Newsflash: Now using the “DDL” (Drilling Down on Local) acronym to shorten titles.
Avvo is a ratings site for lawyers. Currently in 13 states plus DC = 65% of all practicing lawyers.
Because B2B is boring they have been able to get a strong foothold into the legal vertical. I totally agree, both with the boring part and the opportunity part.
9 days after Avvo was launched they got sued by 2 attorneys who didn’t like their Avvo rating. Lesson 1: lawyers like to sue.
The Legal Vertical:
$225B in annual revenue
$4.5B in lawyer marketing spend
$1.3B goes to Yellow Pages advertising!
-#1 revenue category| 311MM look-ups per year
– 1 page full-color = $86.4K in King County, WA
– Cost-per-call can surpass $200
– 90% of lawyer advertising is offline but coming online rapidly
– 32% of consumers search for lawyers online
“Austin DUI” searches are $70/click on Google.
Consumers don’t trust lawyers so a trusted intermediary is needed.
The interesting thing they are offering is showing endorsements by other lawyers for each lawyer.
Avvo Answers generating 1,000 questions/mnth. Growing like crazy. Attorneys answering questions in exchange for free advertising.
2 Response Comments
Andrew,
Do you know if they are profitable yet?
Besides Google advertising, how do they/will they monetize the website?
I have no clue re profitability. I think they are selling lead generation to attorneys – either that or premium placement on their site.