Your Business name will be associated with you for a long time. So, it’s critical to think about it thoroughly before forming a company, developing a website, or making signage and other promotional items. To help you started, here are a few pointers.

How important is a name? Apple. Google. Yahoo. History is replete with examples of industry giants who had names that were at best, nondescript, and at worst, irrelevant. So, should you invest time and energy in choosing a ‘good’ name for your company?  And how do you go about achieving this?

Choosing a Name

The following criteria should be taken into consideration in choosing a good business name:

• It should be available as a domain name
• It should evoke the thing it names
• It should be easy to pronounce
• It should be inoffensive globally (or at least in your target markets)
• It should have positive associations
• It should be easy to say
• It should have unambiguous spelling
• It should be memorable
• It should not be too long

You can also create polls, surveys and leverage communities on social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn) to get input from the larger world and your target customers when choosing a company name.

Registering a Domain Name

When choosing a domain name, you are advised to have full dot-com availability. If you can help it, you should ideally endeavor to stay away from the following:

• Hyphens
• Special characters
• Dot-net
• Dot-org
• Other top-level domains
• Country domains

Changing Your Name

Ideally, the name you choose should reflect:

• Who you are
• What you do
• How you do it

It’s not the end of the world if you decide after a year or so that your business name is not quite right. However, you would have largely wasted any earlier marketing effort in building up awareness.

Action Steps

• Brainstorm 5 potential names for your business
• Use social media to determine the most popular version
• Check hosting websites such as Godaddy and Bluehost to confirm the availability of your chosen name

Read Also: Converting your Business Name to a Limited Liability Company

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