Your website is like your own piece of business real estate online, so of course you want to choose the best domain name possible to represent yourself and make your practice stand out. With all of the options out there, it can be tough to come to a decision on your domain name, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are our tips on choosing a domain name.
Don’t Put Too Much Focus on Keywords
While having keywords in your domain name won’t hurt you, don’t think that that tactic alone will help you get traffic. Exact Match Domains (EMDs), or domain names that exactly match a keyword a website wants to rank for, were popular in the past as a quick and cheap way to get rankings and traffic. However, due to many, many updates to Google’s algorithm, this tactic is not very helpful anymore. If the content on your website is good and relevant, you should gain rankings and traffic regardless of whether your domain name contains keywords.
Branding is Key
You already have a name for your practice, and you want patients to be able to recognize your practice. It makes sense to have a domain name that includes your practice name if you can. Sure, “hipdoctor.com” might sound lucrative, but it doesn’t distinguish you from the thousands of other hip doctors out there. If your practice name is “Smith Orthopedics,” the domain “smithorthopedics.com” would be ideal. It still lets potential patients know what you do, but also allows for brand recognition.
Don’t Get Too Complicated or Lengthy
You want your domain name to be easy to remember and easy to type. Avoid really lengthy domain names and characters like hyphens and numbers. Let’s say that Smith Orthopedics is located in New York City, and you want to convey that in the domain name. “Smithorthopedicsnewyorkcity.com” is way too long, with too many words pushed together. You might be inclined to use hyphens to separate the words, like “smith-orthopedics-new-york-city.com,” but that just makes it lengthier and more difficult to type. Think about it–would you want to have to type out that URL? In this case, we know that New York City is commonly abbreviated as “NYC,” so you could try a domain name like “smithorthopedicsnyc.com,” or “smithorthonyc.com.”
Be Unique
If someone else already owns the domain name you wanted, don’t try to get a domain name that is too similar to that one; it could create confusion. For example, if someone already has “smithorthopedics.com,” don’t try to get the domain “smithorthopedic.com.” Simply taking off the “s” at the end isn’t enough to set you apart from your competitor. It all comes back to standing out.
When You Pick a Domain Name, Stick With It
You decide on a domain name and decide to proceed, but then you have second thoughts later on down the road. What if another domain name is better than the one you chose? Should you change it? If you’ve already established yourself under your current domain name, and it doesn’t contain any of the “don’ts” we mentioned above, no! Changing your domain name will only confuse people who are already aware of your site.
You may not always be able to get your first choice of domain name, but by focusing on your brand and what sets your practice apart from your competitors, you can come up with a user-friendly, web-friendly domain name for your practice.
P3 Practice Marketing has helped orthopedic, spine, and neurosurgery practices market themselves online since 1998. Our focus is on helping practices expand their reach through increased patient recommendations and provider referrals.
