Your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Company May Be Draining Your Advertising Dollars.
I came across a recently-launched blog whose author, based on the first post, really “gets it” when it comes to search engine marketing. The key concepts of his “performance sem” are the cornerstones of our own service. I have para-phrased the key concepts below.
When you really boil it down, there are three general types of search engine marketing models that do advertising for lawyers:
1. The “A sucker is born every minute” model
2. The “Split the baby” model
3. The “Accountability” model
Okay, so it’s obvious that I prefer (and run our business) on the third model. Let’s take a look at the differences and then you can decide for yourself.
Advertising For Lawyers Approach 1: The “A sucker is born every minute” model (see picture above)
Under this model, the search engine marketer charges a percentage of the total advertising spend. (I have seen these charges range from 10% to 30% depending on the sucker). Under this model, the lawyer-client pays for all of the law firm advertising budget that the search engine marketer manages, plus an X% service fee. The “A sucker is born every minute” marketer is incentivized to drive as much traffic as possible regardless of quality. This drives up advertising costs without any check on the performance of the campaign.
If your advertising for lawyers dollars are being pumped into any marketing company operating under this model, I advise you to take a close look at whether these efforts are producing any leads for you at all.
Advertising For Lawyers Approach 2: The “Split the baby” model
Because not all lawyers are suckers, some have started move to services where a portion of the search engine marketer’s fees are based on actual performance (what a concept). The “Split the baby” marketer will take a portion of their fees based on how their campaign converts into potential clients for their lawyers.
Advertising for lawyers services using this model still require their lawyer-clients pay all of the advertising costs to the search engines, but instead of a straight percentage of ad-spend as the fee, they “split the baby” with a smaller percentage (to insure a profit) and then take performance incentives on top, giving them unlimited upside potential should their campaigns meet or exceed their targets.
Once again, the incentives of the lawyers and the “split the baby” advertising for lawyers company are at odds.
Advertising For Lawyers Approach 3: The “Accountability” model
“Accountability” search engine marketers (like AttorneySync) are relatively new to the scene and take an entirely different approach. These marketers build and manage their own campaigns on behalf of their lawyer-clients. These marketers are “accountable” for the performance of their campaigns. They typically pay for 100% of the attorney advertising costs and are paid service fees that are tied to their results.
Under the “Accountability” model, the incentives of the marketer and the lawyer-client are aligned. This model produces lawyer advertising campaigns that are efficient and effective.
AttorneySync is a law firm Internet marketing consultancy that specializes in law firm websites, legal blogs, and professional law firm seo strategies. 
