Paid search marketing is an effective way for brands to generate qualified leads and a higher return on investment. So it’s no surprise that they are always on the lookout for more customers and better sales.
A service that offers quality pay-per-click solutions is bound to attract the interest of this new business and do well.
While it is a fantastic idea to start an agency and offer tailored PPC solutions to clients, you probably have the following questions:
Before we delve into the answers, let’s outline the services you can offer and pricing models that can help you build a strong PPC agency.
PPC or pay-per-click advertising ensures that the advertisers only pay if their ad gets clicks or responses instead of paying merely for displays.
Formerly known as Google AdWords, Google Ads is a renowned platform for PPC advertising. However, your client may also want to show their PPC advertising on other search engines like Bing. These platforms power google ads by prominently displaying them above and below organic search results.
As the chosen agency, it’ll be your job to create these PPC advertising campaigns and run them on these networks and others like Google Shopping and the Display Network.
Besides, your client may also want complementary services like social media advertising strategy to run adverts on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
Chances are that your clients want a comprehensive solution for all their paid ppc advertising needs. They want to rely on you for all-inclusive online ppc advertising campaign management.
Agencies that provide these managed services have a full-time staff dedicated specifically to PPC, contingent on the scope of their offerings.
In addition to planning and optimizing paid advertising campaigns on multiple social networks like Bing, AdWords, etc., the account managers also look out for client relationships. They have frequent interactions with customers, provide regular updates, align efforts with clients’ marketing goals, and report on performance.
Let’s delve into some of the many services that your PPC agency can offer to clients in addition to standard account management:
Add this service to your repertoire if you aim to sell to clients who want you to build their presence on Google AdWords, Facebook Business Manager, and Bing Ads. It demands detailed knowledge of:
From initial planning to execution, account buildouts may take up to several weeks, depending on the clients and own business size.
If you can’t build, assess, and optimize your client’s landing pages, you’re confining your managed PCC services offering. After all, if you don’t have control over the online spaces where the paid traffic goes, it undermines your capability to maximize impactful results.
While some agencies leave landing pages to the client, we suggest adding them to your line up. Small business plan don’t have a dedicated digital marketing department to take care of it, so they’ll appreciate it if you can handle this aspect of their campaign as well.
Handling landing page optimization allows you to add more value to your offerings and set you apart from competitors who aren’t providing the same service. But remember to onboard dedicated development and design resources, and don’t be afraid of reflecting it in your pricing.
Suppose a client has an uncontrolled account structure, got an account responsibility from an associate, or took back their account control from an agency. In that case, an account structure service can serve as a value-added package to the clients.
When pricing these services, consider the business size, historical data, and the client’s marketing objectives to determine the time, resources, and efforts it’ll take to restructure a specific account.
While you may take the reins of your customer’s PPC campaigns, you may not be able to get done with the essential design work. As Facebook ads and display ads require visual creativity, it can be time sinking to put all the elements together.
So if you don’t have an in-house team for designing and have a few trusted freelancers, make sure you work and add their rates into the final billing structure.
Account audit services are solely the analysis of your existing accounts. They are usually reviewed over a telephonic conversation with agency clients and transcribed in report form.
Consider charging a standard rate for account audits. Once you have created a thorough yet quick process, you can also offer audits as a complimentary service. After all, it represents a fair amount of value for your prospective client’s, and they’ll jump on the opportunity to work with you as long as they are getting something out of it.
Additionally, it shows the opportunities for growth and PPC optimization that can be the force to help you need to turn a potential lead into a client.
One of the most in-demand business services that you can offer is strategic consulting as a PPC agency. However, there’s a catch: you need to have intimate knowledge of the services you plan to offer.
Suppose you aim to provide consulting services to your clients. In that case, you should identify potential opportunities and educate your clients on how to implement changes strategically.
You can conduct the consulting sessions via a web conference call. The charges are usually determined hourly, depending on the experience, target market, and service.
Conversion tracking and implementation are some of the other services that you provide to your clients. It is the least time consuming yet incredibly valuable for your customers. That being said, helping customers install codes on their sites also allow you to retain more clients.
You can charge a flat rate for conversion tracking services or even provide them for free. Since execution may occur at the beginning of a client relationship, it can be a brilliant way to build trust, loyalty and deliver value to your clients.
Once you have decided on the pay per click (PPC) services you plan to offer, you will be required to design a pricing model and packaging structure. These are many common elements to consider to set up your pricing structure.
Set up or start-up fees are usually indicated by the initial overhead costs of taking on a new account. It can include substantial groundwork to get familiar with the new account, acquainted with the customer’s marketing plan approach, and make necessary structural changes.
Start-up charges are often levied as a flat rate one-time fee that ranges from 50%-100% of the recurrent monthly amount. As for recurring expenses, there are numerous ways to model your pricing structure.
The rate varies and significantly depends on the level and quality of service you are providing. For instance, do you offer paid social? Weekly reporting? Display Network management?
But for many agencies, the charges are based on a pre-determined percentage of google ads spend.
This pricing model considers the services’ total cost and charges a percentage of your entire ad spend. Provide a unified experience to your clients in every aspect, and you can set a premium price for the value you are delivering.
One of the advantages of charging your clients a percentage of total ad expenditure is the gain you can enjoy when an account decides to increase its budget. That way, you can earn additional revenue. On average, the PPC management fee ranges from 15% to 25% of the total budget.
To ensure constancy in their revenue streams, some PPC agencies opt for the flat fee pricing model. It lets you charge the client an even rate or an agreed-upon fee each month.
This pricing structure allows greater budget flexibility without continuous fluctuations in income. However, some clients may be discouraged by the radical increase in service charges when you decide to do so if that particular account performs well.
This includes charging a flat management fee on a monthly basis plus a lower percentage of your overall ad spend.
This solely depends on the additional services you plan to offer, so pricing varies from service to service.
For example, services such as account buildouts, restructure, and consulting may be best to charge on an hourly rate basis. Whereas for streamlined services like implementation, analytics, account audits, a flat rate is typically suitable. You can also potentially add-on design, image optimization or other SEO services.
Once you are ahead of the pricing structure and models stage, the final step is to get the word out! It is imperative to communicate a consistent message across all platforms, from your official website to your marketing collateral to your own paid campaigns.
Along with all the other arrangements, it is unequivocally imperative to let potential client’s know about your new PPC services offerings.
Dedicate a part of your site to market your PPC offerings to the traffic. Additionally, specify the extent of your services and the different plans and packages available.
One of the challenging things for entities entering the paid searchs sector is establishing their authority. What makes your new agency qualified enough to sell or manage online marketing solutions for your clients? How can you gain your prospective clients’ and visitors’ trust and persuade them to do business with you?
One of the ways to do so is through attaining certifications. It may take some time to get the necessary credentials, make it essential to get endorsed by renowned platforms like Facebook, Google, and Bing. This can help you to establish your business as a bonafide expert.
Once you scale up your offerings, you can leverage the initial accreditations and display them on your website. It allows you to instantly clout with skeptical clients.
Another way to establish your authority as a PPC agency is to ask and publish customer testimonials. Suppose you have worked on some great projects. In that case, you can ask your clients to leave a review about their experience more apt to consider your services. Naturally, potential customers love social proof!
The bottom line is that paid search advertising is an integral part of your clients’ inbound marketing approach. A strategic PPC initiative can help you better plan, execute, and optimize your offerings for potential clients and grow your business over the long-term.
Catching a prospect’s eye is merely the first step. Once your leads know about your PPC offerings, nurture them and turn them into actual paying clients.
%201.svg){kind=logo}
.jpg)
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising isn’t an optional marketing accessory – it’s a serious tool for law firms that want measurable results fast. Whether your practice areas involve personal injury, criminal defense, family law, federal crimes, or estate planning, PPC gives you access to leads who need your services now. But throwing money at Google and Facebook without a plan will only drain your budget. If you’re tired of seeing competing law firms outrank you, this guide is for you.
Let’s explore the 10 key aspects of PPC campaigns that will bring you paying clients without wasting your ad spend.
PPC only works if you get the foundation right. That means finding keywords and phrases that your ideal clients type into search engines when they need help. If you choose the wrong keywords, you could end up wasting your ad spend fast. Law firm PPC is highly competitive and one of the most expensive PPC markets around. Small mistakes can cost a lot of money.
To get this done, use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, Google Autocomplete, and Semrush to get a list of 30-50 keywords related to your location and practice area.
Remember that PPC keywords will differ from general keywords used to get traffic to your website. You’re paying for each click, so for PPC, you only want to target keywords that indicate the user is likely to become a paying client. High-intent keywords are the ideal target, like “DUI attorney” or “drug charge defense attorney.” These phrases indicate the user is facing charges and needs an attorney now.
Use long-tail keywords related to your practice areas. These are phrases like, “how to beat a DUI charge in [state],” “how much does a child support lawyer cost in [county]?,” and “what should I do after being arrested for [offense]?”
Long-tail keywords are less likely to be cannibalized by your other paid ads, AI-generated summaries, and featured snippets. They’re also more likely to send you hot leads who become clients.
When a user searches for the phrase “how to beat a DUI charge in California,” the algorithm will know the user’s zip code, and will serve them ads for local DUI law firms who have successfully optimized their ads for DUI-charge-related phrases.
Avoid generic keywords, like “lawyer in [city].” While there’s a possibility someone searching for a generic lawyer might need your services, there’s also a chance they’re looking for someone outside of your practice areas. It’s not worth wasting ad spend to find out.
Understand that optimizing your ads for certain searches doesn’t necessarily mean using those exact words in your copy. For example, to optimize for the search “DUI attorney near me,” you’d use the phrase “DUI attorney” and include locations by city name, county, or zip code. You don’t need to include the words “near me” because ad algorithms interpret those words as a command to return local results. Google is good at discerning intent from searches.
Your PPC ads should direct users to a specific landing page created just for that ad. Don’t send people to your home page because it will make conversions harder. Home pages are too generic and will break the user’s sense of continuity and flow.
Each landing page should be specifically relevant to the user’s search query. For example, if your ad talks about services related to divorce, clicking should send users to a web page that outlines your divorce-related services.
Most attorneys create one page for every practice area and send paid ad clicks to those pages. This strategy is good since it serves visitors regardless of their origin. However, in order to track PPC ad conversions, it helps to have landing pages that don’t show up in search results and only get shown via ads. All you need to do is make a copy of your practice area pages, give them friendly URLs, and use them for your ad destinations.
A good landing page will encourage the user to call your law firm right away. To accomplish this, you need the following elements:
Your landing pages serve one purpose: to get users to call your law firm. With that in mind, make sure your phone number is visible on every page above the fold, preferably in your header. To make it clickable use the following markup:
<a href="tel:1234567890">(123) 456-7890</a>
Use this markup for every instance of your phone number throughout your website so mobile users can click to call. This seemingly small convenience will get you more leads.
People need a reason to trust you, so include client testimonials, previous settlement wins, Google and Trustpilot reviews, and links to your Avvo or Martindale profile.
Your copy should aim to convert clicks into leads that either contact you via phone, a contact form, or chat bot. Don’t be wordy – mention your specialty, location, what makes you different, and instruct people to contact you now. For example, your drug charge landing page might state you have 20+ years of experience and that you offer free consultations. Copy doesn’t need to be long to be compelling. For law firms, shorter is better – people don’t have time to read an essay when they’re just trying to get help.
Your CTA should be visible above the fold and on every page throughout your website. It should be clear, short, and direct. For example, tell visitors to call you for a free case evaluation.
Paid ads only work when you’re willing to spend money. If your daily budget isn’t high enough, your ads won’t get served to many people. To increase your impression share and therefore increase ad visibility, you need a good ad Quality Score and a decent budget. Higher bids can push your ads into favorable positions, which can increase your click-through rate (CTR) and generate more conversions.
Legal keywords can cost more than $100 per click, so you need to invest in your ads. However, if you’re doing ads on your own, start with a conservative budget and ramp up once you identify the campaigns that are converting. If you’re working with a reputable PPC agency, you can go all-in from day one without worry.
Even though lawyers typically pay more per lead than other industries, PPC ads are still considered a low-cost, effective form of marketing. Compared to other options, paid ads are cost-effective and excellent for capturing relevant leads immediately. As long as your ads are running, you’ll get clicks to your website.
When you identify your high-performing ads, cut the fat and pause keywords or ads that are underperforming and reallocate that money to your winners. PPC ads need to be managed weekly to ensure optimal performance.
The time your ads run matters; not every hour in the day is equal. There’s no need to advertise 24/7 unless you’re going to answer calls at 3:00 a.m. People might call you, get your voicemail, hang up, and call someone else in the morning. Even if you have a contact form on your website, someone who is stressed out and facing serious criminal charges may not go back to your site to look for an alternate way to contact you. They’ll go to bed and search for someone else in the morning.
So, what are the best hours to run ads? Most law firms see the most conversions during business hours and early evenings, so that’s when your ads should run in local time. Schedule your ads to run during peak hours for mobile searches. This is easy with Google Ads. To avoid paying for junk clicks, turn off your campaigns on holidays, weekends, or hours you aren’t available unless you have someone ready to take calls.
Location targeting is how you’ll get better conversions. You only want people in your local service area to see your ads, but you need to tell the ad platforms where you want your ads to be served.
Target high-value zip codes based on income, need, and proximity. If you work on a contingency basis, you might want to target people regardless of income since you’ll get paid if and when you win their case. However, if you don’t work with contingency fees, you need to be specific about your targets.
It’s equally important to exclude irrelevant locations from your ads. If you notice you’re getting clicks from neighboring states or areas you don’t serve, set your negative geotargeting rules to block them.
To get more clicks from relevant leads, use location-specific copy in your ads. Mention your city or county in the ad headline to catch people’s attention.
Negative keywords are your secret weapon for reducing wasted ad spend on irrelevant clicks. Add negative keywords that would indicate a user is not searching for actual legal services. For example, standard words like “free,” “pro bono,” “advice,” “template,” “blog,” “forum,” or “DIY” are a good place to start. People searching for these words are unlikely to become paying clients.
Other negative keywords to include are phrases and words that:
· Indicate a person is just looking for information or resources, but they don’t need a lawyer
· Are related to legal areas outside of your practice areas
The back end of your PPC platform will track clicks, but you need to track leads. The easiest way to do this is by hiring a PPC agency to manage your entire campaign from top to bottom. However, if you’re running ads in-house, here are some tracking strategies:
· Use call tracking software. You need to know which ads are generating calls. Tools like CallRail and WhatConverts will show you exactly where your calls are coming from.
· Tie form submissions to campaigns. If you just collect general form data, you won’t know where people came from. Connect each form to the ad group or keyword so you can track clicks and conversions.
· Ignore vanity metrics. A high click-through rate doesn’t mean much if you’re not getting conversions. Focus on cost per lead and cost per signed case. If your CTR is exceptionally high compared to conversions, adjust your campaign until you get better results.
Remember that you can’t improve what you don’t track.
While some people will call right away, not everyone looking for legal help will convert immediately. People facing criminal charges are more likely to make immediate phone calls, but when the matter isn’t urgent, people tend to research their options for a bit. This is where remarketing comes into play.
Remarketing ads help you convert more leads by targeting individuals who have already interacted with your ad or website, keeping your law firm at the top of their mind. You can customize your ad based on the web pages they visited for an even more personalized experience. However, you should limit the frequency so your ad doesn’t follow them for weeks or months.
Google Ads Assets are one of the most under-utilized PPC features, but they’re packed with power that can help you generate more high-quality clicks that convert to leads. The most useful assets for law firms include:
· Lead form assets. If you want to advertise during non-business hours, lead form assets will allow users to fill out a form directly within the ad, skipping the landing page completely. This will allow you to gather leads after hours without disappointing users when you don’t answer the phone.
· Location assets. This will display your physical address, hours, phone number, and map with your ads, including on YouTube. You’ll need a Google Business profile to set this up.
· Call assets. This allows users to call you directly from an ad. It displays a click-to-call button for mobile users, and displays your phone number for desktop users. This only works on the Google Search Network.
If you want to enhance your Google Ads performance, Ads Assets are essential.
PPC isn’t something you want to wing, especially when each click can cost $100 or more. If you’re not getting leads, you need a better strategy. Managing legal PPC campaigns requires a lot of time, constant optimization, and a solid understanding of how to attract leads that will become clients. That’s where a PPC agency becomes your competitive advantage.
At PPC.co, we help law firms build high-performance PPC campaigns that convert clicks into paying clients. If you’re tired of wasting your money and want results you can see, contact us today for a free consultation. We won’t just bring you traffic – we’ll get you qualified leads who need your help now.
When this apartment complex client partnered with PPC.co, their goal was clear: generate more qualified leads through Google Ads. In just 60 days—from January to March 2025—we transformed their paid acquisition performance. Total conversions more than tripled, jumping from 10 to 32, while the overall conversion rate soared by over 300%. At the same time, we drove down the cost per conversion by 44%, delivering significantly more leads at a much lower cost.
By strategically combining Performance Max and high-intent Search campaigns, we not only increased lead volume but improved overall efficiency and ROI. This rapid and measurable improvement underscores the value of data-driven optimization and expert campaign management.
This case study is a testament to what can happen when a well-structured campaign meets expert strategy and continuous optimization. Whether you're launching a new property or looking to boost occupancy in a competitive market, PPC.co delivers real results—fast.
Ready to grow your leads and lower your cost per conversion?
Contact us today to schedule a free audit and discover how we can help you achieve similar results.
Click on the following link if you would like to see more PPC case studies!
