Since new domains extensions like .attorneys and .law are becoming available for lawyers, it would be useful to know which things and factors you should consider before choosing the right domain for your law firm.Having the right domain name is very important as this is one of the greatest factors that will either make or break your identity and ease of traffic/people finding you. If you choose the wrong one, this will negatively affect your reputation or simply downgrade your efforts to drive quality traffic for your website. It is actually the trademark of your online brand and if you want to work for you, you need to choose something appropriate.
Therefore, we suggest that you don’t just rush and take any domain name that pops into your mind without considering a few things first. Here they are:
- Avoid using any word separating characters. Word separating characters such as hyphens, dashes and commas are not favored by Search engines as they categorize them as spam urls. Not only this, some users many get annoyed trying to find the right character in their keyboard. It’s generally not a good practice to do.
- Avoid using any unpopular Top Level Domain names. If you want to keep things safe, you should go for regular domain extensions like .com and .org. Domain extensions that are less commonly used like cc. and .info or .name are sometimes marked as spam by search engines and don’t appear familiar to most online visitors.
- Avoid too lengthy domains. Domains that are exceed the character count of 15, are considered to be hard to be type and remembered by the average visitor. If the online visitor takes more than 10 seconds to type your url, this is not a good sign as they will struggle to remember it or even get some characters wrong.
- Make sure that your domain name matches your areas of expertise. If for example you are mainly involved with divorce cases and have an office in Nicosia, it would be a good idea to state that briefly in your domain name e.g. nicosiadivorcelawyers.com. That way, any potential client that is looking for a divorce lawyer in that area, will find you more easily as your domain name will convey that they have come to the right place. Of course, if you have many different expertise areas, you can’t list them all in your domain name. In this case, instead of choosing one in random (which may cancel out the other ones), find a common denominator e.g. the fact that you are in Nicosia and go more general. That way you’ll include all your expertise areas under one name and one want cancel the other out.
- Alternatively, if you work with famous lawyers, you could also list that name along with your name or brand. That way, you build more credibility and trust around your name.
- If your budget and time allows you, you can combine the above tips to generate differ domain names but again, make sure you stick to the rules and don’t just buy a bunch of domain names and choosing a name in random.
- Avoid copying your competitors. Some of your competitors may seem to have catchy and successful domain names and this is inevitable. If you fall into the trap of copying them though, you won’t “steal” their success or trick people to choose you instead. You will lose valuable credibility and you will confuse nay potential clients. Not only that, you will send the message that you have really no clue or time to differentiate your brand. It really isn’t a good idea.
- Avoid too complex and legal terms. Another common mistake some law firms make is using complex law terminology in their domain names that are not widely known to the public. When you are a lawyer, these words may come out naturally but not so for non-lawyers and ordinary people. If people don’t understand what your domain name is all about, they will forget it and have no clue on who you actually are. And this will inevitable drive them to more familiar domain names used by your competitors.
- Avoid using superlatives. You may think that you are the best in your area and perhaps you have some social proof to back-up your claims. Search engines, however, will classify your site as spam if you use words like “top lawyer” or “best lawyer”, etc. Add to that that many people will see them as a bit suspicious and excessive and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster.
Apart from the above tips, it would also be wise to choose a domain name that will serve you over the years without having to change it every time there is a change in your law firm. You don’t want to change it for example, every time a partner leaves or in case you add new partners. In this case, go for a more general domain name.
