September 11, 2011
South African Lawyers
Lawyers South Africa
This idea is NOT focused around a wordpress directory, although we will use a web directory of lawyers in South Africa to promote what we actually want to do. The issue of course is that in a market where there is already a dominant force as far as websites go, we have to be more creative to be able to promote the new concept. And there is no better way than providing something better than what currently exists, and charge NO money for that. The main difficulty lies within adding related data to the project to get the ball rolling.
The law attorney project is not a great rush job, as I don’t have the time to spend on developing the site at the moment. Slowly but surely I am adding data in the back-end to get the domain ready for development. I was expecting a visitor from South Africa some months ago, but this has now been postponed. As such the domain was set up, ready for the visit, and it has not really started yet. I have done some setup in the background however.
Lawyers SA : Site Structure
This is the current setup on the domain:
- Lawyers SA : Attorney Directory : The directory section of the lawyers in South Africa. The section has been cloned in from a previous install and directory, and is ready to be completed. ACTION REQUIRED : Need to set up the site to work with the data, and replicate the existing provision for solicitor directory in SA. This is a single session job, and as some of the data is available, it is merely the time element to get someone to add data which is holding the project back. The geocode location as far as South Africa is concerned needs testing for accuracy. The post codes cover a great area and is not as specific as in the UK for example.
- Laywers SA : SA Law : This section will add some value to some of the keyword searches associated with the law in South Africa. I have started on the section, done the layout and started creating some content. ACTION REQUIRED : The data on this section needs completing and more data and categories added. The concept here is to allow solicitors to write articles defining what they actually do. Trading content for valuable link backs, I will use FOLLOW LINKS to benefit solicitors that actually interact.
- Laywers SA : Document Exchange : Legal documents are costly to ”generate”. Creating a unique solution allowing solicitors to interact with each other and obtain non confidential documents in an exchange basis. The ”terms” agreed between the users is not dictated by the domain. This allows all lawyers in South Africa the opportunity to save time and money by helping each other. Is that possible? ACTION REQUIRED : The first of our projects using BuddyPress. The ”idea” has been formulated and now needs transferring into a reality. Waiting for the coding team to get time for this development. All to do with documents, manipulating display online and download functionality.
- Lawyers SA : SEO SUR : The section where we will add some value to the site in the development stage. Have done an initial setup for the domain. Still in infancy. ACTION REQUIRED : Style. Functionality. Content. Development. Really just everything.
Will get a chance to address this domain when I get a chance for it. I am still struggling with getting a local ”agent” to develop and manage the admin side of the domain from South Africa. No rush, just a sidetrack for whenever.
Lawyers SA : Site Concept
Wanted to do this document exchange service to lawyers. After all, their ”trade” is in effect words. The idea of managing a directory with the data and charging for access was an option. The issue with this was the management of all the documents as ”listings”. Being the ”owner” that was ”trading” these listings, we were potentially involved in the ”trade”, especially if we were charging for that. Using this approach, users can now make the ”trade” between themselves, and there is no need for a third party involvement. The concept is to create a unique approach to engage these lawyers to use the functions and become the ”owners” of the domain.
The concept of working exclusively to create a domain focused on lawyers might surprise people which know me and my feelings towards solicitors. But then maybe I have a different motive.
Lawyers SA : Technically Challenged
The advice I was given when starting with this project was to forget about it. It seems that solicitors use their PA‘s and secretaries to send email and faxes, and they would not have the technical experience to get the ”concept”. I have seen both sides of the coin, and I think that the project is NOT that complicated to pull together, and the answer will become obvious. The idea is to make the process of adding and managing the documents you wish to exchange really simple and easy. Time will tell if this idea has any merit.
Lawyers SA : Visit theProject
You can view the Lawyers Directory project here.
