Comments on: Domain name purchase.

By: aimhart

aimhart — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:45:09 +0000

thank you so much for your thoughtful response, James, and your points about distinguishing yourself are well-taken. Carolyn Elefant made a simliar point in her book. I think the question of what do you call yourself as a solo practitioner probably deserves a thread of its own somewhere – it’s a challenge!

I will check out In Motion Hosting today.

By: chartrand

chartrand — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:00:21 +0000

@ Amy – GoDaddy is a visual horror and one of the worst sites to navigate that I’ve ever seen in my career. For those two reasons alone, they don’t get my business. We work with In Motion Hosting for U.S. hosted names (they’re in the Top 10 hosts, if not the top five) and Netfirms for Canadian hosted names

Yes, how your URL reads, types, sounds and will be misspelled are all considerations. For example, “noahandfrank” appears visually as Noa Hand Frank and not Noah and Frank. You’re correct to think that people will only write two lls (because of habit, not paying attention, whatever) or look at it and say, “Something’s wrong with that but I can’t put my finger on what… Oh!”

Knowing that pairing Martell and Law together will create three ls in a row gives you what you need to know: just don’t do it.

Another thought. If all of you choose your last name and then tack on law or legal services… Well, how many lawyers out there are you? How will people be able to distinguish Smithlaw from Joneslaw from Carterlaw…

Don’t box yourself into being just like everyone else, or you’ll end up creating a bad situation of having to work harder to stand out. There’s a reason I didn’t call my business “FreelanceWriterQuebec” – How many freelance writers in Quebec are there already? Way too many for my tastes. But there’s only one Man with Pen (in this country, at least, lol)

By: aimhart

aimhart — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:08:28 +0000

very funny turn this thread has taken!

Ok, I have a couple of questions on this point –

First, for those non-cyber-savvy of us, do any of you have recommendations for places to purchase domain names (I only know godaddy.com, and have no idea whether that is a good place to start).

Second, thoughts on how a domain name looks. My case in point: My last name ends in 2 “l”s – so I think it looks funny: martelllaw.com (although that domain name is taken). martelllawoffice.com looks even funnier. Is this even worth wasting any energy considering?

By: chartrand

chartrand — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:24:06 +0000

Hehehe…

“WestLaw.com – Because North and South were taken…”

By: Frank Ganz

Frank Ganz — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:20:16 +0000

That’s an awesome domain. I don’t think it’s too close. You are Mr. West and you are a lawyer. Mr. West Law.

By: michaelwest

michaelwest — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:49:08 +0000

Jeff- Yes it is too bad westlaw is taken LOL. I did purchase mrwestlaw. I was actually wondering if that was too close to westlaw and they might not like that???? “MRwest” are my initials and last name.

By: chartrand

chartrand — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:25:24 +0000

I’m with Frank on the “watch which name you choose.” If your domain name is all about SEO, as in, “farkdaleinjurylawyer” and your practice name is, “Stockworth and Perdue LLC,” then you have some serious consistency issues happening.

Your viewers will think they’re on the wrong site and leave. Or they’ll be confused at what your practice name might be.

Here’s another one. If I SEOd my domain name, it would be “canadacopywriter.com” Um, woo. Not really exciting. And my business name is “Men with Pens.” We have conflict.

Also, you may want search engines to help you but search engines aren’t the ones who hire and buy. Reach for people, not machines.

By: Frank Ganz

Frank Ganz — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:12:02 +0000

@Jeff – The main thing to worry about IMO is dashes. Nothing ruins a domain name like dashes. Also, the domain doesn’t have to be too short so long as when you say it out loud, it flows and is easily remembered. For example, lets say I was a CT Estate lawyer. I would say connecticuttrustsandwills.com would be completely fine even though it is lengthy.

That said, it is always best if you can match the domain exactly to your business name. For example, I have ganzlawoffices.com. Most people just assume that your website will be at yourbusinessname.com. Funnily enough, I have had clients who are starting businesses that actually change their business name based on what domain they were able to purchase. A tip for lawyers trying to accomplish this, whether you are an LLC or a PC or whatever, make that distinction a part of how you say your name. When you tell people about your firm, or answer your phone say: “Smith Law LLC.” Why? It is more likely that smithlawllc.com is available than smithlaw.com. If people are accustomed to LLC being an actual part of the business name, people will think “The website is probably smithlawllc.com”

I have been doing web design since I was 14, so if anyone needs anymore help with domain purchasing or hosting advice or (hint hint) needs a website designed, feel free to get in touch. Faculty member, James Chartrand would be a good resource as well. And Dave Carson the tech director too, even though SPU has probably taken over his life.

By: jefflegal

jefflegal — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:18:49 +0000

Too bad “Westlaw” was already taken, huh? I’ve been worrying about domain names for a few months. I’ll probably register more than one like you. I’d be interested to hear what you think about strategy for picking names…is serious too serious? Can it have personality?

FWIW – I think a “com” is vital…the extension is important and I’d pass on the ideal first name to preserve the com.

By: ghaverkamp

ghaverkamp — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:04:51 +0000

Oh, I don’t know, John. it would give me something to do. That said, I did do those searches for my most recent acquisition.