Martindale-Nolo’s Pay Per Lead Program: Q&A Faith Nessen

Have you ever wondered how Martindale-Nolo’s Pay Per Lead program works? In this post, we talk to Martindale-Nolo’s Director of Sales, Faith Nessen, and take some of the mystery – and misconception – out of Martindale-Nolo’s Pay Per Lead Program. 

How does the pay per lead program work? 

We acquire leads from over 25 million consumers visiting websites in our network. Over 120,000 of them are requesting legal help, and we provide these leads to our attorney clients based on practice area and location. 

When you sign up for the Martindale-Nolo Pay Per Lead program, you start receiving leads based on your chosen location(s) and area(s) of practice. The plan allows for flexibility, and you can make adjustments to your location(s) or practice area(s) at any time. Plans are fully customizable to make sure you’re always satisfied with the plan. 

We will also provide you with a free profile on our lawyer directory located on Nolo.com. This will help with expanding your firm’s brand even farther at no extra cost to you.

How does someone looking for a lawyer submit their inquiry to Martindale-Nolo? 

Everything happens through our network of websites. By using both organic and paid search tactics, our sites rank high for common legal search terms. We also offer educational materials to help consumers determine if they need an attorney or what type of attorney would be best for them. 

Most of our leads’ journeys start in the research phase, where they search online to learn more about the situation they are in. Once they are satisfied with their initial research, they will either decide to handle it themselves or start looking for attorneys who can help them with their case. 

This is where we help them connect with attorneys in their needed practice area. It’s nice for the consumer because they don’t have to search outside of our network and can easily connect with an attorney directly on the website. 

The process for the consumer to submit an inquiry has been crafted to filter out non- viable users and ensure we are matching them with the right kind of lawyer to support their legal needs. The consumer selects the appropriate practice area and zip code they need an attorney. They then answer questions related to their legal matter, including a free form case detail area, and their contact information. When the consumer submits this information it will be sent to the attorney in real-time. 

How quickly should the attorney follow up with the consumer? 

It’s important that attorneys respond quickly – within 1 hour or less – and provide consistent follow-up because they increase the opportunity to convert a lead into a client. As we point out in our white paper, State of Online Legal Marketing 2019, lead conversion is highest when consumers are looking for an attorney. Following up quickly ensures the competition can’t close in on your potential clients. 

Are the leads that come in exclusive or shared leads? 

We provide both shared and exclusive leads. 

Martindale-Nolo can provide leads for attorneys which is great, but what if they are already working with another service like Martindale-Hubbell or Avvo who works on their advertising? 

It’s great if you are already working with Martindale-Hubbell and or Avvo, but we are not the same. We are actually sister companies and are very complementary to each other. One of the key differences being that Martindale-Hubbell and Avvo are very much focused on promoting the individual attorney with their profile, their websites, and their directories. They optimize marketing opportunities for the individual. 

We focus on generating interest and need through the content and articles we have and then connecting the attorney in real-time with individual consumers. So it’s a different source for attorneys to get their leads. 

We use organic and paid search tactics to make sure our pages rank the highest on searches. Our pages contain educational articles related to their legal matter that consumers can look through and start to understand why hiring an attorney would be helpful for them, and provide a way to connect with an attorney immediately. The consumer can also search our directory of attorneys and directly submit an inquiry to an attorney with their contact information along with information about their case. Either way, Martindale-Nolo connects consumers with an attorney in their moment of need 

Speaking of organic and paid search, how does Martindale-Nolo help with organic (or SEO)? 

SEO is important but it takes a lot of time and effort, and your website won’t rank for all the search terms consumers use to locate a lawyer. Martindale-Nolo can help you generate clients from search terms that your site may not be ranking for so you are maximizing your opportunity to get in front of consumers that need your legal services. 

This is some great insight. Thank you for sharing that and for speaking with me. 

I’m glad I was able to provide you some answers and insights.