A Domain By Any Other Name: Do You Need a .Esq

For a while now, alternate domain extensions have been available beyond the traditional .com.  Of particular interest to attorneys is that .law and .lawyer have been available for a little while now; .esq is also available.  That’s more inline with the .attorney extension – also available.  One of the advantages of buying new domain extensions is getting access to basic domain names that have long been unavailable under the traditional .com formation.  Like you could have bought personalinjury.esq if you were quick on the trigger.  (Yeah, it’s already taken.)  But now that the most desirable domains are already gone, is it still worth buying a .esq domain?

There are, of course, pros and cons.  In the positive column, having a .esq domain positively identifies you/your business as a law firm. (Assuming consumers understand what an ‘esq’ even is – most of your referral sources (at least those who are attorneys) will know.)  And you could potentially use .esq domains for landing pages, potentially for nesting ebooks as lead magnets.  Plus, domain names are pretty cheap to buy so you can mess around with industry-specific urls without breaking the bank.  .esq domains are more expensive than standard domains (about 3x as much = $30), but not to the point where it would be such a massive investment that you’d avoid the purchase out of hand.  The .esq domain, like all those other domain types, are referred to as ‘top level domains’ – but in terms of search, those ‘tld’s are basically treated the same way, for search purposes, as any other urls; so, in the negative column, you’re not really advantaged there.

In the end, this is really a branding question, and while .esq can extend your law firm brand in a similar way that .attorney or .lawyer would, before making the (minimal) investment required for the top level domain, you’ll want to have an idea of how the use of that domain can be incorporated into your overall marketing strategy.

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To request a consult, visit the Wyoming State Bar’s law practice management page, and start running your law firm like a business.

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