Naming your business is one of the first branding and marketing considerations as well as an exciting part of starting a new venture. Regardless, many businesses struggle during this phase with some even completely putting off the business due to conflicting ideas about how the business should be named.
In any case, some are fortunate to secure a good name easily.
When deciding how to best name your business, the key finding a name that will fit your values, who you are, and what your business is about. You want to come up and own a name that will stand out. One that’s catchy. Story and a clear message are equally important factors to consider so put that in mind while brainstorming with your team.
Before finalizing a name for your business, invest in building a killer marketing message. Here are a couple of things to consider when naming your new business.
Make it short and straight to the point. Your domain doubles as your social media profiles and branding, so making it shorter will allow you to craft better marketing collaterals – especially for Twitter with limited characters.
Make it unique and memorable. Make your name uniquely easy to remember. If you’re looking to promote your business via video or radio, you’ll want to be able to say it easily and have people remember it enough to type it without errors.
Make it easy to pronounce and spell. This is as important as your domain name being memorable because if it’s hard to pronounce, people might not be able to remember or spell it as well. It should be easy to spell as well. You don’t want to waste company resources teaching people how to spell your name. However, you can still go outside the box and be creative within practical bounds.
Make it descriptive and brandable. Italianshoehaven.com – this example is so clear, so brandable, plus you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know what kind of site this is.
Don’t use hyphens. Hyphens are the bane of domain names and internet users alike. It confuses people and can literally send potential customers to another’s (worse a competitor) site when they type in your domain without the hyphen.
Prefer .com extension above all. Always prefer a .com domain and before considering others like .net, .org, .online extension. These are the most common extensions.
What’s next?
You can register domain name with a domain name registrar. When choosing a registrar, don’t forget to check if they’re ICANN-accredited and have a good track record of services with happy clients.
Don’t forget to create accounts on different social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Another vital step is to find out whether you can legally use a name for your company based on your country’s trademark laws. It’ll be a shame to fall in love with a name only to know later on that there will be repercussions if you use it.
Excited to brainstorm your domain name? You should be, but as stated above, take ample care since your chosen name will stick with you perhaps for the entirety of your business.