Last week three bigwigs from Google did a panel interview where they talked about a variety of subjects. One particularly interesting bit was when Amit Singhal, the person in charge of Google’s ranking algorithm, revealed how Google goes about making changes to the algorithm.

Step inside the mind of Google

Singhal said that every year Google runs 20,000 tests to find ways to improve their algorithm, and 500 changes are made to the algorithm.  A test would be someone at Google saying, “I bet websites on co.cc domains are less pleasing to users than websites on .com domains. Let’s adjust the algorithm to ding co.cc websites and see if it produces better results.” Testing is a two step process first with humans testers and then with real users on Google. Here’s how it works.

First, Google runs an AB test with humans, in which two sets of search results, one from the test algorithm and one from the current algorithm, are run side by side for humans to pick which one they like better. This is a blind test where the humans don’t know which results are which.

If an algorithm tweak produces statistically better results with the human testers, the next step is to test that algorithm on Google.com using a tiny sliver of Google’s real traffic. But how does Google know if users like the new algorithm without asking them? The answer is that they monitor user behavior.

Google can infer that if a user hits the “back” button to click on other websites for the same search query, that he probably didn’t find what he was looking for. So, if the new algorithm tests well with real users, then a statistician compiles a report and finally a committee makes the decision to release the results to everyone.

What Google’s testing methodology means for you

If you thought SEO was all about stuffing the magic keywords into the code of your website, now you can see how myopic that approach is in modern times. Google inferring whether users like results by watching how often they click the “back” button is surely not something just confined to testing new algorithm tweaks — Google is undoubtedly monitoring this on a regular basis for all results. The full extent to which search engines are monitoring user behavior through browsers and toolbars came to the fore in a recent spat between Google and Bing over clickstream data.

Pleasing users is crucial

In the brave new world of SEO where Google can tell in real time how pleased users are, you need to ask yourself: “When a user types in XYZ and lands at my website, will they find what they’re looking for?” Every time a user clicks on your results from Google and then hits the “back” button to click on someone else’s site for the same search query, Google is watching and taking note.

That’s why even if there are tricks to manipulate Google into serving your website higher than others, all they do is buy you the chance to test your website with users. If the users don’t like it, Google probably won’t keep serving it highly.

So go ahead, dive into your web analytics to find what keywords people are typing in to find your website. Now type those keyword into Google yourself. Look at what other websites are also coming up on the first page of results. Then ask yourself, “Would I, as a user, be happier clicking on my page over the others?”

Use analytics to find your highest bounce rate pages and ask yourself if there are things you could do to make those pages more pleasing to users (if you don’t know what “bounce rate” is, how to install analytics or how to use it, then check out my analytics webinar for doctors tomorrow and for lawyers Wednesday).

How to make people happier

If you have enough traffic or can afford hundreds of human testers, you can be very scientific about what people like through testing.  At Avvo, with over 2.5 million visitors/month, we have that luxury and are constantly AB testing and making changes. But if you’re a solo lawyer, you probably don’t have that luxury – in order for you to achieve statistical significance, you’d have to wait months upon months to see results, or you simply don’t have the infrastructure or expertise to do proper testing.

But there’s good news. This doesn’t have to be an exact science. You can do what people have done for ages, which is put yourself into the shoes of your audience, ask yourself what they want, and then do your best to give it to them.

Pleasing users is the bottom line, and you’re just the person to do it

Pleasing users is to some extent a web design issue, but it’s also largely a content issue, which means you don’t have to be a web designer or marketing expert to make progress.

If you’re a lawyer, then you already know exactly what your clients want to know – you talk to them all day. If you answer questions on Avvo, you have an even bigger sample of what potential clients want to know.  Not only that, but you know the language they can understand, and you understand their decision process.

So, remember, when it comes to SEO make sure you have content that answers your visitors’ questions, and make sure you do it better than your competition. That’s because SEO in 2011 and beyond is as much about keeping visitors on your website as it is about getting them there in the first place.
икони на светци

I was looking at Phoenix bankruptcy lawyer Joseph McDaniel’s Avvo profile today and I got a good chuckle from his “About Me” section.  It says:

I’m the world’s most boring man.

How boring am I? My personality is so anti-magnetic I can’t carry credit cards. I have been known to induce narcolepsy by walking through a room.

When I was a kid, I read comic books, and wished for superpowers like super-strength, super-speed, or the ability to fly.

As it turns out, my super power is exactly the correct one for my profession as an Arizona bankruptcy attorney.

Being super-boring is helpful in dealing with terrified clients; they calm down almost immediately when they are fighting to stay awake.

And being super-boring is helpful when I’m dealing with very angry creditors; they forget to be angry when they’re dropping into a soporific state, and then they can think rationally, and decide whether they want to win, or they want more money under my suggested deal. More money always wins, when a large creditor is bored enough to be economically rational.

This seemingly whimsical snippet of Joseph’s Avvo profile is really quite brilliant.  While many lawyers have probably already scoffed at it, for his *target audience* it is spot on.  It adds levity and humanity to a potential client who has already lost a lot.  It basically says, “Let’s all calm down.  I have this bankruptcy thing so wired that we can joke about it a bit.”   

While it is surely not the only way to market a bankruptcy practice, I’ll bet it is highly effective in the highly stressful bankruptcy world.  I would be curious to know if Joseph has had prospective clients mention his self-description when contacting him.

Mark

икони

You can’t swing a dead cat in these depressed economic days without hitting a reporter prophesying the End of Days for some group of professionals.  Here are three recent articles painting a very bleak picture for lawyers, doctors and nurses as we know them.  

http://www.economist.com/node/18651114?story_id=18651114&fsrc=rss

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/23/health/23doctor.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=doctor%20practice%20sell&st=cse

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/09/136138374/sick-economy-means-nursing-jobs-harder-to-find

The cliff notes for these stories are often the same:  The profession was once prestigious, largely because the professionals made a lot of money.  The market has changed and now no one is making money.  Current participating professionals are now doomed, or at least destined to be really poor — possibly destitute.  

These articles then get republished in professional trade publications, everyone gets depressed, and those with the least hope in succeeding drop out of the profession.

Don’t fall for the hype.

Here’s the reality:  Empires, economies, industries, businesses and businesspeople (and even doctors and lawyers who don’t think they are businesspeople) all go through cycles.  No matter how much prognosticators like to think we have this figured out during good times, we see crash after crash.  And, no matter how much they like to tell a group of people they are screwed during rough times, we see recovery after recovery.  You only need to look at Apple, Donald Trump or something as boring as the metals industry to know that, in business, no one is ever down for the count. 

So, if you are feeling face down on the mat, here are a few quick thoughts on how to get back up again:

Use the downturn to your advantage:  If business is slow, how about investing in customers for the future.  Offer free consultations.  Author free guides and think of ways to get them in front of potential customers (maybe Avvo’s Q&A and/or our Legal and Health Guides? <wink><nudge>).  If you have the cash, think about buying assets at a discount – maybe a scanner, maybe a whole practice – from someone that did not plan so well.  Reinvest in networking – i.e., meeting people who will help you drive your business in the future.  Revisit your strategic planning, budgets and operational infrastructure.  The list really goes on and on.  While a lot of this may cut into your margins in the short term, think of it as taking the time the economy has given you to invest in larger future margins.   

Refocus on differentiation:  A recurring theme in the End of Days articles referenced above is that the struggling profession has become a commodity and, therefore, all participating professionals will fail as one.  But this could not be further from the truth.  In downturns, usually it is the bottom third of the professional class that is in trouble.  If you love what you do and are good at it, then identify “why” you are good at it (i.e., why you are not a commodity) and invest there — both in time and in marketing.

Do whatever it takes to hang in there:  In a downturn, a war of attrition emerges.  So much of surviving this war is simply getting up from the mat and committing to make it to the final round.    As I mentioned above, a large part of your profession will indeed surrender  – heading off to some faraway place like art school or retirement.  As those people leave the profession, they reduce the available supply which will serve as the first step up into the positive arc of your business cycle.   Of course, those that planned the best during good times have the best chance of surviving tough times, so when you are standing on top of the professional rock in a couple of years take the time to think through how you can best position your business for the next inevitable crash (e.g., savings, variable costs, alternate revenue sources, etc.).

Who knew that Gloria Gaynor was such a sage . . .

Mark

p.s.  For those of you who are not as familiar with the End of Days concept, here’s an explanatory MSNBC article.  As you will note, some think the end of the world is only nine days away, so maybe we are all doomed. :-)

Recently, the Lawyerist had a short but interesting article on lawyers using video chat to communicate with clients (“Is Video Conferencing Part of Your Practice”).  Now, just mentioning “video chat” and “clients” in the same sentence will make many lawyers crumple their noses into a risk-averse mess.  “It is so impersonal,” they say (forgetting they use the telephone) or “I (or my clients) don’t really know how to use it,” or “I’m a lawyer, not an Internet-obsessed teenager.”  These and similar arguments are probably what caused the Lawyerist to call this the more-sophisticated “video conferencing” rather than “video chat.”

On some level all of these arguments have merit.  However, the reality is that, as the 15-35 set becomes the core of our consuming public, video chat among everyone – personal or professional – will be commonplace.  And lawyers are not immune.  Even today, I would much rather pull up Skype to meet with my lawyer on a face-to-face issue rather than driving all the way over to her office, parking, etc. (or paying her by the hour to do the same).  Even if we need to review a document together, nothing prevents us from looking at different digital copies at the same time.

Not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I don’t really need to see my attorneys’ faces on a regular basis (except the ones I socialize with).  I know what they look like and what their offices look like.  We can handle every important matter over the phone, and never am I put off that I haven’t seen their corporeal being for months, if not years.   To the contrary, it appeals to my tightwad nature.  If I’m not seeing my lawyers, they are probably not charging me.

All of that being said, I appreciate it when one of my attorneys reaches out and says, “We haven’t seen each other for awhile.  Let’s grab lunch.”  Or, “Mind if I stop by for 15 minutes to shoot the breeze?”  While I don’t *need* them to do this, I appreciate that they are reaching out and inherently telling me that I am important to them.  And, maybe part of that appreciation stems from the fact that I know they don’t have the time to do this for all their clients, lest they forget to practice law.

So let’s accept the following:

• Most clients are similar to me and like lawyers to unexpectedly reach out and throw them some non-billable love now and then. 
• You can’t be reaching out to all of your clients all of the time.  And, if you have a regional, national or international practice, forget about it.
• Even for important matters, digital communication is more efficient than in-person meetings. 

If you accept each or even most of these assumptions, then what is the next-best-thing to stopping by?  If it were letters, we wouldn’t have the phone.  If it were the phone, we wouldn’t have the Internet or video chat.  The fact is, video is exponentially growing in popularity because it is the next best thing to being there.  With very little investment, both parties get real time, face-to-face communication.  No one needs to commute, clean their office, boil a pot of coffee, whatever.  You simply turn from your email, phone call or meeting, and with a few clicks your client (or your lawyer) is sitting there.  When you are done, no need to walk anyone to the door or engage in idle chitchat while waiting for the elevator.  A simple “thanks for the time” and click of the mouse will do.  Best of all, the enterprising lawyer will be able to do many more video visits than they could ever do in person – especially if their client is thousands of miles away. 

While video chat may not be a necessity for your practice today, it will be tomorrow.  And the more that you can utilize it today — especially with tech-savvy clients – the better off you will be both in time and quality of client contact.

Video killed the radio star.

Mark

I love to see lawyers get business through Avvo Answers. Here’s a great article from the Wisconsin Law Journal speaking to the power of Avvo Answers. This excerpt really says it all:

“[Lawyer Karyn T.] Missimer says that Avvo Answers has increased the number of visits to her Web site.

‘I’m my own Web master, for now, and I use Google Analytics to keep track of the hits on my Web site,’ she says. ‘I’ve found that, when I go through periods of time without answering many questions, the hits on my Web site go down.’

In addition, she estimates she gets about one new client per month that she can directly trace to an answer to a question posted on Avvo.

Eric T. Raskopf, of Eric T. Raskopf Attorney at Law in Oconomowoc, also answers an occasional Avvo question, though not nearly as frequently as Missimer. While he cannot say that a new client has told him, ‘I hired you because you answered a question on Avvo,’ a sizeable number have said, ‘I found you on Avvo.’”

And if that’s not enough to have you answering thousands of Avvo questions per week, take a look at this Avvo Profile. The lawyer, Kimberly Ann Kralowec, has answered only two questions on Avvo (at the time of posting); but already one of her questioners turned into a client. The questioner left a review saying:

“I found Ms. Kralowec on avvo.com when she responded to a question I posted. When I needed to actually get detailed legal advice, I called her because she is in the same city where I live. She agreed to make one phone call to the other side’s lawyer for a small contingency fee, then did way more than that.”

Reading this sort of stuff is so gratifying. May we continue to build products that achieve this level of goodness – wins for both consumers and lawyers.

Mark

I had the pleasure of visiting my motherland (aka “Montana” and/or “Big Sky Country”) last week. It was a family ski vacation in the Rocky Mountains where I figured the world of social media would be held at bay by the tactile pleasures of the trees, snow and rocks.

Wednesday night was my wife’s and my “date night” where we got a babysitter dined alone at one of our favorite Big Sky eateries, Bucks T-4. Long ago Bucks T-4 was a roadside bar that was known for its burgers, beers and raging parties. Today, it is a gourmet restaurant serving “Duck Two Ways” and “Pheasant – Hunter’s Style.” My how much Montana has changed in the last 30 years – but I digress.

At the end of this enjoyable meal of local Montana fare, I got the check and surveyed the damage. Right under the total, there was the following paragraph, “Did you enjoy your meal? Please review us at TripAdvisor.com or Yelp.com. Let others know about our great food and service.”

Wow.

I go all over the country prosthelytizing about how social media is permeating every element of local search – a category encompassing restaurants, lawyers and anything else you buy at a local level. But this simple restaurant receipt in the oxygen-depleted mountains of Montana says it all: Every – and I mean every – business is being touched by social media. You can ignore it at your peril, or you can learn to harness it like Bucks T-4 and many other web-savvy businesses. The reality is that client ratings and other user-generated content are in their infancy and to ignore them today is to cede your client base tomorrow. While it sounds dramatic, it is also reality.

The good news is that Avvo is here to help. This Thursday, I will be holding a seminar on social media marketing and blogging. You can register here. We already have 50+ people signed up and I would love to see you there. It’s a new world out there; but it can be your world.

Be Rated!

Mark

The National Law Journal published an interesting article in its December 14th issue, entitled “Is It Worth It.” The secondary caption sets up the article by saying, “A J.D. used to mean a first-class seat on the gravy train. Now? Not so much. Critics say law schools have a duty to warn.” Although a well-written, this article is only a wave in the sea of “end of lawyer glamour” articles that came out in 2009 (and will surely continue into 2010). We have even seen the New York Times jump on the bandwagon (“No Longer Their Golden Ticket”), although they made sure to tie-in the commercial appeal of ABC’s new lawyer show “The Deep End.”

For me, this feels like Groundhog Day. I came out of law school in 1992 when the market was horrible, simply horrible. New York law firms were laying off lawyers by the hundreds (I was in DC where, well, New York “woes” tend to run downhill) and over 50% of my fellow students joined me in taking the bar exam without a job. Every article I read about lawyers during this time spoke to how the Golden Days of the legal profession had come to an end and people like me were suckers for sinking the price of a small house into my legal education. It was all so depressing. I was debt-laden and possibly headed for the golden headset at the Burger King drive-through.

So, when I read any of these “End of Days” articles, it digs up all sorts of complex feelings; so allow me to get a couple of them on paper:

To start, the idea that law schools have a “duty to warn” is ludicrous. People going into law school are big kids; and, if all they are focused on is the money, I can’t think of a better money-related lesson than to not get the anticipated return on their law school investment. Law school has seldom been a “golden ticket” or guaranteed “first-class seat on the gravy train.” If you don’t understand that your early legal career will be determined by, among many other things, supply and demand, your class rank and how much you hustle, then I can’t feel sorry for you. Nothing, and I mean nothing, in life is guaranteed and to hold your legal income to a different standard is silly.

That being said, I don’t see law schools as an innocent bystander in all of this. If they have a duty, it is to give lawyers more tools in the event that that their legal income is less than expected. One area that law schools and bar associations fall woefully short is in helping lawyers become better businesspeople. Marketing for them is a still a dirty word and, even though a supermajority of lawyers will one day run their own legal businesses, there is nary a mention of these concepts in the law school curriculum or ongoing legal education. “We teach lawyers about the law” is common retort; but that is like teaching someone to eat, but failing to let them know that there are these cool things called forks and spoons.

During these difficult times, we encounter at Avvo lawyers that have no idea how to start building a legal practice. They have no clients, no money and no business understanding to help propel them to a higher station. Maybe they are just out of law school, maybe they were just dumped from their firm, maybe they are reentering the work force after a long absence. They can only eat with their hands, and as a consequence they cannot get a date with any potential client. I hope that in my life time I see classes in each law school year focused on the *business* of law. I hope that I see more state and local bars giving CLE credit for marketing- and business-related courses. I hope I see short-sighted state regulation of attorney marketing fade into the sunset. We can only hope.

Successful lawyers are successful businesspeople. Pass it on.

Mark

Do you have questions about Avvo Advertising? Not sure what would work best for you?

Please join our webinar on Thursday, December 3 at 10:00AM PT for an overview of Avvo’s suite of low cost, targeted advertising options – from display ads, sponsored listings and blogs to the new Avvo Pro. We’ll talk about our methodology and discuss the various options for custom designs, pricing and detailed tracking capabilities.

With Avvo Advertising you’ll receive greater exposure among the two million (and growing) Avvo visitors each month. In fact, we offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

Hope you can join us!

Register

Whenever I give our “Legal Ethics and Social Media” presentation, I have people telling me about interesting ads they have seen. Adam Zucker who attended our Philly presentation sent the following videos, and man are they funny. Bishop Barry and the folks at Jesus Christ Bail Bond Company are working the salvation angle. William R. Buie III is working the family angle. Enjoy.

JCBB #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht9EMjjr5oM

JCBB #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib4APdNU5_I&feature=related

WR Buie III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDdN_3OtulU&feature=related

Interestingly, Bishop Barry of JCBB also has a pest control company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZQB0tk7q1c&feature=related

Mark

Well, another great Avvo Tour. This time we had the pleasure of giving five speeches in four days in the mighty cities of DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Once again, we learned all sorts of things on this trip. Let me offer a few:

1. We bring the rain wherever we go. Florida had the downpour. The Northeast just had Seattle-like cloudy skies and drizzle the whole time. While this made us feel at home, no Seattleite really wants to feel at home when they are on the road – just as no Siberian wants to feel at home on the road. We need sun man!

2. Carolyn Elefant draws a crowd. Carolyn spoke with us in DC and Baltimore, and she is a true thought leader with her MyShingle blog and fantastic book, Solo by Choice . In DC, Carolyn spoke off the top of her head for 30 minutes regarding marketing, networking and practicing law. After her presentation (and a long break), I had to shoo away the crowd around her so that we could start the next segment. If Carolyn is speaking near you, go see her. She knows of that which she speaks.

3. Jon Frieden got into social media because of dead cats. Honest. He tells a great story about how he defended a Virginia woman over her 500 cats, some dead and in the freezer. The story got so much press that his Internet persona became the “Dead Cat Lawyer.” To combat this, he started blogging and working social media to reflect his broader skill set (he represents people with dogs too). OK, the dog parts a joke – Jon is an accomplished litigator in Fairfax Virginia. Thank you Jon for your great presentations.

Carolyn, Mark and Jon. Photo Courtesy of Legal BizNow

4. Baltimore and Philly brought out Jon Katz and Kelly Erb (aka “Tax Girl”). Sadly, I missed Tax Girl’s talk due to my ABA speech. However, Conrad said she was fantastic – talking about being an early DIYer and building a solid core web presence. Jon Katz talked at length regarding how working on 1st Amendment lobbying issues pulled him into the blogosphere and social media in general. Thank you Jon and Kelly for your valuable thoughts – you both generated some great conversations among the crowd.

5. Philly has some great food. Conrad (who is originally from Jersey but spent a number of years in Philly) took us to Pat’s in South Philly for a traditional cheese steak. While I loved the food, I was amazed at the price: $51 for three cheese steaks, fries and soda. Watch for Avvo’s House of Cheese Steak coming soon.

6. The ABA can draw a crowd. I spoke at the ABA Law Practice Management Conference. What fun. I had the chance to meet the head of Martindale’s ratings strategy (step 1: Copy Avvo’s ratings) as well as people from Superlawyers, Best Lawyers and Law Dragon. It’s always interesting to spend time with one’s competitors. I couldn’t help but show this slide during our speech showing Avvo poised to be – if not already – the most trafficked legal directory on the Web (Avvo is in blue).

7. NYCLA rules. NYCLA has one of the grandest meeting halls in the bar world and they filled it wall-to-wall with lawyers. The facilities were great and the crowd was better. Thank you NYCLA for such a great event.

8. Our New York panel was off the charts. We had Tony Colleluori, Jeena Belil and Ari Kaplan. Each one of these people can TALK. I had to do little moderating. They were so full of good ideas, and spurred so many great questions from the crowd that I just had to let these guys talk. Tony spoke to leveraging the Web for an already successful law practice. Even in a room full of New Yorkers, he dropped a lot of jaws with his straight talk on law firm marketing. Jeena spoke to building a new practice with online tools and marketing. Jeena was a long time in house lawyer who hung her own shingle, and look at her now! I regularly use Jeena as an example of effective DIY website. Finally, Ari Kaplan looked at things from a consultant’s perspective. He works with so many different firms on what works and doesn’t work on in the marketing and networking worlds that he was the perfect overlay for the our two practitioners. We even had someone in the crowd who had attended one of Ari’s webinars the day before and she said, “Are you really that Ari?” Ari is also a loyal graduate of George Washington University Law School, so you know he is sharp. :-)

Tony, Jeena, Ari and Mark at NYCLA. Photo by Andrea Cannavina

While on the subject of the NYCLA event, Andrea Cannavina tweeted from the event so you can get a feel for our great panel here. Also at the ABA event TheLaw.TV interviewed me after my presentation (they were covering the event for the ABA) and you can see the interview here.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the tour. Our next big event is the Avvocating Conference, January 21st and 22nd here in Sunny Seattle. We are having some of the biggest Web giants come speak to lawyers on Web strategies. We would love to see all of you here.

Mark