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Marketing Tips: What Makes a Good Domain Name?

That is one of the most frequently asked questions we receive from our new clients. Everyone realizes the importance of a good domain name and is looking for advice on how to choose a good one. Should the domain name simply be the practice name? Or, should it focus on the geographic area I'm serving? What happens if my first choice of domain names is taken? Let's take a few minutes to answer all of these questions by analyzing each factor that makes up a good domain name.

There are four different naming options that can be combined when choosing a good domain name.

1. Practice or Doctor Name - Most Doctors automatically assume that their web site address should match their practice name or their name (for a single doctor practice). While this is in line with all branding theory, it's not necessarily the only domain name you should have. This may come as news to most, but you can have more than one domain pointing to your web site (try to keep to a maximum of 2).
2. Service Area - Including the name of your city or town in your domain name is a good idea. Fortunately, most practices already include their city or town name in their practice name, which is an added bonus. This tip works very well for potentially new patients who are doing regional searches to find practices nearby.
3. Optometric Terms - Including terms like 'optometrist' or 'eyedoctor' in your domain name is an extremely search engine friendly thing to do. Stay away from the term 'eyeexam' in your domain name as it often results in typos such as 'eyexam'.
4. .COM vs. Other Endings - If your preferred .COM domain name is taken, you could consider a different extension. The best second choice of extensions is .NET. Stay away from .ORG, as it tends to represent non-profit organizations. .BIZ is a new extension that is slowly gaining in popularity but is still too uncommon at this point. Therefore, if your preferred .COM name is taken, go with your second choice of names rather than choosing an extension other than .COM.

Practically speaking, here's what your ideal domain name would look like. If your practice is based in Riverwood, and your single doctor practice is called 'Riverwood Vision Clinic', you might want to try:

1st Choice: RiverwoodOptometrist.com or
2nd Choice: RiverwoodEyeDoctor.com
3rd Choice: Add 'my' or 'the' to your top 2 choices. MyRiverwoodOptometrist.com or TheRiverwoodOptometrist

Register a second domain name!
1st Choice: RiverwoodVisionClinic.com

In order to avoid confusion, print materials can include RiverWoodVisionClinic.com while online advertising can focus on RiverwoodOptometrist.com.

A few more tips:

• Try to avoid underscores _ or dashes - in your domain name as they're hard to explain over the phone, and often lead to typos.
• If at all possible, try to keep your domain name short.
• If you register a good domain name, you might want to also register the .NET and .BIZ extensions to keep future competitors from using them.
• Capitalize your domain name - RiverwoodVisionClinic - in your marketing materials; it will help patients remember it.

We're happy to assist you in choosing a domain name and will gladly help with some research. Feel free to call or email us.