Lawyer
Law firms all over the country provide very valuable services that will help ensure they are able to help protect and defend their client’s rights. While law firms can provide very valuable services, there is also a lot of competition in the industry. Due to this, marketing your law firm is very important as it will help you find new clients. There are various online marketing strategies that a law firm can pursue, include a pay-per-click (PPC) or local service ad (LSA) strategy. When you are looking to grow your firm and expand your marketing efforts, it is important to understand the difference between these two options.
Geographic Location
Both PPC and LSA strategies are designed to help bring visitors to your law firm’s website, and ultimately convert them into clients. A local service ad program tends to target clients that are located in your immediate area. If done effectively, it can help you show up higher on search results pages when individuals are looking for a law firm in your city. PPC ads tend to be broader and are ideal for law firms that have a more regional or national reach. It can also be a good idea if you operate out of a major city that has named neighborhoods and suburbs that can be harder to target with an LSA program.
How Ads are Paid
When you are going to market through various search engines, it is very important that you understand how you will pay for the advertisement placement. The way these ads are paid is much different between PPC and LSA. With a PPC program, you will pay a small amount of money for each person that clicks on your link and comes to your website. With an LSA, you will not spend as much on direct clicks but will end up spending more if an interested party finds your firm through the ad and then emails you or submits another form of communication.
Barriers to Entry
Another factor to understand the difference between the two strategies is the barrier to start using them. For a PPC advertising firm, it is usually quite easy to get started. All you will need to do is sign up and create an effective banner ad with proper content that will help you show up higher in the search results. When implemented properly, you can start experiencing the benefits of PPC immediately. With an LSA campaign, the search engines will complete a lot of diligence on your law firm first. This will include checking to make sure the lawyers are in good standing and that they have clean background checks. This can cause significant delays before your campaign can be initiated.
Search Engine Positioning
Search engine positioning is an important factor to consider when you are looking for a new marketing plan. With an LSA, the search results will almost always be higher towards the top of the relevant search list than a PPC ad. However, since LSAs tend to be hyper-local, you will not show up at all for someone that is located outside your exact geography. With PPC ads, you can continue to show up high on the search engine results pages and can be identifiable for customers that are located outside your immediate area. While you may not show up as high on the list, you can still have good positioning with an effective campaign.
Control of Positioning
Another factor to consider is the amount of control you have over positioning. With LSAs, the factors that will influence your positioning include whether you have a good online reputation and proximity to leads. PPC ads tend to be influenced more by the way your ads are written and the website is structured. With the help of an experienced marketing team, you could increase your positioning. This can help you earn a higher ROI on your marketing budget.
While an LSA marketing campaign can be helpful, PPC marketing continues to be a top option for law firms across the country. As there are a lot of complexities and decisions that need to be made when building a new PPC plan, working with a professional is always a good idea. When looking for PPC for lawyers, working with a professional PPC agency is always a good idea. The team with Gladiator Law Marketing is dedicated to helping its customers implement an effective PPC strategy and gain more visibility from the marketplace. This can help ensure that you continue to show up higher on search engine results and find new clients for your law firm.
