I totally agree with you about WordPress! If there was any objective analysis provided and it was open for votes to readers, I am convinced WordPress would easily win! However, for beginners, I think Blogger is the easiest to use.

I would also add that, knowing what Kevin does, even if these were his prices, it is pocket change compared to the bang you’ll get for bucks! I have yet to see what Avvo will do for lawyers. Is there a free trial period available? If so, I am willing to try and comment.

But my understanding is that LexBlog also runs on a widely used platform – SixApart’s Moveable Type – it’s just LexBlog customizes the platform for its clients. That seems to be exactly what Avvo will be doing for its clients with Word Press. No difference there, as I see it.

But I think the comparison to LexBlog is still apples-to-oranges. For $25/month, it sounds like Avvo is offering a service more akin to setting up a client on, say, Typepad, and then letting the client run their own show after the blog goes live (but presumably with tech support to address any bugs or errors that might arise). But I don’t expect clients would get nearly the same level of ongoing tactical support and strategic guidance as they would from a company like LexBlog (which, as I see it, is offering more of an “agency” model – the kind of model, incidentally, that eLawMarketing also offers).

So it really depends on whether a lawyer is comfortable with more of a self-service model (which Avvo seems to be), or is interested in the value-add of ongoing strategic and tactical support and guidance from an agency like LexBlog or eLawMarketing. For those interested in the latter, it’s natural that the option will cost more – in most cases in life, you get what you pay for.

Of course everyone is entitled to a little marketing spin now and again, but misrepresenting the facts will get you more than a little lash back from the users who know and love their blogging platforms (as you have now discovered).

WordPress, Blogger, MovableType and TypePad quite obviously host a number of blogs several orders of magnitude over what Avvo does.

If you’re going specifically for legal weblogs, then, well, as I understand it “Avvo Blog” is a whole month old. LexBlog is several years old, with hundreds of clients of which I am aware, including myself.

I highly doubt you had that good a month.

Like many other lawyers, I’ve kept my distance from Avvo since I’m not comfortable with the “rating” system and the erroneous perception of quality it gives clients, and, to be honest, this type of puffery (at best) and misrepresentation (at worst) isn’t helping.