Since October 2009 – roughly 8 months ago – my website – www.chetson.com – has brought in just over $200,000 in business. Quite a lot of this business I’ve referred out. But in referring it out, I’ve made clear to the receiving lawyers that I’d like to learn from them, would approach them with questions from time to time, have them review briefs etc. I try not to be presumptuous or demanding. Right now I’m in the business of learning the law and building a reputation as a smart, helpful, and good criminal lawyer.
This has worked out well, to the extent that by the time the year’s over I’ll probably have had at least two jury trials. I’ve gotten to interact with some of the top lawyers in town. One guy – a fantastic lawyer – has taken to calling me, half-jokingly, a “cash cow” and whenever I show up at his door, unless he’s with a client, he’s happy to help. I’ve gotten a ton more experience than I ever could had I simply been an associate in a law firm. By operating as my own law firm, and by bringing things to the table, I’ve been able to present myself more as a “peer” with lawyers whom I respect.
To be honest, I could make a decent living by just doing the web work for other lawyers, but my goal has always been to become a great lawyer, and so this doesn’t interest me much.
Here’s how I’ve done it: focusing relentlessly on clear and cogent content, taking advantage of all the tools that Google – Google Local/Place, Google AdWords (for a time), Google Analytics to measure, and Google Webmaster – has to offer to promote my business, by building links to the website, and by offering a good service that people are happy to write reviews about following the conclusion of their cases.
By trading on things I already know – how to build a promote a website that will bring in business – I’ve been able to make headway quickly in learning the law and in getting real-world legal experience.
This has been cause for some jealousy as the guy “with the website”, which I’ve been careful to guard against. Basically my motto is: I’m not here to take business from anyone. I’m here to help people grow their businesses and, if they treat me fairly and honestly, refer business as I get business I can’t handle or can’t take.
I’m also transparent about my process. I tell lawyers who ask me exactly how to build a website. I tell clients who hire me exactly what they can expect from my services. I do this because I’m ultimately building a reputation and brand that will pay off in the future. I also am happy to tell lawyers how to build their businesses because I know it falls on deaf ears. In other words, the problem isn’t how to build a website that’s like mine. The problem is building a website that performs well and, importantly, is part of the entire client experience. If you have a great website, but offer a mediocre experience, the website will not perform. Knowing that most people won’t follow-through, I’m happy to give as much advice as they want. In addition, I’m happy to give advice to people WILL follow-through because those are just the kinds of colleagues I want in the legal community.
Greg Swann says:
Oh, bravo! Utterly excellent. You made my day.
May 21, 2010 — 10:22 am
Alex Cortez says:
Damon, great post. It’s definitely a fresher approach to stand out and be seen more as a peer rather than a rookie. What long term plans do you have as you grow and develop? A bigger online presence? Focus more on your offline work and keep leads/referrals internally?
May 21, 2010 — 12:12 pm
Damon Chetson says:
I have a couple of routes to take, and frankly I’m not quite sure.
1. I could hire an associate by the end of the year, even someone with more experience doing misdemeanor work than I have. If I got the right person, I could potentially pay enough to give that person a good salary, and be able to build the practice that way.
2. I could build out my bankruptcy practice properly, which requires me to learn and focus on marketing that aspect in addition to doing well on criminal law. I get about 1 bankruptcy case every two weeks. I need to double that to make that profitable.
3. I could fold my practice into a fellow lawyer’s practice. This is least appealing simply because I like being my own boss, and while I’ve found others who are very good lawyers, many of them tend to have high overhead that I’m not willing to take on.
Not quite sure. As it is, things are in a period where they’re developing fine so I’ll see what shakes out and figure out what I want to do after the summer.
May 21, 2010 — 5:33 pm
Brian Brady says:
I postponed my commentary until I could look at your online presence; a few thoughts:
1- I love your AVVO participation. I’m astounded at the good online reputation you’ve built in one short year. Answering those questions gave you credibility in the community. I might suggest you turn each question into a separate blog post, at Chetson.com, to garner the benefits of the long tail on search.
2- The youtube video, of you speaking about DWI consequences, is really good. You come across as knowledgeable without being a “know-it-all”. Most of us fear lawyers because they confuse us; you don’t. More 4-5 minute videos would demonstrate how approachable you are.
3- Likewise, your blog posts are so easy to read. What the heck is a Crawford Clause? I took three minutes to read your post and have a better than average understanding of it, than most lay people, now.
The challenge you’ll have, hiring an associate or folding into a larger firm is that you’ve built an online personality. If I were to engage your firm, I would want you to represent me. It’s going to be hard to assign me to an associate after you’ve answered my questions on Avvo, spoke to me on YouTube, and presented good arguments about certain laws on your blog. Alas, that’s the challenge all professionals have when they develop an online persona. It’s a good challenge to have.
May 22, 2010 — 12:09 pm
Damon Chetson says:
Brian, Thanks for the feedback. I hate myself on video, so after making the first few, I decided not to do any more. And I haven’t really promoted the ones I’ve done. I’ll re-think that. I think I come off as somewhat prissy and pompous.
The AVVO stuff is easy to do, so when I have downtime, I work on those things. I’ll take your advice re: reposting. I’m also looking for other sites which will accept my articles, and enable me to link back to my site. If anyone has ideas – I’ve tried goarticles.com and ezarticles.com – please let me know. I’m trying to pump up my google juice.
Definitely if you’ve got some more critical feedback or ideas, please shoot me an email at damon@chetson.com
May 23, 2010 — 10:31 am