Before you advertise with Google, use the following steps to help you identify a specific practice area, consider keywords, and to carefully construct your ad. This will help you get the most from your marketing dollars.

1. Choose one practice area on which to focus. Be very specific. Remember, when people are trying to find a service, they are only looking for one service at a time. For instance, an individual might run a search query for “age discrimination lawyer.” You might be able to help him with other legal issues, but right now he just needs someone to help with age discrimination.

2. Now that you have identified a specific service or problem for which you can help someone, write down the keywords that such a person might “Google.” For example, let’s say you choose to help employees who have experienced age discrimination. What would they enter in a search query? Possibly the following: discrimination lawyer, age discrimination, or discrimination attorney.

3. Now test your keywords to see if you have chosen popular keywords. You want the phrase to be popular enough that people enter it in search queries each month, but not as general as the word “lawyer.” The word “lawyer” is queried quite a bit but you would not get good leads from this word. It is not specific enough to draw qualified clients. Go to the Google keyword tool through this link: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal Enter the search term: discrimination lawyer. Look at the keywords related to “discrimination lawyer” to get more keyword ideas. Look at the local monthly search volume for each keyword.

4. Now run a test to see what other lawyers find worth paying for. Go to the Google home page, and search for the words, “discrimination lawyer.” Are any lawyers paying to advertise for this keyword phrase? Look at the top and the right side of the screen. Now “Google” the phrase “age discrimination lawyer.” Are there paid ads at the top of the screen? What about on the right side? Read the ads.

5. Create your ad. The title should be about 3-5 words in length. The subtitle(s) should be between 4-10 words in length. Google considers the relevance of the ad to the keyword(s) you have chosen (and so do internet users). This means it is a good idea to incorporate your keywords into the ad. Here is an example: Let’s say you choose the keyword “age discrimination lawyer.” Your ad could look like this:

   Age Discrimination Lawyer
   Age discrimination is unlawful.
   Get justice.
   www.dallasdiscriminationlawyer.com

6. Consider creating multiple ads, targeting specific keywords with each ad. Google lets you create multiple ads within a single campaign.

7. Now that you have identified your keywords and written your ad, set up your account with Google AdWords. Go to the link: www.adwords.google.com
    
8. Start small, to test the waters. Test a narrow line of keywords, and start off with a small budget. Monitor the results. Are more people visiting your website? Are you getting any qualified leads from the ads? If not, try again. Change one variable at a time, either your title, subtitle(s), keywords, budget, or cost-per-click bid.

Good Luck!

If you'd like for us to complete the steps for you, consider our Online Ad Management service.

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