A big part of content marketing involves optimizing your website to rank as highly as possible among organic search results, but even if your website is the first organic result that Google displays, there will still be paid ads above the link to your website. Most people will scroll past these ads until they reach the organic search results, but not everyone will, or else Google would have stopped displaying paid results above the organic results long ago. Paid ads that display above organic search results may be a useful way to diversify your law firm’s digital marketing strategy, but only if you plan them carefully, and only if you also invest in organic search results, such as by regularly updating your law firm’s website with informative legal blog content.
What Is a Landing Page?
When a user clicks on a search engine ad, it leads them to a landing page, which is part of the advertiser’s website. At the bottom of the landing page is a call to action. When the user clicks on the call to action, it takes the user to the page where they can complete the action. For ecommerce sites, this may be a payment page. For law firms, it is usually an online contact form.
How to Build a Successful Paid Ad and Landing Page Combination
Search engine ads and landing pages have exactly one goal, namely to persuade users to fill out an online contact form on your website. Search engine ads should advertise a service closely related to the search query. For example, if the user types “Divorce Monday 2022,” the search engine ad might say “File Your Divorce Papers by Divorce Monday.” If the user types “annual gift tax exclusion 2021,” the search engine ad might say “Gift $15K by December 31.” Users that click on the search engine ads will be directed to a landing page. Whereas long form content is king on most web pages, less is more on landing pages. Bullet lists and short paragraphs are best; 300 words is long enough. You don’t want the user to have time to get cold feet about contacting you.
Landing Pages Are No Substitute for High Quality Blog Content
People rarely hire lawyers on a whim; most of the time, it is a carefully thought-out decision. For every person who clicks on a search engine ad and contacts you during the same web browsing session, there are at least several others who want to read blog posts and detailed reports about legal issues similar to the ones they are facing. Search engine ads can certainly be part of your robust content marketing strategy, but they are no substitute for regularly updating your blog with informative content.
Building a Comprehensive Digital Marketing Strategy for Your Law Firm
The legal content writers at Law Blog Writers can help you develop a multi-faceted legal marketing content strategy, including blog posts, search engine ads, and more.