The Wall Street Journal Law blog has an item today about what some law firms are paying Google to come up as "sponsored links" when you do a search using certain keywords. (The blog reports that lung cancer and law firms dominate CyberWare's list of most expensive search terms.) There are all kinds of jokes waiting to be made of that pairing, but I am not going to go there.
Number three on CyberWare's list of the most expensive terms are the words "personal injury lawyer michigan." If you type in those Google search terms, and then click on the link of one of the firms that comes up as a "sponsored link," that firm will have to pay Google $66.46. The firm is gambling that it will pick up enough business to offset the advertising costs incurred when people click on their link, but don't wind up giving the firm any business.The highest Minnesota-specific legal search terms on the list were: "personal injury lawyer minnesota." Firms are reportedly paying $36.17 for each click on their link to be sponsors for those terms. While Minnesota is still a better bargain than Michigan, that price is fairly high up on the CyberWare list.
I was curious what local firms were employing this advertising strategy, so I went to the Google site and plugged in the keywords "personal injury lawyer minnesota" to see what came up. Not surprisingly, at the top of the list of "sponsored links" was Woods & Thompson. Since I find that firm's TV ads annoying, I didn't mind clicking on its link just so it would get charged $36 for my visit. A few other usual suspects came up as "sponsored links," including Mesbesher & Spence, Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben and Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey. There were also less familiar names, such as Terry & Slane, The Schmidt Law Firm, and Hall Law.
I have no idea if their strategy is paying off, or perhaps it's to early to tell. I suppose if you do wind up landing a big case through being a sponsored link," $36 might be a small price to pay.
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