If you’ve been thinking about marketing your law firm online then you’ve probably heard of two very popular terms PPC (Pay Per Click) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Which is better, PPC or SEO? The list below highlights four core factors that will help you decide.
No. 1: Trust Building
PPC guarantees you a spot on the first page of search results- when you use the right keywords. This is what every business wants to accomplish with their online marketing strategy, right? Of course! It’s why so many firms choose PPC. However, PPC is pure advertising, it doesn’t engage your potential client and it certainly doesn’t win over their trust. SEO on the other hand helps your firm gain the trust of potential clients. When clients conduct a search online and your website happens to rank on that first page, this solidifies trust in that persons eyes, it’s also going to be the reason they’re more likely to do business with you.
No.2: Reputation Building
As a company part of your marketing strategy should be to build your reputation with other businesses as well as with clients. Online it’s no different. Potential clients want to know that your business is reputable, that you’re someone people trust. Ranking on that first page through SEO is a stamp of approval, it means your firm is a thought leader, that it cares about relationship building, and most importantly- that Google agrees with that notion. PPC doesn’t do any of the above, instead it may have an adverse effect on your businesses reputation if it’s not executed correctly.
No. 3 Cost
Your marketing budget will determine which of the two you choose.PPC requires ongoing management and quite a large budget, as you’ll pay for the clicks and for Google to essentially manage your campaign. SEO isn’t that much cheaper, although you may have heard claims it’s up to 45% cheaper than PPC. The cost of SEO really depends on who you choose to develop, manage and execute your SEO strategy. The initial fees are similar to that of PPC however when it comes to management and execution the cost decreases. Here is a video that explains the differences as well as the cost.
No. 4: Click Through Rate
This final point is probably the most important. As with any marketing strategy you end goal is to get more people in the door. You would be surprised to know that on both Google and Yahoo organic listings have a click through rate of more than 75%. That means PPC only gets a quarter of the clicks when compared to SEO. The first two reasons highlighted in this post are what makes organic listings so popular on search engines.
Overall SEO is Better
Your online marketing strategy should present your firm in the best light. Before you decide which one you’d prefer, you need to know your marketing goals.
SEO when executed correctly reaps far greater returns than PPC, however it isn’t as controlled as PPC. PPC guarantees you space on that first page but it’s not necessarily profitable. In our opinion SEO is definitely the better solution as you can see from the four factors listed above.