Choosing a subdomain for client software your clients sign in on

A subdomain is the part of a web address that comes before the main domain. With HelloBooks, the firm web address sits on a hellobooks.ai subdomain from day one, such as a short version of your firm name placed before the hellobooks.ai part. Clients reach your branded sign-in page through that address.

Connecting your firm’s own domain comes later, at full launch. Until then, the subdomain is the address clients bookmark and the one you print in onboarding instructions. That makes the choice worth a few minutes of thought rather than a quick default.

Clients will type the address from memory, read it aloud to a colleague and see it in emails. A good subdomain survives all three. It should be short, obvious and hard to misspell. Hyphens and numbers make addresses harder to say aloud, so avoid them unless your firm name already includes one.

Run each candidate through a quick test before settling on it. Ask a colleague outside the project to hear the address once and type it. If they get it wrong, clients will too, and each mistyped address becomes a support request.

• Short enough to type on a phone without errors
• Clearly connected to your firm name
• Free of unusual spellings or abbreviations
• Unlikely to be confused with another firm

When full launch brings your own domain, most firms choose an address such as a books or clients subdomain under their existing website domain. Consider that eventual address now, so the subdomain and the later domain feel related rather than like two separate products.

Keep a record of every place you publish the subdomain: welcome emails, help pages, your website and printed material. When your own domain becomes available, that list tells you exactly what to update, and a redirect plan keeps older bookmarks working.

One flat license covers your brand, unlimited staff and the firm console. Your clients stay on published HelloBooks plans, and your firm gets 20% off each one. Founding firms go live first on a firm subdomain; your own domain and email from your domain follow at full launch.