A number of organizations are using search engine marketing techniques to help steer customers toward websites and it appears some small law firms may benefit from pay per click campaigns.

According to The Recorder, San Francisco-based law firm The Veen Firm, noticed a 20 to 30 percent drop in cold calls last year. Managing attorney Miles Cooper said the company said it needed to make a change to generate more business, which is when they started pay per click.

"It was a philosophical jump for us," Cooper told the magazine. "We thought of ourselves as one of the more prominent firms in the city, not a 1-800 ambulance firm. ... But we need to make sure that our names are out there."

So far he says the campaign is working with the firm getting more targeted calls of people responding to specific ads.

The news provider says the Veen Firm is just one of a number of law firms that have benefited from the use of pay per click.

As the economy continues to sag, more companies say that while they intend on cutting back on traditional marketing, their online marketing budgets are expected to rise though 2009