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How To Find The Perfect Name For Your New Business Or Website

By on February 7, 2013
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Creating The Best Business Name Or Domain Name

Finding the best name for your business or website is a crucial first step. A successful name can not only define the character and values of your organization but will also play a vital role in attracting visitors’ attention.

Selecting the perfect name can be confusing, with some businesses splashing out as much as $80,000 to get their brand title professionally designed by a naming firm. Fortunately for those on a more modest budget, the following methods can help your business or site develop a memorable and effective name for free.

 

1st Option: Brain Storm

Brain storming is a great way to kick-start the ideas process. Begin by creating a list of 4 or 5 key words that relate to or describe your business. You can then start playing around with combinations of these words and add prefixes, suffixes, and modifiers to set the name apart. For instance, if you are setting up a mortgage company, you could experiment with words like ‘mortgage’, ‘house’, ‘property’, ‘finance’, or ‘home equity’ until you find a good match.

You could also come up with a few slightly more abstract words relating to your business, and use them to develop some fun and interesting titles. This works especially well for businesses seeking a young and playful image. Here a couple of good examples:

“Spoon Me” – The name of a frozen yogurt brand that now makes almost as much money selling branded t-shirts as it does from its food sales.

“Eat My Words” – A naming firm

“Pugs and Kisses” – A dog grooming spa and salon

 

2nd Option: Think Sensibly

If you are struggling to narrow down your choice of possible names, there are some generally held rules that apply to most successful company names:

- Let Visitors Know What To Expect

Have a name that allows visitors to understand the function of your business before knowing anything about you. Sites like Autotrade.com and CareerBuilder.com let visitors know what the site does without even needing to access it. Companies like Monster.com (a job search website) on the other hand, are equally successful but need to funnel much more money into advertising so that customers recognize what they do.

- Make Your Name Easy To Say and Spell

Whether a person is searching your company name on Google or typing out your domain name in full, a long and confusing title is likely to be typed out incorrectly by visitors and can put potential customers off. Avoiding any use of the letters z and x can also make typing easier.

- Don’t Limit Your Future Growth

A name that is too specific about what your business or site does can limit your growth into other areas of the market. For example, a website called Buyantiquebooks.com may start selling new books or vintage records as well. Consider the future direction of your company when you are deciding on a name.

 

3rd Option: Be Inventive

If you’re struggling to find a unique name or domain address in your area of the market, then developing a new word is an interesting option. These creative website names are guaranteed to be original, but you also run the risk of confusing your target audience. Instead of grouping random meaningless letters, consider twisting a word which has significance to your company. Here are some great examples:

Acura – A luxury car brand name derived from the word ‘accuracy’.

Compaq – A computer company name based on the ‘compact’ technology they produce.

 

4th Option: Put Your Name To The Test

Once you have narrowed down your choices to a list of 4 or 5 favorites, it is time to put the options to the test. Hiring a trademark search firm to see if your name is already in use is a good way to avoid any potential lawsuits in the future. For those establishing a new website, you will need to check whether that domain name is already taken. There are a number of online sites which offer a .com, .net, and .org checking feature for free. You can also checkout Bust A Name which automatically generates domain names for you, some are already taken, some are new and fresh, personally I would recommend trying to come up with your own domain name first, this way you will appreciate that YOU actually came up with the domain name/business name yourself.

 

If all else fails and finding the perfect business name becomes an impossible task, then it is worthwhile considering the services of a professional naming company. Trained designers and market researchers can be hired to quickly come up with creative, memorable, and expressive names, and many also offer additional services like logo design.

 

Article By: Amy Montgomery | Addicted2Success.com

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About The Author: Joel

Joel Brown is the CEO and Founder of Addicted2Success.com. With a long time passion for Entrepreneurship, Self development & Success, Joel started his website with the intention of educating and inspiring likeminded people all over the world to always strive for success no matter what their circumstances. Joel’s passion for what he does shows through the continual growth of Addicted2Success.com's online community. Follow Joel Brown on Twitter

10 Comments

  1. Bliss Magazine (@LivingUrBliss)

    February 7, 2013 at 3:19 am

    This is great and helpful information. Thank you for sharing this. I especially like the advice on not limiting your business and site name because you never know, your business name could turn out to be an empire.

    Reply

  2. LaToya Rosario

    February 7, 2013 at 3:26 am

    Nice strategy! I can also apply it to thinking of an addictive, sticky book title. Sharing this!

    Reply

    • Joel

      February 7, 2013 at 3:35 am

      I’m glad this article was of help to you LaToya! Thanks for checking it out and thanks for sharing this post :)

      Reply

  3. Derenda

    February 9, 2013 at 2:21 am

    Great ideas! Thanks!

    Reply

  4. Bopsi

    February 10, 2013 at 7:30 am

    The article was very useful. Can you tell me if its good or bad to use nouns in the business/domain name ? i am planning for a start up & i am confuse to add my nick name as part of my companies name ?

    Reply

  5. Rich

    February 11, 2013 at 9:59 am

    I think Options 1-3 shouldn’t be alternatives of each other. I believe they should be treated as steps to come up with a good brand name instead. IMHO, simple brainstorming nor thinking of whatever makes sense or catchy won’t cut it. Brainstorming while being sensible and inventive at the same time does.

    Reply

  6. Viljami

    February 13, 2013 at 11:00 am

    Hi, great article. The ‘don’t limit your growth’ part tends to be forgotten by many new companies, i.e. product or service name is used also as the company name, which can cause a lot of headache in the future.

    Anyway, my two cents for finding a name (for a company, service, or product): Head to TechCrunch -> Startups. Write down a list of company names you like (the bigger list, the better). Chop those names into pieces (e.g. snap|chat, en|gadget, spot|ify, twit|ter etc.). Write down all the modifiers, prefixes, suffixes and so on. Combine with your desired keywords and see if anything good comes up.

    Reply

  7. Holiday props

    February 20, 2013 at 3:33 pm

    Great ideas, thank you.

    Reply

  8. Curtis Carpenter

    March 11, 2013 at 12:24 pm

    what about something literal, posh, professional, doubled barraled, indicating the firms status and abilites?

    answers on a post card please!!

    Reply

  9. website

    March 22, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    Useful info. Lucky me I found your web site by chance, and I am stunned why this twist of fate didn’t happened earlier! I bookmarked it.

    Reply

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