is PPC Marketing for Attorneys Important?

Attorneys operating a law firm are not excused from the demands of marketing their business. Many people still think that the field of law is immune to changes in technology and the way that consumers find and select services, but this is far from the truth. To stay competitive and attract new clients, law firms must now engage in digital marketing, which includes pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

This is important because:

• PPC ads allow attorneys to target potential clients with laser precision. Gone are the old days when you spent an exorbitant amount of marketing money and had no idea if your message was reaching the right people. With PPC ads, firms can use specific keywords, key phrases, and demographic information to pay for ads that only target individuals who are most likely to need their services. This prevents wasting advertising money on people who are not in need of legal services.
• PPC ads are an effective way to build trust and credibility with potential clients. When an individual goes on the internet seeking a service or an answer to a question, the first result displayed by a search engine is naturally perceived to be the best result. Paid search ads take advantage of this by allowing law firms to appear as the first result, regardless of their organic ranking. This builds necessary trust and credibility with potential clients, as they are more likely to click on a result that appears at the top of the page as it appears to be more relevant and trustworthy.

The legal industry is becoming increasingly competitive. New law firms are opening across all geographies, making it harder for any firm to stand out. Law firms must now engage in the best digital marketing tactics that generate demand and ready-to-purchase leads to attract new clients and dominate their geography.

PPC Campaign Tactics for Lawyers

Pay Per Lead Advertising

When it comes to PPC advertising for lawyers, there are certain tactics that you can use to improve your chances of success.

Some of the best tactics for law firm PPC advertising include:

• Bidding on relevant keywords and key phrases: To appear as a top result on the SERP, you will need to bid on relevant keywords and key phrases that potential clients are likely to search for. Some examples of this in a legal context could be “divorce lawyer,” “DWI attorney,” or “personal injury lawyer” combined with the geographic location you serve. To stand out from the other law firms that might also provide the same services in your area, you will need to make sure that your ad is well-written and relevant to what the potential client is searching for. You can also bid on a competitor’s name as a keyword to try and steal their traffic. This specific tactic is common for smaller, less well-known businesses that are trying to bid against the big names in their industry to get a foothold in the market.
• Creating compelling ad copy: Your ad copy should be clear, concise, and persuasive to convince potential clients to click on your ad. As the human attention span continues to decrease, you have microseconds to make a good impression. Therefore, generic opening lines that don’t communicate what you do or how you can help solve the searcher’s problem until a few lines in are less likely to be successful.
• Targeting your ads to potential clients in your geographic area: By targeting your ads to potential clients in your geographic location, you are more likely to generate leads that are relevant to your law firm. It does not benefit you to generate leads from individuals who live across the country and would never be able to use your services. You can target your ads to people in a specific city, state, or zip code to ensure that your ads only reach people who would actually be able to use your services.
• Testing different ad campaigns: It is crucial to test various ad campaigns to see what works best for your law firm. This will help optimize your PPC campaigns and improve your chances of success. For example, you could test different ad copy, bidding strategies, or targeting options to see which one generates the most leads that convert into clients. After a few weeks, you can check in on your results and adjust your strategy accordingly. For example, if your ads have been served to people under the age of 18, you could exclude that age group from your targeting options to better target people that are old enough to actually need your services.

Pay Per Click Advertising Campaigns

PPC advertising for attorneys can be a great way to generate leads and attract new clients. However, PPC campaigns require careful planning and execution to succeed.

The anatomy of the perfect PPC campaign for lawyers includes the following elements:

• Keyword research: To bid on the right keywords and key phrases, you will need to do your research to find the ones most relevant to your law firm. This type of research can be done using tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer that uncover high-traffic keywords that are related to your business and will serve you well in your PPC campaigns.
• Audience targeting: You will need to target your ads to potential clients in your geographic area in order to generate the most useful leads. High-level demographic information like age, gender, and location can be used as an initial filter to target your ads, while even more in-depth targeting options like interests, behaviors, and life events can narrow your audience even further.
• Ad copy: In the age of information overload, it is more important than ever to write ad copy that is clear and persuasive. The behavior you want these targets to take should be made obvious to them in the form of a call to action, and you should use language that speaks to the pain points or needs of your target audience that will make them want to take that action.
• Landing pages: Your landing page should be relevant to the ad and designed to convert visitors into leads. The copy on landing pages should extend the persuasive language that the original ad copy started with and include a form that allows visitors to easily submit their contact information.
• Call to action: Your call to action should be clear and concise in order to encourage potential clients to take the next step. This comes in many forms, such as “call us now,” “schedule a consultation,” or “learn more.”

Law Firm PPC Marketing Management

Not every lawyer has the bandwidth or skillset to manage a PPC law firm marketing strategy campaign internally. This is actually quite common, as digital marketing is a complex and ever-changing field that is not a core academic requirement for most lawyers. For this reason, many law firms choose to outsource their PPC management to a digital marketing agency that specializes in PPC for lawyers.

The value a digital marketing agency can bring to a law firm’s PPC campaign includes:

• Expertise and experience: A digital marketing agency will have the expertise and experience necessary to manage a successful PPC campaign. This includes understanding how to research and bid on relevant keywords, creating compelling ad copy, targeting potential clients, and optimizing campaigns for success.
• Objectivity: A digital marketing agency will be able to provide an objective perspective on your PPC campaigns. This is important, as it can be difficult for law firms to be objective about their own marketing efforts, which in turn can lead to sub-optimal decision-making.
• Flexibility: A digital marketing agency will be able to adapt your PPC campaigns as needed to achieve your desired results. This includes making changes to keyword lists, ad copy, landing pages, and more.
• Accountability: A digital marketing agency will be accountable for the results of your PPC campaigns. This means that they will be motivated to ensure that your campaigns are successful in order to maintain your business.

If you are considering outsourcing your law firm’s PPC management, choose a digital marketing agency specializing in PPC for lawyers. This will ensure that you are working with a team of experts who understand the unique challenges and market opportunities of advertising a law firm, unlike other agencies with more generalized experience.

Test Ads Regularly and Review Analytics

It is important to test different ad campaigns to see what works best for your law firm. This will help you optimize PPC campaigns and improve your chances of success.

Some key metrics that you should review when evaluating your PPC campaigns include:

• Cost per lead: This is the amount of money you spend for each lead generated by your PPC campaigns. Each law firm will need to decide how much it will spend out of pocket right now to acquire a new client. From there, you can compare your lead cost to that amount to determine whether your PPC campaigns are cost-effective or aligned with your goals.
• Click-through rate: This is the percentage of people who see your ad and then click on it. A high click-through rate indicates that your ad is relevant and persuasive. A low click-through rate may indicate that you need to make changes to your ad to make it more appealing to potential clients.
• Conversion rate: This is the percentage of people who click on your ad and then take the desired action, such as providing their phone number or email address on a contact form or directly scheduling a consultation. A high conversion rate indicates that your ad effectively encourages potential clients to take the next step. A low conversion rate may indicate that you need to make changes to your ad or landing page in order to increase the likelihood of conversion.
• Cost per click: This is the amount of money you spend each time someone clicks your ad. A high cost per click may indicate that you need to adjust your keyword bids in order to be more competitive. A low cost per click may indicate that you are not bidding on enough relevant keywords. It’s a good idea to review your cost per click on a regular basis in order to ensure that you are not overspending or missing out on potential clicks.

By regularly reviewing these metrics, you can identify which aspects of your PPC campaigns are working well and which areas may need improvement. This will empower you to make all the necessary changes in order to achieve your desired results.

How to Calculate Your Budget

When setting your PPC budget, you will need to take a number of factors into consideration. These include:

• Your overall marketing budget: Every law firm has a different amount of total money that they can spend on marketing each month. You will need to decide how much of that budget you would like to allocate to your PPC campaigns compared to the other marketing activities that you are undertaking.
• Your goals: Establishing clear goals for your PPC campaigns will help you to determine how much money you should be spending in order to achieve those goals. If your goal is to generate more leads, you will need to allocate a larger budget to your PPC campaigns than if your goal is simply to increase brand awareness.
• Your cost per lead: You will need to decide how much you are willing to spend on each lead that you generate through your PPC campaigns. Seriously consider what a new lead would be worth to the law firm. Once you have established this amount, you can use it to calculate how much you should be willing to spend per click in order to generate leads that are cost-effective for your firm.

By taking all of these PPC ad factors into careful consideration, you will be able to come up with a PPC budget that is right for your law firm. Some of the most important factors to consider when setting your budget include your goals and your historical performance. If you have limited marketing funds, you may need to set a lower cost-per-lead goal in order to make your campaigns viable. Alternatively, if you have a larger marketing budget and are looking to generate a high volume of leads, you may need to set a higher cost-per-lead goal.

It’s also important to keep in mind that your PPC campaigns should not be your only source of leads. In order to create a well-rounded legal marketing strategy, you should also focus on other channels, such as SEO, content marketing, and social media. By diversifying your lead generation efforts, you will be able to reduce your dependence on any one channel, which will help to protect your law firm in the event of a sudden change in the PPC landscape.

PPC for Lawyers  Example Situation

To help you better understand how PPC can be used by law firms, let’s take a look at a hypothetical situation.

Assume that you are a personal injury lawyer who is looking to generate leads from people who have been involved in car accidents. In order to reach these potential clients, you decide to run a PPC ad campaign with the following goals:

• Generate 100 leads per month.
• Maintain a cost per lead of $100 or less.
• Achieve a click-through rate of 2% or higher.
• Achieve a conversion rate of 10% or higher.

Let’s first take a look at how you would set up your campaign in order to meet these goals.

First, you would need to identify the relevant keywords that potential clients are using when searching for a personal injury lawyer. These keywords would be used in your ad campaigns in order to reach your target audience. Once you have identified the relevant legal keywords, you would need to set up your ad campaigns and target these keywords.

Next, you will need to set your budget. Assume that you have a monthly marketing budget of $10,000. This means that you would have $100 to spend on each lead that you generate through your PPC marketing campaigns. In order to meet your goal of generating 100 leads per month, you would need to generate ten leads per day.

Now, let’s investigate how you would measure your campaign’s performance.

First, you would need to track your click-through rate. This is the overall percentage of targeted people who see your ad and click on it. To meet your goal of a 2% click-through rate, you would need to generate 200 clicks per day.

Next, you would need to track your conversion rate. This is the total percentage of people who click on your ad and then take action, such as filling out a form with contact information or calling your law firm. To meet your goal of a 10% conversion rate, you would need to generate 20 conversions per day.

Lastly, you would need to track your cost per lead. This is the amount of money that you are spending on each lead that you generate through your PPC campaigns. To meet your goal of a cost per lead of $100 or less, you would need to generate ten leads per day at a cost of $10 or less. When assessing your cost per lead, it’s important to keep in mind the lifetime value of a client. This is the amount of money that you can expect to earn from a client over the course of your relationship. If you are able to generate a high-quality lead that has a high lifetime value, then you may be able to justify a higher cost per lead.

By tracking these metrics, you will be able to assess the performance of your PPC campaigns and make necessary adjustments to achieve your goals.

What Are the Best Social Media Platforms for Attorney Advertising?

Now that we have covered the basics of PPC for lawyers, let’s take a look at the best social media platforms for lawyers PPC advertising.

The two most popular media platforms for lawyer PPC advertising are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

Google Ads is the largest and most popular PPC platform. It offers a wide range of features and options that allow you to customize your campaigns to meet your specific goals. Additionally, Google Ads offers a large audience potential, as it is used by millions of people every day who eagerly click on ads for products and services that interest them.

Facebook Ads is another popular option for lawyer PPC advertising. This approach has a more social focus, as ads are displayed on people’s Facebook feeds alongside posts from friends and family. Furthermore, with over 2 billion active users on the platform, Facebook Ads offers a large audience potential.

Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads have a large user base and a wide range of features and options. Testing both platforms is the best way to determine which one is the best fit for your law firm’s specific goals.

Other potential media platforms for lawyer PPC advertising include LinkedIn Ads and Bing Ads.

LinkedIn Ads is a popular option for B2B businesses, as each user shares pertinent demographic information on their own profile page, such as job title, company name, and location. LinkedIn Ads offer a smaller audience potential than Google Ads and Facebook Ads, but it may be more targeted toward your ideal client.

Bing Ads is a popular option for businesses that are looking to reach an audience that is not using Google as their primary search engine. While it may seem like a small audience, Bing is the second largest search engine with a 3%+ market share. This means that there are still thousands of people searching on Bing every day who could be potential clients for your law firm. This channel may be less competitive and offer a lower cost per lead than Google Ads, which could be an ideal option for your law firm if you have a low marketing budget or are operating a business in a very competitive market.

Law Firm PPC Campaign Mistakes

Not everyone is an expert in Pay Per Click advertising, which can lead to some common mistakes. To avoid these mistakes, it’s important to educate yourself on the basics of PPC and to partner with an experienced agency that can help you navigate the complicated world of online advertising.

Some of the most common mistakes that lawyers make with their PPC campaigns include:

Ineffective Keywords

One of the most common mistakes that lawyers make is using ineffective keywords. The mark of an ineffective keyword is that it is either too broad or too specific. Broad keywords are those that are too general, such as “lawyer” or “attorney,” which won’t be able to pinpoint your ideal client and are highly competitive. Specific keywords, on the other hand, are those that are too niche, such as the exact name of your law firm, that not many people will be searching for directly.

Neglecting Your Campaigns

Another common mistake that lawyers make is neglecting their PPC campaigns. Just like any other marketing initiative, your PPC campaigns need to be monitored and maintained on a regular basis to be effective. When left unchecked, your PPC campaigns can quickly become outdated and ineffective. For example, you may step away from your campaign for a few weeks and return to find that your keywords are no longer relevant or that your ad copy is outdated. This could waste a lot of time and money if you’re not diligent about monitoring your campaigns.

Disregarding Top Lawyer Media Platforms

The two most popular media platforms for lawyer PPC advertising are Google Ads and Facebook Ads. However, some lawyers choose to disregard these platforms in favor of other, less popular options. This is usually a mistake, as Google Ads and Facebook Ads offer the largest audience potential and the most features and options. Additionally, both platforms are constantly evolving, which means that there are always new opportunities to explore rather than relying on outdated or less effective methods.

Using Irrelevant Landing Pages

A landing page is the page on your website that people are taken to after they click on your ad. It’s important to make sure that your landing page is relevant to the keywords that you’re targeting and the ad that they clicked on. Otherwise, you risk losing potential clients as they become frustrated with your website and leave.

For example, if someone clicks on an ad for a personal injury lawyer and is taken to a landing page for a criminal defense lawyer, they are likely to leave the website immediately. This is why it’s so important to make sure that your landing page is relevant to the keywords that you’re targeting and the ad that they clicked on.

Another ineffective landing page would be one that is not mobile-friendly, or that takes too long to load. If the website is too difficult or frustrating to operate, people will lose patience and move on.

PPC Marketing for Attorneys: Should You Hire a Pro or Handle It In-House?

One universal truth about attorneys is that everyone needs one eventually. Attorneys can help when someone suffers an injury due to another party’s action, when they committed a crime and need professional defense, or when they need to arrange an adoption or handle tax problems with the IRS. Attorneys serve in many capacities. Because of how varied their work is, it’s essential for them to know how to reach the clients they are best equipped to help.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising offers a tremendous advantage to attorneys for the simple fact that it can reach an internet user at the exact moment they need legal representation. Virtually everyone who needs legal counsel will begin their search for an attorney online. The vast majority of these individuals will make decisions about their legal representation based on what they see and read online. PPC advertising is one of the most potent tools in any law firm’s digital marketing arsenal.

How Do PPC Ads Work?

So what is a PPC ad? As the name suggests, it is a paid form of advertising that takes place on search engines. Website owners develop ads and then bid on specific keywords and keyword strings. When a user types those keywords or keyword strings into the search engine, the websites that placed bids on those ads will be among the top results, and the website owner will pay the bid price to the search engine if the user clicks on their ad.

PPC ads can provide incredible returns on investment when leveraged correctly. For example, if it costs a law firm $100 every time a search engine user clicks on their PPC ad, but the average client will bring in about $10,000 in revenue to the firm, then as long as one out of every hundred clicks results in a client accepting representation, the firm can, at the very least, break even on their budget for that one PPC ad. This is just a rough example of how PPC ads can be fantastic revenue generators for law firms that know how to use them effectively.

Common Difficulties with PPC Advertising

Digital marketing is a multifaceted challenge. Any company or brand that wishes to market online must not only position themselves as an authority within a niche, but they must also assess and outperform their competitors. The legal field is incredibly competitive. PPC advertising is one of the most competitive areas of digital advertising for attorneys all over the country. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing modern lawyers who want to market their services on search engines more effectively is the sheer amount of competition they face.

Another pain point that many attorneys face occurs when they achieve one of the top spots in search rankings with their PPC ads. These ads appear at the very top of a search result page, and almost half of all clicks for that specific keyword string will go to one of the top three. If two law firms placed bids on the exact same keywords in the exact same amounts, the site with the better overall construction and content value will achieve the higher placement. No matter how much you bid on a PPC ad, it is only as strong as the content you produce on your website.

Finally, one of the most significant issues many law firms face when it comes to PPC ads is the time required to configure them correctly. This issue includes both the ads themselves and the construction of their websites to ensure they rank well for specific keywords and keyword strings no matter how much they bid. Law firms in this position must think carefully about the potential value of working with an outside professional PPC marketing service.

Benefits of Choosing Professional Help with PPC Advertising

The legal field is incredibly demanding. When attorneys and their supporting legal staff members aren’t actively working on cases, they are meeting with potential clients and performing a wide range of housekeeping tasks. They do so to ensure their firm is consistently in full compliance and ready to tackle complex cases. One of the most time-consuming in-house tasks any law firm faces is marketing. Modern marketing requires extensive knowledge of the systems that power a marketing campaign, consumer trends, and a firm understanding of search engine optimization (SEO).

The majority of people who need attorneys begin their searches for legal representation online, and capturing this audience must be a priority for any law firm. Unfortunately, finding the time to devote to crafting a solid digital marketing strategy entirely in-house is very difficult when attorneys and their support staff face the daily responsibilities their field presents.

When your firm partners with a professional digital marketing company or a professional PPC marketing service, the investment in their services translates not only to more time saved that can be devoted to casework. It also means better results as these firms specialize in digital marketing. The right PPC marketing service will already have the tools, experience, and resources to hit the ground running and develop a winning PPC campaign for an attorney, the results of which should easily justify the cost of investing in the service.

Taking PPC Into Your Own Hands

The only real drawback to hiring an outside PPC marketing service to create and manage a PPC campaign is the cost of the service. Like any business investment, it’s vital to gauge the return on the investment. Some attorneys may not like the idea of increasing their overhead costs to invest in PPC marketing. Attempting to handle PPC marketing in-house comes with several risks:

• The firm will either delegate PPC campaign management to existing staff members who may not have experience with this side of digital marketing or hire another full-time employee whose sole responsibility will be managing PPC campaigns.
• Under experienced PPC campaign managers may not achieve the results the firm expects or overspend on keyword bids.
• Attempting to handle PPC without hiring a new employee with practical experience on this end of digital marketing will likely lead to underwhelming or even negative results.

Ultimately, the only real benefit of handling PPC in-house is potential overhead savings, but this is only true if the in-house team is capable of delivering the PPC campaign results the firm owners expect to see. It is very unlikely that an inexperienced team will be able to compete with the results an accomplished and experienced outside PPC management service can offer.

If you are ready to invest in a PPC campaign for your law firm and want to ensure the best results possible, it’s a wise idea to investigate outside PPC management teams. They will not only take the responsibilities of managing your PPC campaign off your plate and save you time but also provide better results than an in-house team could manage. Contact RizeUp Media today for more information about the PPC management services we provide to law firms all over the country.

FAQs About Lawyer PPC Campaigns

Where Do Lawyers Advertise Online?

There are many places where lawyers can advertise online in terms of platform, geolocation, and audience targeting. Some of the most common places where lawyers advertise online include Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. These platforms offer different options in terms of targeting, so it’s important to choose the one that is best suited for your law firm’s specific goals. Geographically, you can target ads at people in your city, state, or even country. Additionally, you can target ads to people based on their interests, demographics, or even past behavior, such as whether they have visited your website before.

What Is Google AdWords for Lawyers?

Google AdWords is an online digital advertising platform that enables law firms to place ads on Google.com and millions of other active websites across the web. Potential areas where your ad could appear include Google search results pages, YouTube videos, Gmail, and websites in the Google Display Network. AdWords offers many features and options that allow you to specifically target your ads to potential clients. For example, you can target ads based on geographic location, time of day, type of device, and even the topics someone has been searching for to a certain extent.

How Much Does PPC Advertising Cost for Law Firms?

The cost of PPC advertising for law firms depends on several factors, including the extent to which the firm needs new clients, how competitive the target market is, and what kind of budget the firm has to work with. That said, a typical PPC budget for a law firm is roughly $1,000 per month. This could generate anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred leads, depending on the quality of the firm’s website and the effectiveness of its PPC campaign.

How Effective is PPC Advertising for Lawyers?

PPC advertising can be an extremely effective marketing strategy for lawyers, as it allows firms to target potential clients who are actively searching for legal services online. Additionally, PPC campaigns can be customized to target specific geographic areas and practice areas, which can help law firms attract people who were not originally looking for legal services or who may not be familiar with the firm. These digital marketing techniques fill in the gap between online and offline marketing tactics, making PPC advertising a powerful tool for lawyers.

Concluding Thoughts

If you’re ready to start generating leads for your law firm with PPC advertising, contact the legal marketing experts at RizeUp Media. No business should use a one-size-fits-all marketing plan, but that’s particularly true for those in the legal industry. We specialize in creating and managing effective PPC campaigns for lawyers and can help you get the most out of your marketing budget.

For years, we have helped law firms of all sizes attract new clients and grow their businesses, and we can do the same for you. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you achieve your marketing goals through the power of PPC advertising.