Scheisters.comNewsflash: 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.

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2 Response Comments

  • Stacy Lawrence  May 29, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    Andrew,
    Do you know if they are profitable yet?
    Besides Google advertising, how do they/will they monetize the website?

  • Andrew Shotland  May 29, 2008 at 11:24 pm

    I have no clue re profitability. I think they are selling lead generation to attorneys – either that or premium placement on their site.