If you have found this post, most likely you are looking for new ways to market your law practice and generate new clients. Lead generation is a system for collecting consumer information through the use of an online form or promoted phone line, often in exchange for a free consultation, product or information (such as an ebook or white paper). Many law firms utilize an online contact form, either on their own website or on a separate website \”landing page\” designed to capture potential new clients as they search the web for legal help. The two most common ways that consumers find a law firm online are through \”organic search\”, meaning the natural unpaid listings that come up on an online search (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) or by clicking on ads displayed on search engines at the top and side of search engine results pages (SERP) where law firms use pay per click (PPC) to generate consumer interest or \”leads\”.
How lead contact forms are designed is an important aspect of lead generation since the more information that can be gathered greatly improves the value and potential conversion of the lead into a client. However, trying to get too much information can result in users abandoning the form altogether. We find that a balance between lead quality (amount of information) and volume of leads provides the highest ROI. Common types of information gathered on a lead form are name, address, zip code, phone number, email address, how long ago the legal matter occurred, general description of the matter, etc.
With pay-per-click advertising, attorneys can now purchase their way to page one of Google search engine results. It sounds so simple, just bid on the right group of keywords, like Austin Divorce Attorney or Orange County Auto Accident Lawyer and, bingo, page one of Google under “Ads” at the top and right of the page. The biggest challenge is that attorney pay-per-click marketing is extremely competitive and popular keyword terms get bid up to ridiculous levels. Personal Injury in large markets can become very pricey, for example, “Orange County Auto Accident Attorney” can cost in excess of $100 per click to your website and you would then have to figure anywhere from 10 to well over 20 clicks to secure one potential client. The scenario plays out the same way for many other highly desirable keyword terms and phrases in highly competitive markets like Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, etc. Bottom line is it’s easy to spend way more than you could possibly earn on the cases you generate if they are not managed properly. Even for PI, spending up to $2,000 to secure one auto accident case does not tend to pencil out over the long run.
One way to avoid this scenario is to focus on optimizing your website to attract organic traffic. If you don\’t have a good content marketing strategy and taken a deep dive into your SEO, then it is really important to do that first. Most consumers place the highest trust in the top results of online organic search, which is the best place to be and, best of all, it’s “free”.
If, after making sure your website is optimized for organic results and solid conversion then pay-per-click can offer increases in traffic to your site if it is managed properly. That is really the key, someone must watch how much is being spent for each click and test various alternative keyword strategies to find the “sweet spot” for profitability when investing in PPC.
So ultimately, to answer the question: “Is lead generation right for my law firm?” you first need to establish the average revenue each new client brings to your firm. Then take a look at how effective your current business development effort is by determining your average cost to secure a new client (make sure to take everything into account). Then you can determine if a strategic investment in lead generation delivers improved ROI over the long term by testing pay per click methods.
At JurisLead we make it our business to stay on top of the most efficient ways of generating results using PPC and other online methods including ad networks, affiliates and email marketing. We’ll help you establish the needed metrics to ensure success and positive ROI. Business development can be a complex and time consuming process, working with a quality lead generation agency is often a very cost-effective way of increasing the important stream of new client inquiries for your firm.