Avvo.com is a popular online directory that rates Lawyers with a score of 1 to 10. Using their own algorithm, Avvo ranks lawyers for the consumer, allowing people to find an attorney that best suits their needs. The ranking also helps attorneys decide how well they are performing, and examines what they can do to improve their services.
Your Avvo rating really matters for the future of your law firm, too. The ratings are published on Google, Bing and Yahoo! Search results, and will appear when an individual searches the name of an attorney.
Improving your Avvo rating means you’ll be improving your chances of getting new clients. Here are 7 of the best ways to substantially improve that rating.
- Create a complete profile
The first step to improving your Avvo rating is ensuring you have a complete profile. If you’ve already set up your profile, and your rating isn’t great, then it could be because you haven’t entered all your information on the profile. Make sure that you don’t leave a single field blank, and if you haven’t uploaded a photo – or you have and your rating still hasn’t gone up – make sure the image you upload is professional and clear.
- Answer questions
Your Avvo profile allows you to answer questions put to you by potential clients. This is a large part of the website’s function, where you offer free answers to legal questions to thousands of potential future clients.
The more you use Avvo, and the more you answer questions, the better your Avvo lawyer rating will be.
- Publish articles!
If you regularly write articles, make sure that you post them on your Avvo profile, too! Whether you write for legal organizations or write about legal news for your website, post it on your profile as well, and the ongoing activity will mean that your rating increases.
- List your awards
If you’ve been given awards for your legal performance in the past, or you have any special certifications, post them on your profile! Not only will this increase your profile activity and thus your Avvo lawyer rating, but it will also show potential clients that you are skilled and certified enough to offer them a reliable service.
- List the cases you win
Every time you win a case, list it on your Avvo profile. Again, the activity will mean that your rating automatically goes up, but Avvo will also give you credit for every one of your successful cases. List also every job you’ve had, as well as every legal firm you have worked at previously.
- Host CLE events
CLE (Continuing Legal Education) programs are an amazing way for you to show that you are helping improve the legal community across the country, and welcome in new professionals to the industry. By hosting these programs – or simply speaking about an area of law that you specialize in at a local CLE meeting – you can increase your Avvo rating and get your name out in legal circles.
Not only will hosting programs and events improve your Avvo lawyer rating, but it will help you improve your public speaking skills and as you research for speeches, help you improve your expertise in a certain area.
- Endorsements
Finally, be sure to get as many endorsements from other attorneys as you can. You can improve your chances of getting endorsements by endorsing other attorneys that you know. These peer endorsements work particularly well if you get endorsements from people who specialize in other areas of law, meaning you won’t be creating competition for yourself.
Apply these endorsements to your Avvo profile, and you’ll see your lawyer rating go up and up!
