In a word, maybe. For some estate planning and Elder Law firms, just dipping a toe into the social media ocean is more than the firm can culturally manage. The idea of paying for social media makes some attorneys distinctly uncomfortable. Our experience has always been that discomfort is a direct result of not having enough data to make an informed decision. If you’re open to the idea of paid social media, and if your firm is comfortable with an active digital marketing strategy, there are a lot of reasons to give it a try.
AdWords gives your practice a higher level of online visibility. AdWords is Google’s very own advertising system. In the world of PPC—Pay Per Click—an AdWords campaign is a well-established and well-regarded digital marketing tool. AdWords lets you create an ad based on keywords that are specific to your geographic local and practice areas. You can be extremely targeted, and you also control your monthly budget. You decide in advance how much you want to spend per click, and once your campaign hits that number, it is automatically turned off.
AdWords also allows you to turn campaigns on and off easily, so that if you are going to be away on vacation, for instance, and you don’t want a lot going on while you are away, just pause the campaign or modify the display time to minimize ads.
Paid social is faster than organic SEO, but you need both. It takes time for a new site to find its digital feet while paid campaigns go live once they are created and approved. For PPC to succeed, you’ll need an optimized website with strong quality scores (how Google measures your quality and relevance of your content), which has an impact on your cost per click (CPC). It’s another way that Google reinforces it’s very clear message: your site has to be relevant and the user experience has to be positive.
What if I get into a bidding war? Certain areas of the law are very competitive. Medical malpractice, personal injury and matrimonial practices have been using PPC for a long time, and the costs per click can be very high. Estate planning and Elder Law are relatively new entries to the PPC world, so costs are more manageable. You won’t get into a bidding war. You tell Google AdWords what your limit is per click, and Google provides guidance on the bid amount based on your budget.
Do consumers know the difference? As marketers, we see the difference immediately. The little word “Ad” that appears to the left of a Google Ad makes it very clear that the ads are different than organic search. But most consumers don’t seem to notice–otherwise we don’t think Google AdWords would be as powerful as it is.
If you’d like to learn more about AdWords, submit a support ticket and we’ll be happy to speak with you about how PPC could help your practice grow.