The Power of a Good Domain Name

URLs and domain names – these aren’t terms you typically run into during the daily operation of your legal practice, but they are important in terms of branding and marketing for your firm to generate new client leads and help your existing and potential clients find you more easily on the web.

A domain name, or simply “domain,” is, in a sense, your online identity. It is the main part of your website’s URL (uniform resource locator – the links that people follow to arrive at your site’s pages) and appears like this in browsers: http://www.yourpractice.com.

Branding with Your Domain

If you want to build your practice’s name as a brand, use that as your domain name. The fictitious law firm of Smith & Doe might choose the domain “www.smithanddoe.com,” for example. You can then focus your marketing efforts on your firm’s name as a brand, and clients will be able to find you by searching for “Smith and Doe” or simply typing “smithanddoe.com” into their browser’s address bar.

More clients and web users in general than ever before are navigating directly to the sites they want to visit by typing a brand name into their address bar rather than searching for a company or name in a search engine, so this is a very good practice to incorporate.

SEO and Domain Names

Some practices choose to utilize SEO keywords in their domain. This involves choosing your target keyword and working it into your domain name. Suppose the Smith & Doe firm is the premier personal injury firm in Dallas; they may choose a domain name like “www.dallaspersonalinjurylawyers.com.”

You can combine both of the above approaches as well, by taking keywords into consideration when naming individual page files. In the Smith & Doe law firm example, they do want to target Dallas area clients looking for personal injury lawyers, but also want to claim their firm’s name online and use it for branding purposes. They could name their Area of Practice page like so: “http://www.smithanddoe.com/dallas-personal-injury-lawyers.” This ensures that both their keywords and their brand name will show up in organic search results via their URL and give them the dual visibility they’re looking for.

Vanity URLs

Another way to incorporate the concept of branding into your online marketing efforts is to utilize the concept of vanity URLs and social networking URLs. These URLs are easier for potential clients to remember and can be provided with other marketing materials to help drive traffic to your site for specific promotions or target offers. The Smith and Doe firm could use a vanity URL as part of an “Ask a Dallas Lawyer” mailing, instructing clients to visit “askadallaslawyer.com.”