Thursday, April 08, 2004 1:15 PM
The Wall Street Journal offers an article today covering the growing web advertising market for lawyers and law firms. According to the article, overall legal services advertising on the web grew to 8.7 million dollars last year, as compared to 1.5 million dollars the previous year. In the larger scheme of things, this is not a huge sum, but the growth is worth noting.
The firms leading the charge to online advertising are some of the same ones who have long embraced television and radio advertising and who actively tweak subject matter specific websites in an attempt to get higher search engine listings for their specific area of expertise. Firms handling class action cases seem to be the dominant players, with personal injury attorneys in the mix as well.
What is surprising is the dollars-per-click that these firms are willing pay at the major search engines. As an example, firms with ads displayed when a search engine visitor types in the keyword "mesothelioma," are paying anywhere from $45 to $90 for click-throughs. Other examples of "hot" keywords are myriad terms related to drug recalls and stockbroker malfaesance issues.
The law firms involved in this online advertising are suggesting that the web has become a great place for new client leads, especially in class action suits. And, as the localized search services of Google, Yahoo! and others get fleshed out, it would seem that online advertising market for firms of all sizes will only grow. Indeed, many firms already advertise in the online editions of the local Yellow Pages, but these listings are not overly sophisticated and certainly not targeted like the search engine ad listings.
In sum, it seems the legal vertical is slowing awakening to non-traditional advertising channels. Clearly, this is a very early stage, but, as one of the lawyers interviewed for this WSJ article notes when asked about online advertising, "if you spend carefully, you get a very nice return. It's a good way to build a client base."