Legal Search Marketing Blog

How To Setup Custom Domain Name For Blog

You can create a basic blog using most blogging services like Typepad or Blogger but your then stuck with a generic domain name.

If you want to use a customized domain name like www.legalsearchmarketing.com, you must first setup some advanced settings in the blogging software and then also with your web hosting or domain accounts. Here are the steps needed at Typepad to setup a customized domain name with your registar.

1)  Setup your blog with Typepad and then goto the control panel, choose "site access" and then "domain mapping". Then you need to run through the wizard to setup the domain.

2)  Setup your domain name with your registar like Godaddy.com and make sure the domain name is parked.

3)  At Godaddy.com, choose Total DNS Control and create a CNAME record and enter the information from the Godaddy wizard in step #1.

4)  Then once the CNAME record is setup, go back to the typepad blog and the domain mapping section and set the domaim name as "active".

That's it, now instead of having a long domain name with the typepad.com address, you can have a geographic specific keyword rich domain name like Chicago Estate Planning Law.

Not all registars will allow you to make advanced DNS changes and sometimes you might have a domain name that is already setup with a web hosting account, in that case you can usually make the same kind of edits with your web host.

How To Handle Changing Your Law Firms Domain Name

I recently had a law firm client whose law firm changed names. This presented a problem with the domain name because it had to change to reflect the new firms name. This can be a problem in the search engines if the original name has been in the index for the past few years.

If you just change names and stop using the old one, either the old name will continue to come up or if you just delete the name and stop using it, then it will eventually just disappear and you will lose all your search engine rankings.

THE SOLUTION IS USING A 301 REDIRECT

The solution I used for this law firm was to use a 301 redirect which involves editing the .htaccess file so that it redirected anyone who found the old domain to the new domain name.   Its important to make the right updates to this file so that even if the user finds a subpage of your old site, they will be redirected to that same page on the new domain name. 

This has worked out well and after a couple of weeks, the new name is now in the Google index and the old name is gone. It takes a little longer at Yahoo and MSN but at least the users are being redirected to the correct domain name.

Register Domain Names For Longer Periods

Go Daddy.com Encourages Longer Domain Name Registrations

I noticed today when I was registering a domain name at Godaddy.com, that they encouraged me to register for multiple years (see below), citing a portion of the recent Google patent application.  They are correct in that longer registrations would more likely indicate that its a legitimate web site, but it will take more then a multi year registration to get good organic search engine rankings!

Yet it does makes sense to register your domain names for multiple years, especially if you plan on keeping the web site and especially now that Google has made a reference to it. I would suggest a length of at least 5 years.

FROM GO DADDY:

As part of Google's recent patent application, Google made apparent its efforts to wipe out search engine spam, stating:

"Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for several years in advance, while doorway (illegitimate) domains rarely are used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain and, thus, the documents associated therewith."

Domains registered for longer periods give the indication, true or not, that their owner is legitimate. Google uses a domain's length of registration when indexing and ranking a Web site for inclusion in their organic search results.

Best Place To Get Your Legal Domain Names

The best place to get a domain name for your legal practice is at GoDaddy.com. They are the cheapest at $8.95 per year versus $30 plus per year at other registars, yet I find they have the best customer service and also make it easier to manage the domain name.

They also have a "private registration" feature for $8.85 per year that makes your listing private and keeps your information away from the spammers. They also make it easy to transfer your domain name from another register. I can't recommend any of the other services they try to sell you once you buy your domain name but they are the best overall for buying and managing your domain name.

If your firm needs any assistance with your domain name needs, please visit our domain name services page.

Registering a .EU Domain Name

Post from legal blog watch about registering the new upcoming .eu domain names.

Bill Heinze at I/P Updates points to this great piece by Richard Schreier at Pool.com that offers a checklist for registering domain names once the new European Registry for Internet Domains makes the .eu internet Top Level Domain (TLD) available. 

For all you trademark lawyers, this one is a must-read.