Web Marketing Tip For Lawyers- PPC, SEO or Both?

Legal marketing expert, Kevin Quinlan, offers tips on using pay per click advertising and natural search to enhance law firm marketing.

/lawyermarketing101.com/Kevin Quinlan/ 08/06/2010

Many law firm marketers are bombarded by sales calls and emails from potential vendors that offer services ranging from pay-per-click advertising (PPC) to search engine optimization (SEO), to helping create links back to their websites.  With all of the promises made by all of these “consultants” it can be confusing and difficult to decide which tools to include in your legal marketing plan and how to find the appropriate lawyer marketing partner.  Even if your law firm gives little or no consideration to these pitches from India, Eastern Europe and around the US, all of the promises made by each venue for marketing your firm online certainly provide food for thought.

Which leads to the question should my law firm marketing plan focus on PPC or SEO?

The short answer may be both.

Many legal marketers believe that PPC and natural search (SEO) are distinctly different strategies and focus their efforts on one or the other. The truth is that there is a synergistic element to including both in your marketing toolbox.  PPC is a valuable tool for both the testing of key words for a natural search campaign, and also for eliciting a more immediate response that can be a useful stopgap measure until the natural search efforts gain traction and mature.  It is also a useful tool for appealing to prospects driven by a very time sensitive occurrence such as a major product recall or disaster. 

Natural search is probably the most valuable tool for online marketing, as it is more cost effective than PPC due to its fixed cost in highly competitive categories.  High page one ranking in natural search results gives your law firm’s website more credibility, broader reach and appeals to those searchers that shy away from paid advertising.  A greater percentage of searchers click on natural search results, but some experts believe that the conversion rate for PPC may be higher.

When it comes to making decisions about which strategy your law firm should employ for your Internet marketing program, the key part of the equation will probably be your budget.  For the long haul SEO can be more cost effective and PPC may elicit more immediate results, but together as part of your media mix they give great support to each other and can offer a greater chance to reach more prospects and enhance your lead acquisition efforts.

At Cepac, we'll find the most effective strategy and campaign to reach a firm's desired goal. Whether it is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising or natural search (SEO) or a combination of both, Cepac is a full-service agency that has the experience and resources to execute a marketing campaign in multiple media with a distinctive voice and good ROI.

For more information on search engine optimization for lawyers or legal focused pay-per-click campaigns, contact Kevin Quinlan.

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