Effective Marketing for Legal Professionals CHOOSING YOUR DOMAIN NAME A guide to choosing the perfect domain name for your legal practice. 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four INTRODUCTION CHOOSING A DOMAIN NAME CHANGING THE DOMAIN NAME PERSONAL LAW BLOG Summary 2
Chapter One INTRODUCTION 3
1. Introduction In today s digital society your domain name is an important part of how your clients and potential clients will find you. The right domain name for your legal practice will depend on a number of factors specific to your firm and marketing goals. Keep in mind though, a domain name is only a small part of your digital presence. If you have limited resources spend more time and effort coming up with a good website rather than a snappy domain name. 4
2. Domain Name Basics 2.1 The Top Level Domain You will have seen many domains that end in.com or.com.au. These are known as Top Level Domains (TLD). The.com domain is the original domain from the United States where the internet originated. All other.com domains end with a country code. Australia is.au, New Zealand is.nz and so on. The.com.au is the most common extension that appears at the end of Australian domain names. The com means commercial and tells people at you are a business. You want to use a domain that ends in.au as it tells, at a glance, you are based in Australia. With all the offshoring and overseas outsourcing a.com may give the impression you are not an Australian law firm. There are other extensions, for example.net.au, which is less popular and should be avoided if possible as it can lead to confusion with the organisation that holds the.com.au. When choosing your domain the best possible scenario is if you can secure the.com,.com.au and net.au addresses as this will prevent any possible confusion and protect your brand. 2.2 The Root Domain This is the part of the domain name that is unique to your practice and its wording will describe your business in some way. This is what you spend the most time thinking about. You may choose your firm name (e.g. downes. com.au, downeslegal.com.au, downeslaw.com.au);or choose your practice speciality (e.g. familylaw.com.au, criminaldefence.com.au). Pick a name that represents what you want to be known for in the marketplace. Avoid hyphens and dashes and try to make the domain as short as possible. If you do use an abbreviation of your practice name make sure the abbreviation seems natural and obvious. Also check your name for unintended words that may arise from combining or abbreviating words. 5
3. Registering Your Domain 3.1 Registering Your Domain Once you have decided on your domain name it needs to be registered. Use a registrar that is accredited with.au Domain Administration Ltd (auda), the policy authority and industry body for the.au domain space. auda maintain a list of accredited registrars. The following link contains a list of accredited registrars: http://www.auda.org.au/industry-information/registrars/list-of-accredited-registrars/ 3.2 Cost of Your Domain A domain costs around $10-$20 per year for you to register. If the domain is already registered and owned by someone else, and you have your heart set on that domain, you will have to enter into negotiations with the owner to purchase it from them. It is usually simpler and cheaper to find a domain name that has not already been registered. 6
Chapter Two CHOOSING A DOMAIN NAME 7
1. Sole Practitioners For the sole practitioner, the right domain name depends on whether you want to brand the practice with your name or your practice area or a combination of both. 1.1 Exact Name Match Strengths frankdownes.com.au Name Recognition: Anyone who sees your domain will know your name. Versatility: As you are not specifying a particular practice area you are better suited to addressing a wider range of legal areas. Reputation: If you have a unique name it will rank well when people search for your name. Weaknesses Ambiguity: Cannot tell looking at the domain name what you do. No Keywords: Keywords in a domain help with achieving higher rankings. Availability: If you have a common name, there is a good chance someone else has already registered it. 8
1.2 Exact Name Match and Broad Industry Indicator Strengths frankdowneslegal.com.au Name Recognition: Anyone who sees your domain will know your name. Versatility: As you are not specifying a particular practice area you are better suited to addressing a wider range of legal areas. Reputation: If you have a unique name it will rank well when people search for your name. Keywords: Having legal or law will help your site rank for searches containing those terms. Availability: Adding an industry indicator increases the uniqueness of the name and therefore possible availability. Weaknesses Length: The shorter the domain, the easier it is to remember. Adding legal might make the domain too long. Lack of Keywords: Even though you have added your industry you will not gain any value for your specific practice area. 9
1.3 Hybrid Name and Practice Area Strengths downescriminallaw.com.au Branding: Your name will be associated with your area of expertise. Keywords: Having your practice area in the domain name will help your site rank for searches containing those terms. Availability: Adding a practice area increases the uniqueness of the name and therefore possible availability. Weaknesses Length: The shorter the domain, the easier it is to remember. Adding your practice area might make the domain too long. Name Recognition: Including only part of your name will discount search rankings for your name. 10
1.4 Practice Area Strengths criminaldefencesolicitor.com.au Keywords: Describing what your legal focus in the domain name will help your site rank for searches containing those terms. Relevance: As a searcher I am looking for a lawyer who can help me with my particular legal problem, if it is a criminal matter I know immediately you can help me. Weaknesses Availability: Descriptive domain names tend to go first as they have a strong perceived search engine optimization (SEO) value. No Branding: This domain will not help to build your personal brand. Expense: Practice area domains often come at a very high price. 11
1.5 Practice Area and Geographic Location Strengths duilawyersydney.com.au Keywords: Describing what your legal focus and geographic are in the domain name is an excellent way to boost your search results with the added local geographic value. Relevance: As a searcher I am looking for a lawyer who can help me with my particular legal problem, if it is a criminal matter I know immediately you can help me. Even better if I know you are nearby. Branding: Your firm will be associated with your area of expertise and a geographic area. Weaknesses Availability: These domain names are highly sought after and tend to go first as they have a strong perceived SEO value. No Branding: This domain will not help to build your personal brand. Expense: Practice area domains often come at a very high price. At the end of the day the domain name you choose for your practice should match your long term business plan. If you intend to specialise solely in conveyancing or another specific practice area then a domain name with your practice area will be a good choice. On the other hand if you intend to build a practice that covers a multiple practice areas then a domain with your name or brand might be the better choice. One final thing to keep in mind. Google is very keen to promote local businesses and that includes your practice. A domain name with a geographical inclusion may help potential clients identify your practice as the one most suitable to help solve their legal issues. 12
Chapter Three CHANGING THE DOMAIN NAME 13
1. General Considerations This most commonly occurs where a partner is added to the firm and the firm name changes. Careful thought should be given to changing a name due to the potential impact on your site s rankings. The longer a site has been in operation the more embedded it becomes and name changes can result in broken links and massive loss of traffic. Before deciding on changing your domain name, consider the following: Are you likely to add or remove partners in the future? How long has the domain name been in existence? Does adding a new partner name make the domain too long or complex (you should aim to keep your root domain name below 30 character)? Should you consider a practice area domain or something more generic to cater to future changes? Generally speaking you should select a domain name and stay with it. In the past having your name on the door was an important part of your progression through the legal profession. Today, with incorporated legal practices and the changes in equity requirements, this is no longer the case. If you think that you might be changing the firm s name on a frequent basis select a domain name that does not feature partner names. 14
2. SEO Considerations Your practice does not exist in isolation. As time goes by your domain is recorded in 100 s of locations. When you change your domain name these links and citations become invalid. Every domain change means all these links and citations have to be managed. All your local citations need to be updated to reflect the change. Redirection of every link and URL must be undertaken. All external links which point back to your site must be updated The short answer is pick a domain that you will use for the life of your practice. 15
3. Accredited Specialist Website Creating a site that is focussed on one area of the law is very effective. It makes you stand out from the crowd and shows potential clients you are the go to lawyer if they have a legal issue in your area of expertise. The laws and precedents surrounding your specialist area are enacted and enforced at the state and federal level, not at the city or suburb where you physically practice. Therefore references to city and suburb are only relevant to your marketing. Avoid any references to a geographical location in domain names aimed at specialist accreditation websites. If you want a location reference in your domain name select the state you hold your primary practice registration in. Most of the domain names for specialist sites are already registered. Just Google DUI lawyer to see what I mean. Avoid using hyphens and other characters. It makes your domain name look funny and people don t think in terms of hyphens. For example, sydneyduilawyers.com is taken but you could try beatduichargesydney. The key is to come in under 30 characters. For a website promoting a particular area of the law the domain name should not have law, legal, lawyer, or solicitor in it. These are terms for a general legal website where you are seeking to educate potential customers about your services. Your top-level domain should always be.com.au, the.net.au, or.biz may be available but avoid them, it detracts from the positioning as the subject matter expert in your field. The question will be asked; If you are so good at what you do why don t you own the.com.au domain? 16
4. The.law Domain The short answer here is, unless you have a practice with an international focus or client base in the United States, the.law domain will offer few advantages and many costs. 17
Chapter Four PERSONAL BLOG 18
You may be very passionate about a particular area of the law and want to establish a forum to showcase your expertise and ideas. A personal law blog is to be distinguished from the law firm website. A law firm website is commercial in nature and represents the firm as a whole. An individual solicitor may contribute to the site, but the site is not a place for individual views or opinions. The personal law blog is a collection of your writings which may or may not be affiliated with your firm. This is you deciding to share your expertise in a public forum. Your domain name should reflect your personality and the voice you wish to portray. Finally consideration should be given to your audience, is it other solicitors in your field or perhaps potential clients. 19
SUMMARY INFORMATION Juris The Local Marketing Experts The selection of the right domain name may seem daunting, but it shouldn t be. The most common legal domain names around at the moment are [Surname]Legal or [Surname]Law. Anything less than 30 characters is good. Remember it is the content on your website that will attract visitors not the name. How many people knew the word Google (est. 1998) 15 years ago? About the Author Frank Downes CEO / Business Development Hi I m Frank and I have been running small businesses since 1992. I graduated law in 1989 from UNSW with every intention of practicing but through chance and circumstance fell into the IT business and have been there ever since. I feel a deep affinity with the sole practitioner and small legal practice as you are operating a small business with all the highs and lows that entails. These guides and whitepapers represent what I have learnt in business these last 25 years and I hope you find them useful. If you have a specific topic or question, drop me an email or give me a call on 0428 160 111. 20