OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
Here are the results of the latest Law Times online poll.
According to the poll, the majority of respondents aren’t too eager to register a .lawyer or a .attorney domain name for their websites.
83% of poll respondents said a domain name with the word “lawyer” on the right side of the dot is “a cash grab that won’t do much for lawyers”.
The new generic top-level domain names .lawyer and .attorney have been available for 2 weeks now. .Lawyer got 3,240 registrations on its first day and .Attorney got 2,156 domains. .Lawyer now has 5,703 domains and .Attorney has 4,075.
.Law and .legal new domains are coming soon.
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I feel, if .law and .legal wasnt coming it would have been much stronger tlds. Even with 2 varieties it is cluster …. , with 4 its a joke. They will a) cannibalize each other b) weaken the .gtld law brand. No bight side.
From SEO stand point, unless google see the value that they are brining to end user. I would think adoption of gtld would be one of those indicators as well as number of domains registered. So, unless google sees strong adaption, there is no way they will tweak their algorithms. Hence at best it can hope to be on part with existing .com, .net , .info sites. Problem is there will be 2000 gtlds by the end of the year, do they have time to police all gtlds to make sure its not used by spammers like xyz. No, i would wager even with google resources it wont happen. Here is what i think will happen, considering that google has its own gtlds. Which is will abusively push on users , mark my words, it will be just like you tube when they bought it. Hence google will mark its own .gtld with premium seo , plus all more or less safe gtlds. Location like .vegas , .local, .london will do fine. Maybe some few larger gtlds, like .pros but the rest it will claim are not relevant to end use search. Hence a) showing that their own gtlds are relevant b) there are some other gtlds are relevant c) rest can burn in unfound hell.
Imgine .soy, site .soy come up a lot, so as end user you will be noticing it and using them and buying their own .soy (in Spanish market ofcourse). They did it with Chrome, they would shove down everyone throats, saying get free browser to maximize your experience. (when i would be using firefox) f u google, but unfortunately it worked like a charm.
On bright side, since i am bulish on .nyc and they pretty much need some other .gtlds that they can use are reason that they dont just favor their own domains, hence hand full of gltds will really reap the benefits.
I will put time stamp of about 1 to 2 years of SOME .gtlds starting to bear old domain extensions for certain areas. 3-5 years, it will be much stronger preference for SOME gtlds in some markets.
And new gtlds could follow in the future such as .lawyers etc.
Google does not determine spam by the gtld. They know a spam website immediately.
I don’t think there is a .pros new gtld. There is a .pro for a few years now and no one is using it.
Google is already taking into account the tld when you do a search. I have a post coming about this.
True, but to me more inresting, will the google give bonus points for some gtlds. Such us geo and their own. Its not about who gets hurt, its about additional benefit . .Com is status quo, so if seo ranking allows to rank geo domains better then .com of similar kind, thats the game maker.
I will also assume that all google tlds will have invisible advantage in SEO until i am proven wrong. Siince google has been caught number of times red handed for benefiting its own proerties. G+ only exists because google wanted it so bad, and made essential for SEO.
Back when it just came out, i got bunch of +1s and stratosferred me to #1 position for some very competitive key words. That worked only for few month, but in that time my traffic more then trippled. I dont belive Google till proven otherwise, its guilty till proven innocent.
With only 66 votes in one month, it’s a pretty small sample, but believe it or not, I think the percentage of lawyers who would want them would be be even lower.
The fact is most lawyers don’t even want or have a web site, however most law FIRMS do. As such, law firms will not buy .lawyer or .attorney, largely because those are singular terms.
Since most lawyers either work with partners or law firms, .law and .legal are better choices because they not only represent partnerships and firms better, but they can also fit individual lawyers.
Keep in mind, if .law or .legal become popular, the other two will likely be looked at as second best choices and therefore less valuable.
Totally agree, law profession doesn’t need 4! new extensions. .wtf . Its going from drought on names to flood. No one wants more water in a flood
though i think, even .law and .legal wont do well because of my SEO reason. Does google have time to figure out which are actual lawyers, and who is squatting…. nope, so just make its serp rating shit and done! Lawyers wont use it since seo is #1 priority for them (i know as i did seo consulting for lawyer). Problem solved.
Sure the sample is small.
The percentage is lower because the only lawyers that voted are the internet savvy ones!
No law firm is going to change their website but they could use a few new gtlds for niche websites that link to their main website.
If your the first to the game like .com then everyone else is just catching up. Why would any attorney want to change the firms names or email address it would be a pain in the as*. But as an attorney why would you not just spend 20 or 30k on a decent name and be done with it. It’s like one accident???
Lawyers don’t pay a lot for domains. They prefer UDRPs…
Don’t forgets .barrister and .avigadro and still other languages too. How incredibly stupid that icann allows for such repetitiveness like .car and .cars. All of the gtlds now suck as a result. I will stick w .com only
Hello Konstant,
The white noise is saying this poll is flawed ? When actually it is right on. I am a marketing analyst not an attorney and I assure you my 40+ years of Marketing analsym tell me you are right.
Keep up the non proprietary truths, Kudos
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
==
Never thought i’d type this but I agree with the metal tiger. This poll is indicative of the lack of overall interest in the entire gtld process and encapsulates the lack of interest displayed by the very groups that the new tlds were supposed to help. The gtlds were really dumb upon introduction and proceeded to get dumber when situations as described above were introduced. Amazing that they bombed so quickly but acceptance rate was pathetically low.
Gtlds are dead. Berkins is having a hissy fit cuz the truth hurts. You nailed it, bro.
I don’t think that gtlds are dead. Only a small percentage is out anyway…
But some of them are having serious problems…
I am a practicing attorney and may have a slightly different perspective on this issue. Notwithstanding arguments about sample size etc. I would take this poll with a grain of salt. There are several distinct issues at play with regards to the legal community’s reaction to .lawyer and .attorney (and soon .law and .esq).
First, those that have pointed out the greed inherent in dumping all of these specialized gtlds. From the perspective of most attorneys it is a difficult situation with .lawyer and .attorney being released at the same time. Many do feel like it is a ripoff and that the two undermine each other – I have had fellow attorneys say to me “I have to buy both just to protect my brand – that is a scam”. This is an understandable position and Donuts and the like have no one to blame for this other than themselves and their rush to make a quick buck (hello $75,000 “premium” names – do they think that Attorneys are particularly stupid?)
However, the second issue likely influenced the poll the most. It is a little known fact that a large portion of the active bar in the U.S. is tech illiterate at best and are borderline Jacobites at worst.
There are basically two types of Lawyers in this country (excluding public interest lawyers and Govt lawyers as neither are profit oriented). There are “Big Firm” lawyers and everybody else. Big firm Lawyers are generally not bringing in business via the net and have employees to handle all tech issues for them. Medium to small firms are far more likely to use the internet as a way to bring in new clients (evidenced by the proliferation of legal leads sites out there).
Even amongst those who use the internet they very often don’t have the time,or interest to worry about seo etc. They will sign up with lead generation sites and adwords managers and be done with it (when you are paying a specific amount per lead or per click figuring your roi is not so hard). However, ask them about onsite seo, offsite seo or leveraging domain names to drive traffic and it is too much to handle. I probably bring in 80% of new clients via the net and was suprised when quite few of my friends didn’t even know about the .lawyer and .attorney domains.
I think that as the legal community becomes younger and more “tech friendly” the above attitudes may shift.
I personally own about 100 law related domain names – including a bunch of .lawyer and .attorney. How I value those domains is very different than many domainers. To me the value is based upon the number of clients that a domain can drive to my firm. Many domainers seem to use factors like age, page views, potential ppc income and most importantly perceived value – is there hype around this domain so that I can sell it to another domainer?
For Attorneys like me the value of .lawyer may well come down to whether they have any seo advantage and whether they add credibilty with the general public. On the seo issue I would argue that search engines should give them weight because they stand for the legal profession. If the search engines are only measuring popularity then they mean nothing. However, if the search engines are measuring credibilty the .lawyer and .attorney domains should reflect that the owner is a legal professional.
TLDR
-most of the legal community is completely ignorant of the potential value of domain names.
– even those that understand are wary of the seeming money grab with new gtlds
– if attorneys see that these domains can have a positive impact on their bottom line they will jump on board
I guess you read the other discussion over at thedomains.com so here is what I have to say:
Everybody should take any poll with a grain of salt. That is why they are called polls and not “100% truth”.
Anyway…
It is not only those 4 New gTLD but .legal as well. And then maybe in a few years .lawyers, .attorneys and .esquire.
But I think that it is the prices that make this look more like a scam. A $75,000 yearly renewal fee for average domains is unreal.
And to make you feel better… They are not only targeting attorneys. 🙂
It seems that all lawyers around the world (and doctors) are tech illiterate. I have quite a few tech related interactions with both trades. Not pleasant.
“Many domainers seem to use factors like age, page views, potential ppc income and most importantly perceived value – is there hype around this domain so that I can sell it to another domainer?”
This is not all accurate. Age in itself does not mean anything if you have a bad domain. Page views? I guess you mean unique visitors. PPC income is pretty low anyway.
For me the perceived value you refer to is actually how you value domains also. I don’t sell domains to domainers.
And I value each domain according to the value that a company would get from the domain. In your case, clients.
They will not get an SEO advantage in the sense of credibility. Anyone can own a .lawyer domain. But if you get accident.attorney you will probably rank higher than bestaccidentattorney.com. That is of course if both websites have similar content.
After looking at some of your other blog entries I saw that you “value” domains in much the same manner that I do. I do get the impression that many “domainers” overlook this valuation.
I may have used “credibility” a bit loosely – but I believe my point has some merit. What I meant was that although non-lawyers can own these domains only lawyers can really make use of them. I am aware that lead generation type sites can use them as well but the end user, so to speak, must be an attorney. Anyone else offering legal service via these domains would be in volation of laws regarding practicing law without a license which every state in the U.S. has on the books and most enforce strictly. Finally, any site using a “legal” domain to offer non-legal service or products could be weeded out by the search engines based upon content ie. A site named “newcars.lawyer” which was selling cars. So, if attorneys do adopt at least some of the legal tlds the search engines will hopefully reflect this. For example, one of the .lawyer domains that I own is TheDrunkDriving.lawyer – I havent made use of the name yet but intend to as this is my area of expertise. Only time will tell but I agree with you that the way that these gtlds have been, and are going to be, released causes issues that may make them not worth the trouble.
Disclaimer – I claim no expertise in domain valuation etc. but offer my opinions only from the perspective of a practicing attorney who makes use of them for my legal practice.
Great insights! thanks. I love getting glimpse into different businesses.
George, since Drunk Driving is your area of expertise, maybe you could interested in DrunkDriving.com, which is the best domain for this practice.
We are exclusively brokering it for a client.
In case you are interested, you can contact me directly at andrea@paladini.org.
“could be interested”, sorry, typo 🙂
As an aside, after looking around your blog I find your posts to be insightful and educational. I have subscribed and will read your future posts as well. Thanks.
Thanks George.