When developing an online legal marketing strategy, it can be difficult to choose a strategy that will provided the greatest rate of return for a law firm. There are many types of programs to choose from including legal directories, pay per click advertising, and attorney matching services. Most law firms do not have the luxury of unlimited marketing resources so this means a law firm needs a carefully designed online marketing budget with specific goals and objectives. One of the toughest choices can be whether to try to set up placement on as many legal marketing websites as possible or to focus on a smaller number but invest more with those programs that the law firm does advertise with for more prominent exposure. The crux of the issue is whether it is the quantity or quality of placements on Internet based law firm marketing websites that is more important.
The reality is that the vast differences between law firm marketing websites means that it depends on the specific nature of the program. Some law firm marketing websites provide substantial advantages if you pay more for premium placement or enhanced exposure while other programs generate virtually the same results regardless of your level of participation. Some key considerations when deciding whether it makes sense to spend the additional amount for premium exposure on a law firm marketing website are included below:
Ask for Comparison Data for Different Types of Exposure: Because most legal marketing companies charge substantially more for a more prominent position or enhanced exposure, they will not be shy about providing data to quantify the difference in traffic and client inquiries submitted with the different levels of service. You should specifically ask for this data so that you can make a statistical comparison between what attorneys with a basic level of exposure are getting as compared to attorneys with the same geographic and practice areas that are paying for a premium position. If the difference is not commensurate with the price difference or the legal marketing company will not provide such data, you are probably ill advised to pay for premium placement.
Amount of Competition: This is a very important consideration because many legal marketing programs especially online legal directories have pages and pages of listed attorneys with basic listings and numerically limit their top spots to no more than three or four. If a program is set up this way, the premium positions will typically be worth the difference in price. In fact, the sheer number of law firms with the basic level of listing may be too high to make the basic listings valuable. Again, this is only true where the basic level of listings includes multiple pages of listings. If you are considering a legal marketing program, such as, a legal directory of this kind, it is typically better to purchase the premium placement position or skip the program altogether. Where there are only marginal differences between the premium and basic positions (i.e. placement on the page) and there are not multiple pages of basic listings, the basic listing may suffice.
Qualitative Difference in Benefits: Many legal marketing programs offer substantially more benefits and vastly improved exposure with the premium programs. Where the difference between premium and basic listing programs includes more than simply a difference in position on the page, the premium listings may justify the price difference. A premium listing may include additional content based programs, website creation, blogging service, social network programs, video linking and many other services that are not available with a basic listing. However, some enhanced features do not actually generate a substantial difference in actual prospective client leads so you should also carefully consider performance data supplied by the company in this situation.
Return on Investment: While a premium position will almost always mean more traffic and more prospective clients contacting the firm, this does not always translate into an increased return on investment. The price difference for a premium position with a legal marketing program can be many times that of a basic listing. It is a good idea to ask about renewal rates for attorneys in your market and practice areas that are using the premium service, which is usually a good indicator of whether the premium service is generating a sufficient return on investment to justify the price difference.
Value of Multiple Online Links: To the degree the law firm’s budget is strictly limited, a law firm should consider the value of simply having multiple Internet footprints and as many links as possible back to the law firm’s website. It is rarely a good idea to choose a premium program if it will leave the law firm in the position where they cannot participate in more than one or two online legal marketing programs. In this situation, it is a good idea to choose a more modest level of service and participate in a larger number of legal marketing programs. This will mean more links to the law firm’s website and a greater number of attorney marketing websites that may show up in a search engine result.
The bottom line is that there is no absolute rule on whether quality or quantity is better with respect to participation in online legal advertising programs. The key is to get the most bang for the buck which really means balancing the benefits offered from a premium position against the lost opportunity costs of being able to participate in more programs. One important strategy is to always ask for a trial of the premium position when you sign up for the basic level of participation. Many legal marketing programs are happy to let you test the premium position because those positions generate more profit for the legal marketing program.
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