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When it comes to growing your client base, expanding your online presence through digital marketing techniques is more relevant than ever. Every detail matters and adds up to either hurt or help your website’s ranking with Google. This includes your web address or URL.

Knowing these tips on choosing a good domain name is a great place to start if you are beginning the process of building a new site or refreshing an existing one. Reach out to learn more about the legal marketing strategies you can apply to maximize your law firm’s potential.

Should a Domain Name Be Catchy?

Domain names should be straight to the point. If you are going for a viral marketing campaign where you are trying to get someone to remember a cute word or phrase, catchy domains can be helpful. However, that is typically a different marketing strategy that is better suited to other professions. For law firms, it is important to be memorable and easy but to focus on plain English words over slang or gimmicky terms.

Sometimes websites will rank highly for a specific thing simply because they have a perfectly chosen domain. For example, if someone is searching for a Sugar Land car accident lawyer and a site has the domain name sugarlandcaraccidentlawyer.com they might automatically pull up on the first page of search results. This could be the case even if they do not have much useful content because the keywords in their URL are frequently searched.

What to Include in a Domain Name

A good rule of thumb for choosing a domain name is to include the services you offer. For legal firms, this might be what area of law you focus on primarily, such as personal injury, criminal defense, family, et cetera. You should also include your location. If you are a divorce attorney in Dallas, your URL might be something like dallasdivorcelawyer.com, for example. You could also consider adding quantifiers that people might include with their search query, like the word “best.” Special characters are not an option, and numbers might seem out of place in a legal URL, so it is best to avoid them. Capitalization will also not make much difference, as you will be taken to the same site regardless.

Choosing a domain name that corresponds with social media handles for your law firm is also a good idea. Consistency makes it easier for people to find you no matter where they may search for information. Ideally, the name of your website, your domain name, your Twitter handle, your Facebook page, and your Instagram username should all match or at least be as similar to one another as possible.

Trademarking Your Domain Name and Other Protections

Domain names are unique. They cannot be copied letter for letter by someone else. However, someone could have a slightly different domain name from you. For example, if your website is mincopersonalinjuryattorney.com, someone else could purchase mincopersonalinjuryattorneys.com (with an ‘s’ at the end) and might be able to steal some of your momentum. Purchasing the domain names that are close to yours and having them redirect to your main website is an excellent way to safeguard your hard work. It is also not a bad idea to trademark your domain, although it certainly is not necessary.

Get in Touch for More Tips on Choosing a Good Domain Name and Other Marketing Strategies

Regardless of whether your law firm’s website is brand new or has been around for a few years, Small Firm Legal Marketing can provide you with guidance on optimizing your content to grow your business. For more information on choosing a good domain name or other tactics like utilizing Google to pick the best location for your firm, reach out today.