Your practice name matters, and your website address matters. Picking a name for your website can help you score better on search engines and help you better communicate what is special about your practice. Picking an effective name for your website can help bring more appropriate traffic to your website and help convert more site visitors to appointments.
Start with brainstorming
At TherapyEverywhere, we always bring three or four people into our URL-choosing sessions.
Start writing down words that relate to what you do, and to the feelings that you want to inspire in your potential clients. When brainstorming, don’t filter. Write everything down, even the ridiculous. As you move forward, you may find that you can move from the silly to the sublime.
Include words that talk to your target audiences
Put yourself in the position of your potential clients. Are they looking for help managing teenagers? Navigating divorce? Making career decisions? Handling stress? Marriage counseling? Need an educational evaluation for the school system? Facing alcohol or substance abuse?
Each of the terms that we marked in bold might be terms that you might want to consider, if they match the audiences and issues that you want to address.
Include words that talk to your catchment area
If you have an office-based practice and need to attract people who live or work close by, consider adding a geographic clue to your domain name. For example, if your office is in Tulsa, consider including Tulsa in your domain name.
Include words that indicate what is special about your practice
If you are exceptionally friendly, gentle, or incorporate movement or exercise in your practice – consider if including one of these words when picking a name for your website will help you stand out in the crowd.
Words and acronyms to avoid
Will including LMFT or LMHC in your website name help you get clients? In most cases, probably note. On the other hand, consider if “psychologist” or “PhD” might help you attract and convert clients.
Do a sanity check on your website name
The name that you pick should easy to read, say, spell, and remember. While you may be located in the Zdzinski building, it will be difficult for people to spell or remember ZdzinskiPyschological.
Pick a name that helps you convey your message. Your last name may be “Fake”, “Groaner”, or “Manson” — and you may be a proud bearer of your family name — but think about the association that your name will engender when you feature it as part of the website URL.
Check availability (and maybe come up with some more ideas)
The good folks at DomainIt have a need domain suggestion tool. Type in your keywords here and the tool will let you know what domains are available that contain the keywords that you mention.
Need more help? Feel free to reach out to TherapyEverywhere and access the great minds on our team today.