Sneak Preview: We have a bonus webinar in March.  Do not miss this one.

Google Analytics:  The most valuable free online marketing tools attorneys aren’t using (Register). This webinar occurs on Wednesday March 11 at 1:00 pm PST

Lawyers have embraced online marketing initiatives – from Twitter, to SEO to LinkedIn, and Adwords.  Yet, most attorneys (more than 80%) miss the single most important piece of the online marketing puzzle:  how to track and improve the success of all of these online marketing efforts.  Google Analytics provides a free, easy to use platform to monitor the success of a website and all of the associated marketing efforts.  We will review standard website analytics terminology, learn how to install Google analytics and walk through the interface to identify the most important metrics for legal marketers.

Ah . . . the joys of software development. Last night, we intended to release an unnoticed update to the Avvo website, which included installing our advertising platform and making some tweaks to the Avvo Rating algorithm. But rather than a quiet nighttime glide into the digital pool, we offered a 400-pound, wake-the-neighbors belly-flop by resetting the scores of some attorneys.

The good news is that all scores will be back up within a few hours. Sorry for any stress that this caused.

Mark

According to Tampa attorney, Chris Hoyer, those three magic words are “Produce the Note”.  If you are a homeowner delinquent in your payments and you receive a foreclosure notice, Hoyer first advises consumers to find a foreclosure attorney.  If a consumer is unable to do so, Hoyer suggests showing up for the court hearing and asking the lender to produce the promissory note (the document that proves that the homeowner owes the bank).   In a study by Katherine Porter,  an Associate Professor at the University of Iowa Law School, banks failed to attach the promissory note in 40% of the foreclosures she studied.

This is a guest blog post by internet defamation attorney, Adrianos Facchetti

It seems people are suing customer review sites for defamation based on negative reviews like gangbusters these days.  Recently, a pediatric dentist sued the parents of a boy the dentist allegedly treated after the parents posted a negative review on Yelp.  The dentist also sued Yelp.

But suing customer review sites for defamation is usually a bad idea for a number of reasons.

1.  The Law Is Against You

The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (”CDA”) is a federal law that is extremely protective of online speech. It was originally intended to regulate pornography on the Internet, but later was interpreted by courts to immunize Internet service providers, like Yelp, from torts committed by users of their systems. Specifically, it says:

No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.

This means generally that a plaintiff cannot sue the operator of a site for defamation for comments made by a third party.  However, if a site operator encourages the defamatory speech or alters the meaning of the speech, they may be determined to be an “information content provider,” which means that they wouldn’t be protected under the CDA.

The overwhelming majority of courts have granted CDA immunity to customer review sites.

2.  You’re Outmatched

A customer review site like Yelp or Rippoffreport, for example, typically has access to lots of money and other resources.  This means they usually have in-house counsel who deals with these types of claims all the time.  In contrast, your attorney will likely have little to no experience handling an Internet defamation case.

3.  You Become The Target

These kinds of lawsuits attract the attention of public interest groups who believe that Internet speech deserves greater protection than speech in other places.  In many cases, these groups will defend or assist a website pro bono.  In some instances (not all) you become the target.  Customer reviewers may begin to comment on the situation on the site itself or other places in the Internet, which can greatly damage your reputation.  Or, the public interest group will spearhead a campaign against you.

Now don’t get me wrong . . .

I’m not saying you should never file a defamation lawsuit against a customer review site.  On the contrary, there are some limited circumstances where it is absolutely necessary to take action and file a complaint.  However, this should be done only after you’ve considered all your available options, and after you’ve consulted an experienced internet defamation attorney.

Since the recent launch of Avvo’s “Top Legal Blog” rankings we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the buzz it’s generated and by how many requests for inclusion we’ve received.  Well, after working through some technical issues, we are pleased to announce that all requests have been added except for a handful that could not be tracked by Alexa.  Of those added, below is a list of eight new blogs that made the top 100 and their rankings as of today:

IP Watchdog #13
Promote the Progress #21
In House Blog #25
Startup Company Lawyer #31
Slaw #33
Social Media Law Student # 59
Adams Drafting #82
Health Blawg #96

Thanks again to everyone for your interest and participation.  Also, please continue emailing customercare@avvo.com if you would like your blog included–  if Alexa can track it, we’ll be glad to add it!

At the same time the DC Bar is posting warning notices to its members about Avvo and demanding that we cease our service in the District, local television in DC is playing up the benefits Avvo provides to ordinary consumers. Check this segment out:

Maximizing your Avvo Profile
The second webinar occurs on Friday February 27 at 1:30 pm PST and focuses on Maximizing Your Avvo Profile (Register)

Attorneys, who attend this webinar, will learn the following:

• Answering Questions in Avvo Answers
• Self-Publishing a Legal Guide
• Technical widgets from Avvo that can enliven your own website
• Raising your profile on Avvo
• Contributor Points – what do they mean and what can you do with them?

As reported by John Cook at TechFlash last week – and expanded upon by the Washington Times today – we at Avvo have found ourselves in a bit of a tussle with the Washington, D.C. bar.

Despite all of the benefits Avvo offers attorneys, what ultimately makes our service unique and valuable is its transparency and completeness. The millions of consumers who come to the site looking for legal guidance know that it’s not pay-to-play. Among many other things, they can look up attorneys and discover how long they’ve been licensed, in which states – and whether they’ve been sanctioned by the bar.

It’s unclear whether the D.C. bar has an issue with how we obtain attorney licensing information (downloading from the publicly-accessible bar website) or the fact that we are aggregating the information with other data and making it more available to the public. I suspect it’s the latter. Or rather, I suspect the bar doesn’t like having this information out of their control.

But that’s the beauty of the web – information that was previously hard to find or widely scattered can be brought together, aggregated with other data and delivered in a way that can be consumed by all. Avvo’s aggregation of data into profiles of attorneys is but one example: Think of Google Maps’ integration with metro bus timetables, Zillow’s use of property tax and sales records to drive estimates of property value or Healthgrades’ reviews of hospitals and doctors.

Is it sometimes messy? Sure – Avvo and any other company aggregating information for consumers is in a constant state of improving its offering. And there will always be a few people who don’t like or understand the need for information to be democratized and put to efficient use. The answer isn’t to try to bottle the stuff back up. Doing so is counterproductive and denies both consumers and thousands of D.C.-licensed lawyers the benefits of Avvo. To the contrary, Avvo invites the D.C. bar to take a giant step into the 21st century by working cooperatively with Avvo to ensure our data is up-to-date.

And, if my invitation is not enough, maybe the bar will listen to the invitation of President Obama, who, on his first full day in office, directed all agencies of the federal government to start with a presumption of openness when dealing with public records. Mr. Obama also signaled a clear break from the policies of the past:

“My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.”

So how about it, D.C. – why not follow the lead of the other government in town?

In his newest Avvocating post, Mark guides attorneys on how to build a Core Web Presence – a concept developed from Jim Collins’s Built to Last, which advises companies to “preserve the core”.  Mark outlines three steps for lawyers:

• Set your Core Web Presence Objectives
• Build your Core Web Presence
• Serve your Core Web Presence

Avvo was on Fox & Friends last weekend. Check it out.

Once again, thank you to Jennifer Jolly “The Frugal Mom.” We really appreciate you continuing to spread the word about Avvo!

Mark