Oct
3
The second step of a successful PPC campaign is selecting your keywords. In this article, we will tackle this topic.
Check back soon for the next article in the series.
Let’s look at our imaginary attorney’s PPC strategy – John Smith, a new york city divorce & family law attorney.
John Smith’s first inclination is to start out with some keywords that might describe his business;
New York City divorce lawyer
New York City family law attorney
New York City divorce law firm
This is the biggest problem I see made by most PPC D.I.Y.’ers. While broad terms like these will generate the most traffic, it also gives you the lowest ROI.
Consider if you were a client in NYC looking for a divorce lawyer. Getting from the Upper West Side to the far reaches of Queens could be 3 hours by train – you will most certainly rule out attorneys who are outside your neighborhood. A better keyword selection would be on that can find a balance between broad and narrow keywords. In our example, the broad location section of the keyword is “New York City“, where a more specific location would be “Upper East Side“, or somewhere in between with a keyword like “Brooklyn“.
Now also consider that a practice area like divorce has many specific components that fall within the “family law” and “divorce” lawyer’s practice area. Some attorneys will focus on fathers rights, some on high net worth divorces, and others on family court specifically. In the second part of our keyword – the practice area – a broad term would be ‘divorce‘ or ‘family law‘ while a more specific term like “separation agreement” or “Father’s custody rights” are much more descriptive.
Finding a balance of broad and descriptive keywords is generally a better approach to PPC success. Start out with a list of your most descriptive keywords. If you have a bigger budget, try expanding your keyword list to include a broad location + specific practice area, or vice versa.
In some cases, a specific location plus very specific practice are might not provide enough traffic; in one case, I had an attorney who practiced cruise injury litigation. Combining that VERY specific practice area with a small town would likely yield very few leads.
Check in with your PPC campaign weekly if possible; every month at the very least. See how your keywords are performing and make adjustments as necessary.