Avvo Lawyer Marketing Guide: 17 Avvo Marketing Techniques & Tactics
Avvo is the attorney listings juggernaut of the legal marketing industry.
Boasting over 8 million visits each month (of which half have an urgent legal issue) suggests that the pie is big – even if you aren’t currently getting a piece of it.
In this Avvo lawyer marketing guide, I will help you understand the ins and outs of the platform and how you can best utilize it to build your brand, generate exposure and attract new customers.
I will cover:
- How to optimize your Avvo profile
- How to increase your Avvo rating
- What you need to know about Avvo Premium and advertising
- The pros and cons of the Avvo legal Q&A forum
- Whether to consider an Avvo website
- Which other marketing opportunities are available to lawyers on Avvo?
- Is Avvo worth it?
Click on the links below to jump to the section you’re looking for:
Quick Links
- 1. Avvo basics
- 2. Understanding your Avvo profile
- 3. How to optimize your Avvo profile
- 4. What is an Avvo rating?
- 5. Is it worth trying to improve your Avvo rating?
- 6. How to improve your Avvo rating
- 7. Avvo advertising: Paid and unpaid listings
- 8. What’s the Avvo Clients’ Choice Award?
- 9. Is Avvo Premium Worth it or not?
- 10. The Avvo legal Q&A forum
- 11. Publish Avvo legal guides
- 12. What about contributor points?
- 13. Guest blogging on Avvo
- 14. Hosting webinars on Avvo
- 15. What’s Lawyernomics?
- 16. Avvo websites
- 17. What’s Avvo Ignite?
- Summary: Is Avvo Worth It?
1. Avvo basics
In addition to your free law firm or attorney profile included in the massive Avvo lawyer directory, the main Avvo offerings for lawyers include:
First, we will drill into your Avvo profile and then take a look at each of these potential marketing opportunities.
2. Your Avvo profile and how to optimize it
The strength of your Avvo profile helps to determine how much exposure you receive on the platform.
Information can be attained from public records provided by state bars and additional attorney licensing entities.
Avvo itself says that your profile will be:
“…based on public data we’ve collected on each attorney and the information they have provided in their profile. Information not supplied by the attorney comes from a variety of sources, including public records (state bar associations, regulatory agencies, and court records) and published sources on the internet (including attorneys’ websites).”
Yes, you may have a profile on Avvo even if you don’t know you do!
You can check whether you do have a profile by filling out your details here and clicking on Find Your Profile:
It’s best, of course, if you have control over the information that displays.
You can claim ownership of your profile by entering either your LinkedIn, email or Facebook details or your phone number.
Your profile is your opportunity to make a case for why people searching Avvo should contact you rather than the competition.
To optimize your profile, you first need to understand the “what” and “where” of the information that’s included.
Key profile information
People search the directory by U.S. state and by practice area.
The key practice areas listed are:
- Bankruptcy and debt
- Brain injury
- Business
- Car accident
- Child custody
- Child support
- Criminal defense
- Divorce and separation
- DUI and DWI
- Employment and labor
- Estate planning
- Family
- Foreclosure
- Immigration
- Litigation
- Medical malpractice
- Mesothelioma and asbestos
- Motorcycle accident
- Personal injury
- Probate
- Real estate
- Social security
- Speeding and traffic ticket
- Tax
- Trucking accident
- Workers compensation
- Wrongful termination
This is not an exhaustive list; but it covers the main featured practice areas.
Profiles in search results
If you’re looking for an estate planning lawyer in Maine, you’ll see these entries in a list of over 250:
The list can be further narrowed down by the city. So, a search for a personal injury lawyer in Portland, Maine returns this:
As you can see, in search results, your profile displays the following information:
- Name of attorney/lawyer/law firm
- A brief overview of the lawyer (profile headline)
- City/State
- Practice area
- Star rating with the number of reviews
- Avvo rating
- Number of years in practice
- An overview of the firm
- Telephone number (for Avvo Premium members)
- Link for sending a message within Avvo (Avvo Premium members)
- Link to the law firm website
Lawyer profiles
If you click through from a profile featured on the search results, you arrive at the individual law firm profile:
Here, you reach the actual profile page.
The information displayed here is separated into two sections:
A left-hand panel box
It includes:
- Name of attorney/lawyer/law firm
- Practice area
- Star rating with number of reviews
- Avvo rating
- City/State
- Number of years in practice
- Videos and Photos
- Link for sending a message within Avvo
- Link to the law firm website
- Telephone number
A larger right-hand panel box
It includes:
- A detailed ABOUT section
- Detailed CONTACT details (with Google Map)
- A run-down of all REVIEWS and attorney endorsements
- A breakdown of COSTS
3. How to build an optimized profile
If you know the basics of search engine optimization (SEO) you won’t be a stranger to the need to optimize your Avvo profile.
Quite simply, building an optimized profile will help you show higher up in the attorney searches I shared above.
How do you do that?
Here are the main areas to focus on.
Get the photo right
A high-quality headshot is needed: upload that to your profile and you will get 17 times more potential client contacts, according to Avvo.
Just look at these examples.
Try to avoid unprofessional, low-resolution shots like these.
And certainly not this…
Ensure the first sentences in your About section summarize your strengths
Summarize your strengths in the first couple of sentences of your About section.
This is important as it will be what users see in search results. They won’t see your whole profile, just the following snippet before it is truncated.
Note how each of the above descriptions is clear and concise, informing readers why they should get in touch.
Make sure your contact information is complete and up-to-date
Give your clients a direct route for contacting you: provide all contact details and ensure they’re accurate. You want people who search for your town, city or state to be able to quickly find you.
Use your About section to provide detail
The About section of your profile is the largest space. Make sure you use this space to make a case for why potential clients should select you.
Focus on your background, experience, and building credibility in your key specialist areas, like in this example.
Highlight your practice areas
Most people searching on Avvo are looking for a specific type of lawyer in a specific location.
Select the practice areas that best describe what you do (you’ve already seen some of the main practice areas).
Add video and images
Multimedia: it matters, regardless of where you are publishing it online.
Your Avvo profile is no exception.
Include video and images of your practice to engage potential clients and provide a clearer view of why they should contact you.
They feature in your “search snippet” as well as the main profile page.
The great thing about video content is that you can embed it directly into your profile, like this example.
Some top profiles also include award logos in the Photos and videos section, like this one:
Complete the Resume section
The Resume section adds credibility to what you say in the About section.
Complete the information about where you’ve worked, awards you’ve received, companies you’ve owned, your educational background, speaking engagements, and associations you’re a member of.
Gather reviews from clients
Reviews are important. People considering whether to hire you will place high stock in what others have said about you: they’re 12 times more likely to contact you than an attorney without any reviews.
As you’ve seen, an average of the star rating they award you is featured prominently on your profile when it appears in search results.
Get peer endorsements
Showing that you have earned the trust and respect of other lawyers in your network adds greatly to your credibility too.
Include payment options and an offer in the Cost section
Don’t leave people guessing.
Let them know if they can afford to hire you.
Another great tip is to let them know what the first step is to hire you: a free consultation? For how long?
As we get into the next section, you’ll find many more specific tips about how to improve your Avvo profile to increase your credibility with the platform and improve your Avvo rating.
4. What is an Avvo rating?
Every lawyer with a profile on Avvo has an Avvo rating.
This is based on the platform’s proprietary algorithm. The rating system awards a score between one and ten to all licensed attorneys in the U.S.
According to Avvo, the rating “is not an endorsement of any particular lawyer”. Neither is it “a guarantee of a lawyer’s quality, competency, or character.”
Following is a basic interpretation of what the ratings between one and ten mean.
Rating Designation
- Superb: 10.0 – 9.0
- Excellent: 8.9 – 8.0
- Very Good: 7.9 – 7.0
- Good: 6.9 – 6.0
- Average: 5.9 – 5.0
- Concern: 4.9 – 4.0
- Caution: 3.9 – 3.0
- Strong Caution: 2.9 – 2.0
- Extreme Caution: 1.9 – 1.0
Additionally, there is a “No Concern” or “Attention” rating. This is given to profiles that have not been claimed and are rated under 6.5.
Attorneys and law firms with a top Avvo rating may display it proudly on their website, as a mark of credibility:
More about whether you should do this in the following sections.
But note that the rating will also appear in Google and the other search engines’ search results when people search for individual attorneys or law firms.
5. Is it worth trying to improve your Avvo rating?
There is an ongoing debate in the legal marketing community regarding Avvo’s business model and advertising packages.
In short, the jury is still out on whether Avvo is a rating platform you should saddle your horse to or if the platform will charge a fee for displaying your hard-earned reviews in the future.
At present, I can say with certainty, that increasing your Avvo rating will increase the number of leads you receive.
Here’s why…
If you search in Google for “family lawyer Michigan”, note how Avvo is featured in the boxed section immediately after the ads on page one.
Then, a little lower down page one after the Google My Business listings and map, two more links to “find the best family lawyer in Michigan” and “find the best child custody lawyer in Michigan”
If you’re a family lawyer in Michigan with a top rating, there’s a good chance that searchers will see your profile when they click through.
There they will see your Avvo rating immediately to the right of your star rating.
A strong rating here encourages the click through to contact you.
Similarly, if someone searches directly for a law firm by name, you’ll often see a link to the Avvo profile on the first page of results.
See how a search for “Dinnocenzo Law New York” returns a link to the Avvo profile (with the Avvo review star rating) immediately after the firm’s own website and before its Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
Of course, once people enter the Avvo website, they will generally utilize Avvo’s internal search function to review their options.
With this, as we’ve seen, you search by practice area and state/city.
A good Avvo rating generally means that you’ll feature higher in these search results. Note how the top four profiles on the first page of this search for criminal defence lawyers Chicago have an Avvo rating of 10 and have purchased a premium profile.
6. How to improve your Avvo rating
Given its lead generation potential, improving your Avvo rating should be a no-brainer.
Understand that your Avvo rating is based on the contents of your profile.
Avvo itself says:
“Adding relevant information (the more current, the better) to your profile can translate into points toward your rating.”
So, the golden rule if you want to improve your Avvo rating is to optimize your profile.
If you’re familiar with the basics of search engine optimization for lawyers, then you’ll know how optimizing your on-page copy will improve search engine rankings.
You’ll also know that it can get quite complex.
Fortunately, on Avvo it’s a little simpler.
While platforms like Google do not release details of their algorithms, we’ve seen that improving your rating and rankings requires completing all sections of your profile in detail.
We’ve already covered the main ones above but the full list is:
- About Me
- Associations
- Awards
- Cases
- Client ratings
- Contact information
- Education
- Fees & Payments
- Headshot
- Languages
- Licenses
- Media (Photos and videos)
- Peer endorsements
- Practice areas
- Publications
- Speaking engagements
- Work experience
You already know how to optimize your profile to make it more convincing for potential clients.
The following are a few extra tips for optimizing the key sections of your profile that will improve your Avvo rating.
Be as detailed as possible when you break down your practice areas
It’s good to niche but beware of restricting your appearances in search.
For instance, as a criminal defence attorney, most of your work might be in the area of DUI/DWI cases.
Say you also work on speeding/traffic ticket cases, you want to ensure that you show in searches for these types of cases as well as for someone simply searching for a criminal defence lawyer.
So, this area of your profile may look something like this.
Include all valid state bar licenses
Include licenses from all states where you now work or used to work (unless your license was revoked as a disciplinary measure).
Include start and end dates in resume sections
Don’t ignore the start and end dates when Avvo prompts you to enter them in the resume section. They will help your rating.
This applies in the work experience section and all other sections that ask for them:
Detail all valid awards you’ve won
Avvo doesn’t seem too concerned about the quality of the awards you’ve won.
In order to contribute to a high rating, it seems that it’s necessary to detail practically any award you’ve won. Super Lawyers appear to count, for instance.
Note that the more recent the award the better. Try to list at least one from the past 12 months, if possible.
Without a date, the award’s contribution to your rating will be less.
Include name, position and duration of your association with legal and business organizations
Avvo values your contribution to the legal community.
In the section about associations with relevant legal and business organizations, make sure you complete all sections.
Some common inclusions here are local (county and state) bar associations.
Add credibility with details about publications you’ve contributed to
If you’ve written or contributed to any publications such as books, journals, local newspapers, etc. this is the place to tell the world about it.
This, again, is important for credibility:
Add details of conferences you’ve spoken at
Like with publications, details of speaking engagements will improve your Avvo rating as you increase your value to the legal community.
Include details of the conferences or other engagements you’ve been asked to contribute to (the more recent the better).
Support your case with recent case details
This will help people understand better how you can help them and also improve your Avvo rating.
Actively seek endorsements from peers
Ask other lawyers that you’ve worked with (or opposed on a case) to endorse you on Avvo to boost your rating.
Endorsements from sitting judges may be valued even more highly.
Each peer will be asked how they know you and for which practice area they’re endorsing you.
Get as many endorsements as possible (at least 5-10) and try to keep them as current as possible to maintain a maximum rating.
Why haven’t we mentioned reviews?
Good question.
You already saw how client reviews are important for an optimized profile. They inform prospective clients about how you can help their case.
It’s very worthwhile gathering them – you’ll have to actively request them.
But most Avvo authorities seem to agree that reviews alone don’t really affect your Avvo rating.
Aim for 100% completeness but there’s a catch
A good guideline is to fill in your profile to 95 percent completeness.
Why not 100 percent?
Because to do that, you’ll need to display your Avvo rating on your website. That might work for some firms, as we’ve seen, but it might not be for you.
Displaying an Avvo badge on your website with a hyperlink to the Avvo website passes link authority back to the platform. If you’ve wondered how Avvo has come to dominate the search results in recent years, this is why.
Bear in mind that 95 percent profile completeness is generally good enough and should ensure a 10 rating.
How hard is it to get a 10 rating on Avvo?
You can achieve a 10 rating on Avvo even if you’re relatively new to the platform.
That’s because a large proportion of the lawyers on Avvo haven’t taken the time to optimize their profiles and improve their Avvo rating.
Follow the tips above to demonstrate your credibility and it’s possible to quickly rise through to the top few percent in your practice area and location.
And one final tip: try to update your profile frequently.
You’ve seen that the dates you enter matter; keep adding recent awards, speaking engagements, publications, case results, etc. Then Avvo will see that you’re active and reward that.
7. Avvo advertising: Paid and unpaid listings
As people browse Avvo and search for lawyers in their area, they’ll usually see something like this:
The first results they see are paid display ads or sponsored listings.
This may remind you of Google search results pages, where the Google Ads are listed at the top of the page, above the organic search results,
Everything you’ve read above has focused on improving your organic search results.
But what about paying for the space?
Well, Avvo itself claims that it helps you…
“Stand out among your competitors. Avvo advertisers receive up to 70x more contacts than non-advertisers.”
Avvo Advertising starts with a subscription of $100/month and then incurs pay-per-click fees (not as expensive as Google Ads, it should be added).
Based on our research, we’d advise caution before spending your marketing budget on Avvo ads.
There are probably better options available, such as working with a certified Google Ads agency.
Besides, advertising will not improve your Avvo rating and you can achieve success on it for free. Try that first.
8. What’s the Avvo Clients’ Choice Award?
You may see this badge featured on some law firm websites:
The Avvo Clients’ Choice Award is awarded to attorneys who receive at least 15 reviews of 4 stars or higher on Avvo during the previous year.
It doesn’t hurt to feature this badge on your Avvo profile but whether it’s prestigious enough to include on your website is questionable.
Perhaps if you’re struggling to establish your credibility online in other ways, it can help.
9. Is Avvo Premium Worth it or not?
Avvo claims that upgrading your profile to premium will improve your chances of being found by the 50 percent of people using the platform who have an urgent legal issue.
What does it cost? What benefits does it bring? And is it worth it?
Upgrading to a premium subscription starts at $100 a month.
It provides the same profile elements as the standard account but includes the following benefits:
Improved contact visibility in search
Premium profiles feature contact information in search results as well as on your profile.
We can see that going Premium doesn’t affect your Avvo rating directly but does affect your contact-ability from search.
Enhanced visibility in search results
Avvo says it will give some priority to Premium accounts. This is backed up by our user experience, where the first few pages at least of most search results seem to be dominated by lawyers with Premium accounts:
Even page five of this search for “car accident lawyer Alabama” is dominated by Premium lawyers:
Spotlight reviews
Premium members are able to highlight their best reviews at the top of their page.
Note the difference between this profile of a Premium member, who features his very best reviews at the top (these are from 2015):
…and this from a standard member, who is not able to “bury” his negative review, which happens to be the most recent one (not a good look!).
Personalized headline
As a premium member, you can write your own headline at the top of your profile.
Conversion tracking tools
The Avvo system allows Premium members to track who is contacting you by phone, email, or via your website.
No ads on your profile page
A free profile page may feature competitor ads. As a Premium member, you’re guaranteed to be ad-free.
In case you’re curious, here’s how the “similar lawyers” feature displays.
The bottom line?
If you’re going to play on Avvo, you might as well pay the nominal cost of going premium to:
- Give yourself a better chance of being seen
- Improve your chances of being contacted by searchers, and
- Have more control over the information on your profile
10. The Avvo legal Q&A forum
Avvo boasts a vast searchable database of legal advice which is growing every day.
For starters, it provides lawyers with the opportunity to participate in its legal Q&A forum.
Is this worth your time? Will it generate leads? Will it boost your Avvo rating and lead to more indirect enquires?
The forum is a clever initiative, demonstrating that Avvo is a legitimate legal resource, engaging people and keeping them on the site longer, and raising the credibility and authority of its members.
On the Q&A forum, people can ask questions about legal matters and get answers from qualified lawyers.
This is said (by Avvo itself) to generate 10 times more contacts for lawyers who answer at least 15 questions on the forum.
They also claim that it can “increase your visibility in Google, Bing, and Yahoo search results.”
While this statement may be true, it is important to note that were you to publish the same content to your blog, instead of Avvo’s Q&A section, you would still increase your visibility in the organic search results and own the platform on which your content is published.
As well as the desktop version, there is a mobile app meaning that you can answer questions on the train home or on a coffee break.
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As soon as a question is posted in your practice area, you can receive a notification so that you’re first off the blocks with the answer.
How does answering questions benefit you?
First up, answering questions on the forum won’t necessarily improve your Avvo rating.
While that may be a little surprising, it’s not a reason to shun the forum.
Answering questions there will:
Raise your credibility by demonstrating expertise.
This will be evident on your profile, where the number of questions you’ve answered is featured:
Earn you “contributor points” (more about these in the next section on legal guides).
Answering questions can help you appear on the weekly (or all time) leaderboard:
Earn more endorsements
Another possible benefit of being active on the Q&A forum is that you can interact with other talented lawyers who answer questions in your practice area.
This can lead to more peer endorsements, which is one of the most important factors in your Avvo rating.
Note how many endorsements this lawyer has (she is top of the leaderboard above).
That said, we’ve found no evidence for the claim that answering questions will “increase your visibility in Google, Bing, and Yahoo search results.”
The bottom line?
If you have the time available, answering questions (especially via the app) may be a great way to put quieter periods to use from a marketing point of view.
It will improve your Avvo profile but it’s playing the long game. Building up with this will certainly take time.
11. Publish Avvo legal guides
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Another way to demonstrate expertise and provide value to the legal community on Avvo is to publish legal guides on the platform.
Avvo has its own collection of lawyer-authored guides and articles. These are generally list-style legal articles or in video format.
However, some lawyers consider contributing to this a waste of time because it doesn’t necessarily increase your Avvo rating.
Before you start groaning about the extra work this involves, there are also some significant benefits if you do have the time to put to it.
- They demonstrate your knowledge in your specialist practice areas
- Sharing your knowledge creates goodwill in the community
- You raise your profile on Avvo
- You earn Avvo contributor points
- You may increase your presence in the search engines
- You may earn an Avvo Staff Pick award for a particularly high-quality article, increasing your visibility in search results
- At the foot of your article is a link to your Avvo profile: articles can drive traffic to your profile (see below)
What is a ‘staff pick’ award?
For guides that are particularly well written, relevant, and original, a Staff Pick designation is awarded.
This doesn’t appear to bring any major benefits – other than the points added to your contributor level score (more about that below).
How do you publish a legal guide on Avvo?
To publish a legal guide on Avvo:
- Sign in to your Avvo account
- Click Write a legal guide on your dashboard
- Click Get Started on the Write a Legal Guide page
- Choose a template style (list-style legal guide or video legal guide), and then click Continue
- Write your legal guide, preview it, and then click Publish.
How do you get your guide to stand out?
Bear in mind that there’s a lot of duplicate content out there. Make yours stand out and be the best:
- Choose video over text article
- Create a descriptive title that is specific to your practice area
- Go into some detail
- Be specific for your location
- Be highly practical for your audience
The bottom line?
No question: Avvo legal guides do take time to write.
If you’re a busy lawyer without the time to write your own legal guides and articles, it’s understandable.
But, for the value they provide to your online credibility and reputation, it may be worthwhile getting them written for you.
You should be generating regular content whether you’re active on Avvo or not.
The content can be re-purposed and aid not only your Avvo marketing but your own law firm’s blog and social media presence.
12. What about contributor points?
Contributor points are awarded to lawyers on the Avvo platform who:
- Write legal guides
- Answer questions on the legal Q&A forum
- Comment on answers on the forum
There are 20 different contributor levels from one point to 100,000 points.
There is an overall contributor score (and leaderboard) and a weekly contributor score (and leaderboard), as we saw in the previous section.
The breakdown of points awarded for each activity is as follows:
Activity & Points Awarded
- Posting one of the first three answers to a question: +10
- Answering a question within the first hour: +5
- Commenting on an answer: +2
- Marking another attorney’s guide as helpful: +2
- Making corrections: +5
- Participate as a guest blogger: +100
- Guest-host a webinar: +1,000
- Publishing a guide: +15
You also receive extra points based on the community’s reaction to what you post.
Activity Points Awarded
- Receive a “Staff Pick” designation for one of your guides: +40
- Receive an “I agree” vote on one of your answers: +5
- Receive a “Marked as helpful” vote on one of your answers: +5
- Receive a “Best answer” vote from a question’s asker: +10
- Receive a “thumbs up” vote on one of your guides: +3
Most of these are self-explanatory.
Top contributor perks
You may see “Avvo Top Contributor” badges featur