Thread: www.mywinninglawyer.com

Sort of like an Angies List for attys?

I like it man!

Originally Posted by PatrickP

Sort of like an Angies List for attys?

I like it man!

Thanks P. I think this could work and I could use a mixture of advertisement techniques between online and old school I'm thinking. I see also how attorneys use old school highway billboards regularly which tells me they pay attention to them. Eventually a pt salesman would work wonders getting the word out, offering specials on listings, showing examples of how they could utilize coupons for free consultations so on and so forth and educating some of them about the power of web advertisement with us. Of course that's after we get a good page ranking.

Have you heard of Legal Zoom? I don't know if that is similar to what you are thinking or if you can make some substantial improvements on that site.

I say go for it!

Be careful man, you just told the entire internet your idea.

Originally Posted by ntapia

Have you heard of Legal Zoom? I don't know if that is similar to what you are thinking or if you can make some substantial improvements on that site.

I say go for it!

Thanks for the input. I believe legalzoom is more like online legal services like wills, business structure setup (llcs, corporations etc) which seems to work well for them. I am thinking more along the lines of the attorney yellow pages..on steroids. Directory divided into to categories by specialty, video introductions (premium membership obviously that we could film for a small fee), bio on all of your attorneys, depending on how many are in the firm, that includes (law school, accomplishments, landmark cases won, organizations, past experience etc.). Most of my initial cost I am thinking would be on hiring someone to build a really professional and functional site. I am not sure how I would go about hiring someone to manage the site with adding new listings quickly and managing stuff like adsense and keeping the page highly visible and as profitable as possible. I have a lot to learn in that department but suggestions would be appreciated. I read a book a while ago given to me by my buddy that sold his background check business called Built to Sell and it helped me understand how to think about starting out with the exit strategy in mind. I'm thinking this could work and it's scalable because God knows there is no shortage of attorneys out here.

Originally Posted by myelbow4

Be careful man, you just told the entire internet your idea.

Dude I have so many ideas like this and better I have already started working on this to a degree. Mccdonalds will open shop up right across the street from Burger King, why? Because they know there is only one place you can get a Big Mac (metaphor). My idea was born in my head so I know what this baby should look like. But I hope that means you like it.

Yussef,

There are attorney ratings out there on Martindale Hubbel and similar sources. This is probably a good place to start. However, a challenge you will have is what a person (the client) considers good is often not the same as what is good legal work. Most clients can tell that an attorney can get back to them promptly and answers their questions and that type of thing but they are going to be less able to judge an attorney on their strategy and performance in a case. Unlike other services, each case can be very different and so it can be harder to judge an attorney. For example, an attorney can do a great job and lose and the reverse can happen as well.

That being said, maybe all that doesn't matter so long as you are making the client happy. In this case, giving them what they want: prompt service and convenience in finding an attorney quickly.

Originally Posted by JDIII2007

Yussef,

There are attorney ratings out there on Martindale Hubbel and similar sources. This is probably a good place to start. However, a challenge you will have is what a person (the client) considers good is often not the same as what is good legal work. Most clients can tell that an attorney can get back to them promptly and answers their questions and that type of thing but they are going to be less able to judge an attorney on their strategy and performance in a case. Unlike other services, each case can be very different and so it can be harder to judge an attorney. For example, an attorney can do a great job and lose and the reverse can happen as well.

That being said, maybe all that doesn't matter so long as you are making the client happy. In this case, giving them what they want: prompt service and convenience in finding an attorney quickly.

Your right. And I used my own experience to illustrate how a lot of people choose an attorney straight from a pretty ad in the yellow pages, or off of a tv commercial or highway billboard. My site (although not an exact science) will simply be a way to give you better information about what's out there for your need, and hopefully assist you to make a more informed decision before you choose an attorney. It might be as simple as something you have in common with one, or your familiarity with a case they won or an organization they are a member of. With all previously mentioned ad methods you don't get that much info and many times you spend your precious time, and god forbid money, learning that you chose a lawyer that is completely wrong for you. But what I believe happens in most cases is people are willing to go with the first attorney that they sit down with that blows the best smoke. MWL.com will close the gap to a degree I believe and give you better candidates suited for your specific need to interview. Thanks for your input.

Originally Posted by JDIII2007

Yussef,

There are attorney ratings out there on Martindale Hubbel and similar sources. This is probably a good place to start. However, a challenge you will have is what a person (the client) considers good is often not the same as what is good legal work. Most clients can tell that an attorney can get back to them promptly and answers their questions and that type of thing but they are going to be less able to judge an attorney on their strategy and performance in a case. Unlike other services, each case can be very different and so it can be harder to judge an attorney. For example, an attorney can do a great job and lose and the reverse can happen as well.

That being said, maybe all that doesn't matter so long as you are making the client happy. In this case, giving them what they want: prompt service and convenience in finding an attorney quickly.

I think you are right it is the clients opinion. Just the same way Angie's list is or the reviews on Amazon.

People can take others input with a grain of salt or as a valid review.

Originally Posted by PatrickP

I think you are right it is the clients opinion. Just the same way Angie's list is or the reviews on Amazon.

People can take others input with a grain of salt or as a valid review.

I am thinking that we will offer multiple options for the attorneys to capture the attention of their potential client. I expect the choices will vary based on specialty e.g., a firm that specializes in corporate law probably wouldn't burden their clientele to post testimonials or reviews versus a personal injury attorney who would post as many as possible. We would eventually use a sales person or consultant with a decent understanding of marketing to help frame which method works best for each specialty. Patrick thanks again.

Originally Posted by myelbow4

Be careful man, you just told the entire internet your idea.

Trust me. Nobody cares. People only start caring after you made boat loads of money. Then they say dumb things like, "I thought of that idea first!"

Found a product (magazine) similar to my idea but far from what my idea can offer you when looking for an attorney and this mag has done quite well it seems. Best Lawyers - Linking Lawyers and Clients Worldwide There is an obvious market, a place to advertise, and a potential buyer once the site is profitable.

I like it.

Not sure what other sites like that exist.

A potential issue you may need to consider:

"I am a lawyer and your website has a negative review of my practice. I will sue you so you have to remove it as you are damaging my business. And I have all the time and money in the world to fight you until you remove it"

I am not sure if this scenario is valid, but it may be worth keeping it in mind. Or may be a non-issue. Not sure.

In any case, I'd worry about that AFTER the site is up and running.

Go for it.

There must be a hundred threads like this on the forum, the one missing ingredient in 99% of these plans is traffic.

Most people have no idea how are they going to get traffic to their site for a niche like this. And no traffic = no attorneys are going to sign up, it's that simple.

Work on a plan to get traffic if you want to stand a chance.

Originally Posted by andviv

I like it.

Not sure what other sites like that exist.

A potential issue you may need to consider:

"I am a lawyer and your website has a negative review of my practice. I will sue you so you have to remove it as you are damaging my business. And I have all the time and money in the world to fight you until you remove it"

I am not sure if this scenario is valid, but it may be worth keeping it in mind. Or may be a non-issue. Not sure.

In any case, I'd worry about that AFTER the site is up and running.

Go for it.

Great thought. But here is the way the reviews would work (since the attorney's keep the bills paid on the site) the "testimonials" not reviews (see where I am going here?) have to be approved to be added to each profile. Make no mistake about it, this is a marketing site and each customer has 100% control over anything seen on their profile and can only be managed by the approved administrator. By the way, as for being sued by one of these sharks, I believe in keeping a well experienced attorney on speed dial for any business venture I get in to along with a good general liability policy. Never can be to careful. But these guys ...www.bestlawyers.com seem to be doing very well with this magazine that I found while researching to see what else was out there like this. I believe their idea could be greatly improved though.

Meeting yesterday about mockup site and a childhood friend of mine from DC that has a nationwide government contract is hooking me up with his SEO guy for guidance on getting traffic. This is the same guy that does Travelocity's SEO stuff. I probably can't afford him but at least he can give me some advice on where to start as cheaply as possible.

5 samples of the sites potential logos will be ready from two designers on wednesday I have already had one web page designer to send me his portfolio and will contact at least 4 others today. The basic landing page should be up today so that the site can start aging. I have a few rough numbers and goals set. If there are roughly 23500 attorneys in my state and I can convince 5-10% to list on my site at an average basic listing cost of around 150 per month (not including the higher tiered listings) that's not too bad when your just looking at one state but when you add neighboring states the numbers look even better. And the salesmen will have some killer incentives to keep bringing in new clients while they get residual rev off of every client they sign up for the life of the client. This could work

By the way we are going to give away 100 free 6 month listings to well established and well known law firms in the beginning. This will add to our market credibility and I don't think anyone wants to be the first paying attorney to go to the site to see his firm is the only one on there.