Thanks to Tony, Karen, Hoa and Nick - we are back - bigger and badder than ever. Next step is to have Google recognize that we are virus free. You may still see the message, “this site may harm your computer”, because it may take Google a bit of time to complete their review of our site.
Just a note to let our readers know that we are aware of “this site may be harmful” Google message. We are working on ridding the site of the virus. Stay tuned . . .
Another great day for Avvo: Today we launched “About Me,” a new tab on the Avvo Profile that allows lawyers to add pictures, video and just about anything else that suits their fancy.
Why the new tab? A number of lawyers told us that their personal story, which is often relevant to their practice, is not sufficiently told by the Avvo Profile’s structured fields. Trying to remedy this was tough because everyone’s personal story is different. So we decided to abondon structure and make “About Me” a free-form forum. Whether you want to promote your zest for rock-climbing, speak to your involvement in your church, or profess your love for the duckbilled platypus, “About Me” is for you.
Another request from the lawyer community has been an Avvo page for photos and videos. Many lawyers have impressive advertisements or videos relating to big cases they want to share. Others want to show photos of their offices, staff, families, cats and so on. Well, my fellow lawyers, pine no more — you can add an unlimited number of photos and videos to your “About Me” tab, and you don’t even need to upload them to the Avvo server. You can link to your videos on YouTube or anyplace else, and for photos you have the option of uploading or linking to them. It is almost too easy.
So, lawyers, be free . . . upload as much content as you like to your “About Me” tab as often as you like. Tell us (and your prospective clients) what really makes you tick. And, if you have suggestions on how to improve “About Me,” please let us know. As with all things Avvo, we will forever continue to refine this feature.
I am reminded of the old joke, “Enough about me, what do YOU think about me.”
Mark
On Friday I had the chance to give feedback to another start-up here in town regarding a new feature they are getting ready to launch. They contacted me because I have used their site in the past, and they wanted my input as someone familiar with the site’s current features. In start-up land we call this usability testing.
They sat me down in front of a computer that was recording my actions so they could analyze them later. Then a moderator walked me through a few scenarios and watched my reaction. The coolest thing about usability testing is that the user is never wrong. If I couldn’t find a link or had trouble navigating the page, it was a challenge the designers and developers had to manage, not something I was doing wrong. We do testing like this at Avvo and gain a lot of valuable information about how folks not only use Avvo, but also the Internet at large.
It reminded me that no start-up would be around if it weren’t for the feedback from our users; folks letting us know that they’d like to see a certain feature improved upon, or simply suggesting an idea we ourselves hadn’t thought of before (yes, it happens!). Feedback comes to us in informal emails to customercare@avvo.com, focus groups, usability testing and good old fashioned phone calls. We are always looking for anyone interested in giving us feedback. If you think you’d like to participate in a usability study, or simply want to share your opinion with us, email me at customercare@avvo.com.
Here at Avvo, we often talk about the benefits of user-generated content (“UGC”) – i.e., how there is tremendous wisdom in the masses. Here is an interesting CNN article on UGC potentially run amok on a website called JuicyCampus. According to the article:
JuicyCampus’ endless threads of anonymous innuendo have been a popular Web destination on the seven college campuses where the site launched last fall, including Duke, UCLA and Loyola Marymount. It recently expanded to 50 more, and many of the postings show they’ve been viewed hundreds and even thousands of times.
But JuicyCampus has proved so poisonous there are signs of a backlash.
In campus debates over Internet freedom, students normally take the side of openness and access. This time, however, student leaders, newspaper editorials and posters on the site are fighting back — with some even asking administrators to ban JuicyCampus. It’s a kind of plea to save the students, or at least their reputations, from themselves.
Ultimately, it is only for the consumers of sites like JuicyCampus to determine whether the site is valuable. However, my bet is that sites that do not have at least some bar for the quality of their UGC will collapse under their own weight. Only time will tell, but that is why at Avvo we have published guidelines for client reviews and make sure that a human reviews every client review before it is posted. Also, if an attorney disputes a review, we will moderate the dispute to ensure that the client stands by his/her review. Such quality control is expensive, but we think it is worth it for the long-term health of the Avvo marketplace.
Mark
Does a picture in Avvo increase the likelihood that consumers will click through to a profile from an Avvo search results page? A review of a week’s worth of data on the search results page for Seattle Criminal Defense Lawyers suggests uploading a picture matters. A lot.
As I’m writing this, the page above lists 7 lawyers with pictures, 3 without. All of them have claimed their profile and the Avvo Ratings range between 9.6 and 10.0. Those profiles with pictures were 10 times more likely to be clicked on than those without.
Unfortunately less than 1 in 4 attorneys who claim their profile add a picture. So get those pictures uploaded.
At Avvo, we spend our days (and sometimes nights) thinking about how we can improve our site, so we can help consumers navigate the often complex legal industry. We’ve come up with a few cool ideas, and we’re feverishly building them. Before we launch them, however, we’d like to run them by real people, like you.
We are currently recruiting a few people to come to our office in Pioneer Square (Seattle) to test new product features. If you’re interested, and you’ve never done this with Avvo before, we need:
1. Consumers, one hour session, Friday, 10/19. Only requirement? You’ve searched online for a lawyer, anytime, on any site.
2. Lawyers, one hour session, Wednesday, 10/17 or Thursday, 10/18
As our thank you, we’ll take care of your parking and send you out the door with a Starbucks Card. Please email us if you can make it. If not, stay tuned for some cool new stuff from Avvo.
After launch many of you gave feedback about the features on Avvo. From that feedback we realized that one of the biggest issues is the inability to merge attorney profiles. Many of you are licensed in more than one state and thus have more than one Avvo profile and that can be a real annoyance to keep up to date.
With our most recent feature release we solved this by changing the process of claiming profiles. Now, when you claim your second, third, forth, etc profiles, the system automatically merges your bar records as well as your peer endorsements into your first profile. This is great because it puts all your bar experience together in one profile (which is good for consumers to see and it can also positively effect your Avvo Rating). It also makes updating your Avvo presence much easier since everything is located in one profile.
Now, if you’re one of the many lawyers that has already claimed more than one profile and would like them merged into one, give us a call or send us a support request and we’d be more than happy to merge them for you. It won’t take more than a couple minutes.
As we add new states to our system, you will be able to find new profiles that are yours and claim them. Those profiles will then be automatically merged into your existing profile.
Hopefully this will be a much better experience for lawyers and consumers.
Keep the feedback coming. We’ll keep the improvements coming.
As is said, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and Avvo has some great-looking lawyers.
Consumers use images to make inferences about a person they wish to hire. Displaying an eye-catching picture will help focus attention to your profile and create some emotional branding.
Here are some of my favorite pictures on Avvo:
Admiralty / Maritime lawyer: Matthew D. Latimer
Divorce / Separation lawyer: Kelly Yi-Yi Chang
Some attorneys have voiced concerns on needing a credit card in order to claim their profile. Now, given the number of lawyers who have already claimed their profile, it appears that more people are comfortable with the credit card verification than not. Still, for everyone that may be concerned, I want to make sure that we are all on the same page.
We use the credit card solely as part of our verification process. We then store a randomly encrypted card number so we can flag if someone tries to claim multiple profiles – like a hacker bot. But we cannot read or even retrieve the credit card number once it is encrypted. Because we use the credit card just for verification, we do NOT:
The credit card company will put a temporary $1.00 “hold” on your card (required by the credit card company as part of the card verification), though this will disappear typically within 24 hours. You won’t be charged and Avvo doesn’t receive any payment.
We implemented this credit card verification procedure to help keep every lawyer’s profile secure, and I think it is the most responsible thing we can do for right now. Still, we are looking into alternative ways for lawyers to claim a profile.
Mark did a radio interview last week with the talk show host and estate planning attorney Bob Pittman. Bob really likes the product and, on the show, he said that he likes the credit card verification process.
Any thoughts from other attorneys out there?