• by Tameka Kee , August 10, 2007

Reed Elsevier's LexisNexis, a major provider of legal and business research info and services, has partnered with Ingenio for an online advertising initiative aimed at the legal market.

Advertisers on LexisNexis' lawyers.com and attorneys.com properties will now be featured in Ingenio's Pay-Per-Call ad network (which includes partners like AOL, Marchex, and Local.com). The San Francisco-based Web-to-phone tech and service provider will also power the 'LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Attorney Match-Direct Call Service'--a feature that visitors to attorneys.com can use to search for legal advice.

LexisNexis will manage and implement the service for legal advertisers, "almost like how an SEM firm works on behalf of a client," said Marc Barach, Ingenio's CMO.

Using the pay-per-performance model, lawyers only pay when a lead is actually generated, and according to Barach, the setup makes it easier for them to leverage the power of contextual targeting, and mobile, local, and general search "without committing to a large investment in advance."

Pay-Per-Call also delivers customers via phone, a key communication channel for involved purchase decisions like choosing an attorney.

"The legal vertical is about personal connections," said Barach. "It's not just about buying keywords or banner ads. Lawyers need to talk to potential clients to earn their trust and confidence."

Although Ingenio already had some legal service providers participating in its network, this deal was about broadening the scope, and staking out a larger chunk of the overall legal advertising budget.

Nielsen Monitor-Plus reports that legal advertisers spent some $575 million marketing their services last year, and only $2 million of that budget--or less than 1%--came online.

"It's the [legal] industry's way of saying that the available online advertising options aren't working for the way that they do business," said Barach. "Pay-Per-Call is like the on-ramp. LexisNexis gains their attorneys more reach and exposure, and it opens the floodgates for other legal advertisers to follow."