Can Google Adwords and Yahoo Sponsored search bring you new clients? For most attorneys….

No.

And I say no because as more and more people become familiar with what these products are (ads), more and more of these folks are ignoring them – particularly if the search phrase they type in gives them the results they were looking for.

Want proof? Then look at the image below. It’s from a recent study that mapped users eyes when using google. It shows exactly what they look at….and what they don’t.

Not many are are even looking to the right where your ads are placed, are they?

They are looking at the “natural” search results.

So, we have thousands of attorneys either spending their own time creating and managing these ad programs….or paying someone else a princely sum to do it for them.

And is it bringing potential clients to your website? A small trickle, perhaps.

Granted, if your bid is high enough so that your ad appears at the top of the page (in the colored box) you’ll get a lot of eyeballs and a lot of clicks. But you’ll blow through your daily ad budget in no time and your monthly ROI will be in the toilet.

At the end of the day, it might be wiser to invest in your website….so it shows up where your potential clients are going to be looking – on the left – in the natural search results.

When that’s accomplished, then invest in PPC campaigns. Why?

In my next post, I’ll reveal the “why” and what happens when a strong website is backed-up by a PPC campaign. It’s an interesting look at human behavior.