Sponsored links for local search : critical for law firms in 2005

ClickZ reports based on research conducted by Borrell Associates on 210 U.S. media markets that local online ad spending will rise 46 percent in 2005.

ClickZ believes the ad money is flowing to Google and Overture that offer local ad targeting, rather than online yellow pages which slipped last year and daily online newspapers which saw moderate growth. Growth is being driven by more people being online and proof from previous spending that local ads online work.

It can be dirt cheap for law firms to buy sponsored links for their locale and speciality. In some cases we’re talking $40 a month. Peanuts compared to Yellow pages.

Have an expert you can trust help you. The use of keywords and key phrases along with compelling text in the sponsored link is important. So is how you set your bid. Consultants can charge way too much. Lawyers.com and FindLaw, if they do offer the help, are unlikely to be experts.

For small and medium firms, I’d contact Tim Stanley at Justia. Justia does not do sponsored link consulting per se but offers a complete search engine optimized Web site that will look like a million bucks in a package that includes sponsored link set up and buys. Plus Justia’s cost for the whole darn thing may be a few thousand bucks. That’s right – a custom designed site looking better than 99.9% of lawyer sites, search engine optimization, sponsored link set up and a lot more.

Source: Search Engine Watch