For a law firm, whatever your area of expertise may be or wherever you may be located, having a digital presence is paramount to success. Online exposure and awareness can drive business to your doorstep and build you reputation both in the online and offline realms. People will research you online before deciding to get in touch, so even if you operate on a word-of-mouth basis, it’s still important to have an amazing website. After all, your site is the face of your law firm in the digital world.

That’s why it’s so important to get it right from the start, and why you need to have a great website with great user experience. However, it all starts with your domain name. The domain name you choose will define your online presence and it can make or break your website.

With that in mind, here are the most important tips on how to pick the best domain name for your law practice. 

Avoid separators and special characters

To start, let’s emphasize the importance of clarity in a domain name. Your domain name can either enhance or decrease brand stickiness online, so the more complicated it gets, the more difficult it is for people to remember it and type it correctly into the URL box. If your domain is complicated and full of special characters and extraneous separators, you can severely impair your brand’s ability to appear in the relevant search results as well.

That’s why, in order to make your domain name memorable and impactful, you should:

• Avoid hyphens at all costs.

• Avoid any special characters.

• Avoid awkward spelling of common words, except if the word is your company’s name.

• Avoid putting numbers in your domain name.

• Avoid lengthy domain names.

Introduce a keyword into the domain name

Now you know what to avoid, so let’s talk more about what you can do to elevate the SEO of your website and take your legal practice forward in the online realm. For one, you can definitely try to include a keyword in your domain name. This can be a general keyword if your legal practice provides various legal services, but it can be a very niche keyword as well that depicts your sole specialization.

For example, if you specialize in child custody cases, you shouldn’t use the words “family law” in your domain name. Instead, you should try to use the words “child” and “custody” in the domain name if it feels natural. The key here is to integrate a keyword seamlessly. That said, if the keyword doesn’t fit with your brand name, you can leave it out.

To build brand presence and visibility, a better idea would be to go with a branded domain. 

Choosing a personal or corporate domain

A branded domain name can be a corporate or a personal one, it all depends on the nature of your practice and your long-term goals. If your goal is to build a thriving legal practice around your name, then choosing a personal domain name and complementing it with a relevant keyword would be the best way to start building your online presence.

On the other hand, if you’re not the star of the show and would rather build your legal practice as a corporate brand, then you should go for a domain that bears the name of your legal practice. There’s no better option here, as both choices are valid. However, keep in mind that this decision should be for the long haul, because changing your domain name can have severe consequences for your SEO.

With that in mind, make sure that the domain name you settle on is final.

Opt for a top-level domain

When it comes to choosing the best extension, you should invest in a top-level domain. Traditional TLDs include the likes of .com or .net, but there are more modern top-level domains out there. If a .com is already taken, for example, you can opt for a .me domain name that will deliver the same SEO value, but might also help personalize and humanize your website as well.

Whatever domain name extension you choose, though, always make sure that it’s a top-level domain. If it’s not a TLD, then you run the risk of ranking lower in the search results simply because Google favors reputable domain names. 

Keeping it short and to the point

Finally, make sure to focus on brevity. People don’t want to remember complicated domain names, nor are they capable of reproducing lengthy domains if they have come across them only a couple of times. If you want to drive traffic to your site and make your online presence pop, then you should keep your domain name short, simple, and to the point. It’s a simple yet effective rule that will ensure people remember your domain name and spread it around the web with ease.

Over to you

Your domain name can make or break your online presence. To make your law firm a success in the online world, be sure to use these tips to craft the best domain name that will echo throughout the legal sector.