PPC Management for Bankruptcy Lawyers: An Ultimate Guide

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing for lawyers is undoubtedly one of the best ways to market your law firm's bankruptcy services. More commonly referred to as PPC marketing, this form of advertising allows you to pay money for ad space at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).

When used strategically, PPC marketing for lawyers can help expand the digital presence of your bankruptcy law firm. Bankruptcy lawyer PPC advertisements are excellent at generating a high volume of website traffic, providing lead generation for attorneys, and fueling growth.

Despite the effectiveness of this marketing strategy, many bankruptcy attorneys underutilized this invaluable tool. In order to remedy this issue, Grow Law Firm has created this ultimate guide to PPC advertising for bankruptcy attorneys. This guide can serve as the perfect roadmap to paid bankruptcy law firm marketing.

How Does PPC Marketing for Bankruptcy Attorneys Work?

PPC bankruptcy law firm management is a very popular form of law firm digital marketing. When prospective clients query phrases like "bankruptcy law firms," their search engine will populate a SERP. At the very top of the results page will be a handful of paid ads. The organic search results are always displayed below the PPC ads.

As the name suggests, these pay-per-click ads use an interaction-based billing model. Put simply, if a user clicks on your paid ad, you will be billed for that interaction. If your ad is displayed but the user clicks on an organic result or another law firm's ad, you will not be charged.

The search engine algorithm decides which ads to display by analyzing how much each marketer bids. Typically, the search engine will display the three highest bids, but some platforms display more than three ads.

If your ad was one of the highest three bids, it will be displayed. If not, then your competitors' ads will be displayed, and prospective clients will never see your content.

While it may be tempting to simply "bid high," this approach can burn through your marketing budget in a hurry. Increasing your bid amount is only a small part of the equation. In addition to paying close attention to bid amounts, you should do the following if you want to run a successful bankruptcy law firm PPC campaign:

Keep Cost-Per-Acquisition Top of Mind

When discussing PPC marketing for bankruptcy law firms, many marketers become fixated on cost-per-click or CPC. This figure represents the amount you are paying for each click. For instance, if the going rate for "bankruptcy attorneys" is $10 and you bid this amount, then your CPC is also $10.

If looking at the efficacy of paid search through the CPC lens, PPC for bankruptcy lawyers will often seem ineffective or wasteful. However, if you want to accurately measure the efficacy of your paid digital marketing efforts, then you should focus on cost-per-acquisition or CPA.

To keep things simple, let's stick with the $10 CPC amount mentioned above. While each click might be costing you $10, let's say that one out of every six clicks results in new bankruptcy clients. In this scenario, your CPA is $60. In other words, it is costing your firm $60 to acquire one new client.

Make a Good Bankruptcy Lawyer Landing Page

The ultimate goal of paid bankruptcy law firm marketing is to convert potential clients into actual ones. However, the short-term purpose of PPC for bankruptcy law firms is to funnel clients to your website.

But what will they see when they get there? If you are not confident that your site will inspire potential clients to hire your law firm, then you have some work to do.

According to Forbes, you only have about seven seconds to make a great first impression on potential bankruptcy clients who visit your website. If your site is disorganized, dated, or bland, they will probably leave your page and continue their search for bankruptcy law firms.

This reality means that you have just wasted some of your ad budget and left a negative impression on a possible client.

Therefore, it is critical that you create a great lawyer landing page or a bankruptcy law firm website. If you are not sure where to begin, contacting a marketing firm that specializes in providing website services for bankruptcy lawyers is a great first step.

Be Sure to Test the System

Before you pour your entire advertising budget into a massive PPC for bankruptcy attorneys campaign, test out a few different pieces of content on a small scale.

This testing will help you determine what sort of content resonates with new bankruptcy clients and what doesn't. During the testing process, make sure to take advantage of Google Ads' tools, such as Google Optimize.

If your first few test runs produce lackluster results, then it is a sign that you need to make some minor tweaks. In some instances, you might need to reimagine how you are spending your marketing dollars altogether.

Some common reasons that your marketing campaign might be falling flat include the following:

• Your landing pages are bland
• You are prematurely ending ad campaigns
• You failed to use negative keywords
• You mismanaged your budget
• You aren't monitoring the campaign

You can avoid all of the aforementioned pitfalls by partnering with an experienced PPC advertising firm. Such an agency will help you by adding negative keywords to your campaign, monitoring your results, engaging in law firm social media marketing, and managing your entire law firm marketing strategy.

Turn to Automated Bidding

If you are working with a healthy digital marketing budget and want to get more bang for your buck, you might want to use automated bidding. Google's platform leverages user data in order to make automated bids on your behalf.

The reason we say that you need a healthy digital marketing budget is that Google's algorithm might target some high-dollar phrases if these keywords have a good chance of generating more bankruptcy clients.

One major downside to automated bidding is that smaller digital marketing budgets can be expended in only a few clicks.

When you set up your PPC budget, you will get to select daily, weekly, and monthly thresholds. If your daily threshold is $100 and Google's algorithm decides to bid for a $50 keyword, just two clicks could consume your entire budget. If those clicks don't generate leads, the entire exchange could be quite frustrating.

Aim for Local Search Keywords

As you prepare to launch the paid component of your digital marketing campaign, it is vital that you conduct extensive keyword research. This work is particularly important for bankruptcy lawyers, as the space is extremely competitive. If you choose the wrong keywords, you could be competing against bankruptcy lawyers across the nation.

In order to avoid this scenario, we suggest aiming for local search keywords. When you target phrases like "bankruptcy attorney near me" or "bankruptcy lawyers in [your city]," you are only competing with law firms in your area.

Targeting local search keywords serves two primary purposes. First, you are reducing the average amount that you will pay per click. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, you are increasing your ability to connect with new clients in your area.

While Google uses an individual's location data when it conducts queries, some people turn off this function. As a result, their SERPs may direct them to bankruptcy attorney websites that advertise businesses outside of their region.

If your online marketing campaign incorporates location-based terminology, it is very unlikely that your ads will be displayed to these users. In turn, this reduces waste and helps you maximize the return on investment from your digital marketing campaign.

SEO vs. PPC Marketing for Attorneys

Search engine optimization typically receives far more attention than paid search digital marketing. This disparity is understandable, as every business owner is interested in generating more leads without resorting to paid ads.

However, search engine optimization strategies and paid search marketing should be viewed as complementary tactics, not oppositional ones.

PPC digital marketing can generate rapid results. This approach is useful when bankruptcy lawyers need to boost traffic quickly and obtain more clients. On the other hand, search engine optimization takes longer to produce traffic, but it is much more stable.

Put more simply, PPC can be considered a quick fix, whereas SEO is a long-term investment. Together, these strategies can be used to achieve business growth goals and attract bankruptcy clients consistently. To learn more about PPC and SEO marketing for attorneys check our SEO vs PPC marketing guide for law firms.

What Is SEO for Bankruptcy Attorney Marketing?

Search engine optimization is the process of making websites more visible on search engines by engaging in a series of different strategies. A few examples of SEO in action include adding keywords to on-site content, investing in web design, and ensuring that all pages load efficiently.

When Google's algorithm ranks a bankruptcy website, it will analyze all of these factors and more. Optimizing your bankruptcy attorney website can be a complex undertaking. That's one major reason why you should consider partnering with a digital marketing firm that provides SEO services for lawyers.

Choosing Which SEO Keywords to Use in Your Attorney Blog

As with paid advertising, keywords are pivotal to effective search engine optimization. However, the way that you target keywords is much different.

When you set up a PPC campaign, you can select which keywords you want to target and how much you want to bid for them. The highest bidders have their ads displayed to searchers seeking services from a bankruptcy firm.

Conversely, SEO keyword targeting is all about choosing words that you can rank for. As with PPC, some SEO keywords are more competitive than others.

For instance, a broad phrase like "bankruptcy lawyer" will be incredibly difficult to rank for — because bankruptcy lawyers throughout the nation have included this phrase all across their websites in hopes of attracting new clients.

Before you start packing all of your website content with words like "bankruptcy lawyer" or "bankruptcy law practice," keep in mind that there is a whole lot more to it than that. Top-ranked websites have mastered concepts like on-page and technical SEO, but more on that in the next section. For now, let's just focus on keywords.

When selecting keywords, we suggest targeting phrase variations that contain localized terms like "near me" or the name of the city you practice in. Targeting local keywords is known as "local SEO."

Law firm local SEO can help you to connect with clients within the area you serve. Once you achieve a high ranking, local users searching phrases like "bankruptcy lawyer" will view your website on their SERP below the PPC ads. These users are the highest value audience segment because they are actively searching for services you provide and are located in your area.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is the broadest and most well-known type of search engine optimization. However, several sub-types of search engine optimization are considered forms of on-page SEO. The two prime examples include technical SEO and local SEO.

Technical SEO deals with the functionality of your firm's website. These types of optimization efforts will focus on increasing page load speed, improving website layout, adding meta tags and meta descriptions, etc. We will not bore you with a rundown of all of the various technical webpage lingo just yet.

Another component of technical SEO is whether your website is mobile-friendly. It is critical that your site be mobile-friendly because over 60%of organic search engine visits originate from mobile devices. If your website does not function properly when viewed from mobile, then you could be missing out on countless opportunities to connect with possible clients.

Additionally, on-page SEO involves creating specialized service pages for top priority keywords that are relevant to bankruptcy. Examples of specific keywords you should target with dedicated pages include:

• Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorneys
• Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyers
• Debt settlement attorneys
• Foreclosure attorneys

Adding these speciality pages will help you rank for frequently searched keywords and phrases. In turn, this can generate more leads and attract new clients.

Managed PPC Marketing Services Might Be the Answer

PPC ads are an excellent way to increase your law firm's visibility on the world wide web. However, setting up your own law firm marketing campaign can be quite challenging. That is why many law firms leverage PPC management for bankruptcy attorneys.

Managed PPC marketing services are available from talented, dynamic law firm digital marketing companies like Grow Law Firm. Our multidimensional team not only manages PPC campaigns but SEO marketing plans as well. If you would like to learn more about our suite of PPC advertising services, contact Grow Law Firm today.