By Shashank Jain
Your business name has a significant impact on your business. Being a business owner, people know you by the name of your business. For example, if your domain name is online-casinos.co.uk, it's fair to expect your website will be about online casinos in the UK. It takes a lot to name your business. Initially, you spend hours and hours to find an appropriate and unique name for your business, which not only points toward your business type but must suit all the strictures of being a great business name, like:
- Easy to pronounce
- Easy to remember
- Sounds fancy
- Easy to spell
- Have a domain available
It is not wrong if I say that your business name also changes the outlook of your customers and investors, for the way they look at you. Thus, I would prefer to call it a “world-wide decision” to make.
How naming for business can be uniquely done?
A unique name is way more different from a generic one. Here I define “Generic” as the “Obvious” For example if you own a bakery business and you name it as “The Bakery”, it is the most obvious thing in this world isn’t it? But unique is unalike and you can stand out with a unique name.
Here the uniqueness can be defined as “Unusual”. It is not that you will name your bakery shop after a shoe shop, but you need to pick up a name which will be dissimilar to the obvious. So now if you name your bakery shop as “The Muffin Makers” it will be a little more unusual, fancy and also implies your business type.
Here I would like to add something more, which is you don’t always need to pick up something which has obvious meaning relating your business type. So, you can also choose names like “The Mix-Up”.
Does it need to be unique?
You now know how you can pick up unique names for your business. But the question is, does it need to be unique?
Let me explain it with a very easy to understand example. You named your business as “The bakery” which is as common as your morning tea to all. Other companies can also name their business after the same. You can’t stop others from calling their activities by the same name.
When you apply for a trademark, it may get difficult for you to get one as you are not the only “The Bakery” in the province or city. Not having a unique name can infringe on your trademark rights.
Getting a trademark for your business is a long haul. You are not keen to apply and re-apply for your brand. Thus, it is always better to choose a name that is setting you apart from other businesses with the same services.
What to remember while picking up a unique name?
Having a unique name doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want with the same. You definitely would like to have a catchy one which makes a mark in people’s memory. That is why global companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi hire naming agencies to name their business.
You can go for the naming agencies too, who can help you with naming your business. But if you want to do that by yourself, maybe with a little help from your friends and relatives then you have to take care of a few things like:
Don’t use unusual spelling: Whatever is the name you have chosen for your business, don’t miss the actual spelling of the word you are picking up. Mostly it is difficult to get a domain name by the same name as you might need to add a few letters extra apart from the actual spelling, but the less is the possibility of the same to happen the better.
Traditional spelling for your business helps your customers and visitors to find you easily on Google.
Be easy to remember: Mostly, the business search for fancy words to use as a unique business name. You can save your business name from being a tongue twister. The more efficiently your customers will be able to pronounce your name, it will be remembered. Don’t choose something which means nothing to most of people. An easy to remember name is easy for branding your business.
Keep it Short: Your domain name needs to be within 14 to 15 characters for being SEO friendly. But if we can put the digital marketing part away for some time, still you need to have a shorter name for your convenience. The quicker is your name the catchier it would be.
Try to give a clue: It is a better option while you are trying to find out a business name. Giving a hint through your name can help the people to guess the service type of your business. Try to adopt such names which can at least provide the customers with a clue about what your company does. “The Muffin Makers” is easy to fathom that your business will be something related to muffins or bakery items. But the same name will be inappropriate for a laundry business isn’t it?
Make sure about the domain: You need a website for your business. For that, the first thing you need to have is a domain name. Your domain name registration must not end up at costing you way a lot more than what you have expected. Your business name and the domain name needed to be the same. Thus, the second important thing after finding a suitable name for your business, you need to check if you can get the same as a domain.
Takeaway: You can never overinvest your time while naming your business. You need to take care of many things together while doing that. You don’t want some other business owners to think the same way you do and name their business after the same name as you do.
Be distinctive with the URL as your URL needs to be unique. You can read the trademark basics for your country to check what are the norms they follow while providing one to your business for your reference.
Author Bio:
Shashank Jain, a young and energetic entrepreneur, has always been fond of technology. His liking for technology made him go for engineering in computers. During his studies, he learned & worked on different computer languages & OS including HBCD, Linux, etc. He also has a keen interest in ethical hacking. His passion for the technical world persuaded him to start tech related blogs. His main focus is to teach things to the world and keep the world updated with every kind of technical stuff. He provides services to Authors, Publishers, consultants, and distributors worldwide.
