Unfortunately bankruptcy is a hot topic right now. There are lots of consumers who are looking for qualified bankruptcy attorneys online. Advertising in online bankruptcy directories can be a great way of attracting qualified clients to your website. Buyer beware though! Not all legal directories are created equal. Many of these directories hardly warrant the investment based on dismal click thru rates. FindLaw has over 200 website clients in Arizona. Since each website has a third party traffic reporting tool associated with it, I can see how many clicks each directory produces. I can do this by using a referral url report.
Last year I wrote an article about evaluating directory traffic. The advice I gave then still applies today – Never succumb to sales pressure, demand click thru data and always check references before purchasing any online advertising. In this post I have provided “estimated” traffic information for the most common bankruptcy directories in Arizona. The missing part of this analysis, of course, is the cost of these directories. If you are an Arizona attorney and have been pitched any of these directories – I would be happy to include that info as well.
Nolo
The Nolo bankruptcy directory is definitely showing up more and more in Google searches – particularly in the suburbs and outlying areas. In the last six months, click thru rates from this directory are averaging 15-22 clicks a month for the one client I have that is featured in their bankruptcy directory. However, that client typically gets a 2x higher click thru rate thanks to the firm’s name recognition – a byproduct of an extensive advertising campaign. In the past, I have had three clients advertise in other NOLO directories (Personal Injury, Estate Planning)and all cancelled after seeing their click thru numbers.
FindLaw Bankruptcy Spotlight $220/month
The Findlaw bankruptcy directory is by far the most visible bankruptcy directory in the Phoenix metro – both in terms of traffic and ranking. Each of the 5 top spots receive between 60-100 clicks a month, but they have been sold out for some time. Spotlights are the paid listings below the 5 top spots that rotate. As with any directory, name recognition, geographic location and tagline all play a role in click thru rates. At the low end a client is getting 17-25 click thrus a month. The leading Spotlight click getter, thanks to an impressive tagline, gets between 30-40 clicks a month.
YellowPages.com
Yellowpages.com has a first come first serve model. The top listings do great, 3rd slot is getting around 40 clicks a month and the 4th slot gets around 20 clicks a month with 80% of clicks coming from bankruptcy searches. The other clicks come from name searches or general attorney searches within the directory. However, there is a huge drop off as you go down the list. A Phoenix attorney who just joined a few months ago is in the tenth slot and is getting just 6-7 clicks a month from that listing. I don’t know what they are charging for that – but you can get that same amount of traffic by doing a free listing in the Cornell directory or by updating your AVVO.com profile.
Dexknows
Partnering with localeze to build their new directory and backed by a national TV advertising campaign, DexKnows is trying to provide a much better local result. When you type in Tempe Bankruptcy Attorney in the DexKnows directory- you will likely get a Tempe attorney. In theory that should deliver a better result. However, the new concept is not translating into clicks. A client of mine has one of the top spots in Bankruptcy and has multiple office locations. However, the client is getting just 3-5 clicks a month. Most of their traffic is produced by pay per click.
Attorney4hire.com
I am VERY suspect of the traffic this “directory” generates. The referral domain report from a FindLaw bankruptcy client says they are getting 10 visitors a month from this directory. A Phoenix family lawyer who has the service is getting 8 clicks a month? This in my opinion is impossible and I strongly suspect these clicks are being manipulated. The directory contains zero content and is absolutely invisible in the search engines. How are people finding this directory? In addition the simple search function (looking for a zip code and a radius) takes forever. The owner of this directory gets away with this because he charges pennies for the listing and targets aggressive advertisers. You get what you pay for.
SuperPages.com
This has traditionally been one of the worst directories in terms of traffic for attorneys in Arizona. While I have no lawyers advertising in their bankruptcy directory, one of my client has the very top spot in their divorce directory and it gets him just 6 -12 click thrus a month – decent traffic, but small when you consider its their very best listing. The top sponsored criminal listing got just 4 click thrus last month.
Lawyers.com
One of the best known legal directories, Lawyers.com is a sister company to Martindale. They have a number of directories that supply a consistent stream of qualified traffic. However, it does not appear that bankruptcy is one of them though. They have rotating top spots as well but unlike every other directory, they break up their directory by metro – so you would have to buy a Phoenix listing along with a separate Scottsdale listing and a Mesa listing to get complete metro coverage. I have no clients who have a current listing in their bankruptcy directory. Jennings Haug Cunningham is a Findlaw client and occupies the 4th slot, but oddly, when you click on their “view website” link it links to another firm? I do have a client, Joseph McDaniel, who used to be a Martindale/Lawyers.com client. His feedback is instructive though;
“Martindale took a LOT of my dough, and I got essentially no new clients from the transaction. And that’s being generous. Findlaw took a few nickels and pennies from me, and my poor Heidi now has trouble finding time to return potential client phone calls.”
I hope you found this post valuable. In the near future I will be doing a similar analysis for family law, criminal defense and personal injury directories. If there is another directory you would like me to analyze please send to me. I would also welcome feedback from Arizona lawyers who can provide more supporting data from Google analytics or another website analytics program.