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Is Choosing a Particular Domain Name Important to Your Law Firm?
by Skip Covan on September 14, 2009

The answer is yes and for that matter, it goes for any company that wants to promote their product or service online.  This is one of the first steps of marketing your law firm online and can be very impactful for the rest of the building blocks of marketing your site.  Below are a few important standards in choosing the most effective domain name for your firm:

Domain Extensions – Although you may not be able to get the exact domain name you want, try and stick to a .com if at all possible.  This will prove to be important when a potential client sees your domain name on your business cards or  an advertisement.  Without having a .com, the potential client may assume that you could only get what is left as far as domain names are concerned, and therefore, may assume you have not been in business for very long.

Keyword Sensitive – It’s very good to have a domain name that has your firm’s name in it so that when searches are made for your particular firm, you will be found easier because Google and Yahoo put a high importance on the words inside a domain name.  But also understand that you can have more than one domain name forwarding to the same website without any additional hosting fees.  This is important when your intention is to gain clients in a certain geographic area or a specific segment of law.  An example of this would be purchasing PensacolaDivorceAttorneys.com, and having that forward to another domain with your specific firm’s name in it.

Influence – Certain domain names can give credibility for your firm and therefore influence your viewer positively or negatively regarding your firm.  If your domain name is AlabamaPersonalInjuryAttorneys.com, they are much more likely to contact you before someone with a domain name that simply focuses on their firm name.

Professionalism - Make sure your domain name is as professional as possible.  Just like any piece of marketing material whether it be a website or business card, you want your firm to stand out and convince the potential client that your firm is the best for the job.  Sometimes, the first thing they see is your domain name.

Unforgettable – The easiest way to get someone to return to your site is to make sure they can remember your domain name.  If it’s just several letters with “llp” on the end, they will probably struggle to remember that, but if we use the above example PensacolaDivorceAttorneys.com, they will surely remember that and your visits to your site will increase and therefore you will gain more clients.

Domain Maturity – Another important factor in domains and search engine placement is the length of time your domain has been out there.  If it’s a new domain the search engines will know that and will therefore give you a lower ranking, whereas domains that have been online for years will have higher rankings.  So, the lesson here is if you don’t have the best domain right now, keep it, purchase a few other domains that are keyword sensitive and redirect them to your original domain.

Hopefully the above information will help to give you a better understanding of how important choosing the best domain name or names for your firm is.  If you have any questions regarding this, please feel free to contact me directly and I will be glad to assist you in anyway I can.

Skip Covan
skip@magnolialaw.net