Creating New Business – What’s in a name? Part 2

In our last article we looked at the different kinds of categories you should look into when naming a business / product or anything else that needs intelligent branding. Today we are going to suggest some all-important considerations to put your naming plan into action. This way your brand can achieve long term flexibility, be friendly across various internet contexts, and most importantly – get the desired response and outcome from your audience.

    1)    Plan for the probable

Right now 'Peter’s Massage Parlour' may make a lot of sense. But if you can foresee that there may be a need to expand on that service later on, your name (and branding that flows from it) could suffer. If you know you will always offer Massages and they will always be the bulk of the business then adding this term into your brand name can have great benefits, especially for your SEO, but don't let yourself or your brand become restricted further down the track.

Often companies that expand their offering beyond directly-related fields are forced to update their brand name, which of course takes time and money, but most of all means that you can potentially lose out from the effort you put into making people remember and appreciate you in the first place.

     2)    Don't forget your logo

A big mistake business owners make in brand creation is launching a name first and then tackling the logo later on, which can lead to an awkward visual mismatch between the two. It can be simpler to think “name first, logo after” but make sure that you’re not excluding logo design considerations from the process entirely.

    3)    Be web friendly

When you’re putting your site together, make sure that you take these important considerations into account to secure your great name.

Check your name on the company name register

There’s nothing worse than putting all your love into a name only to find out it already exists, or that a competitor’s is too similar. Make a habit of searching for existing names at registers such as this: Search Business Names. Be sure to avoid sounding similar to other business names, not just because you want your brand to stand out, but also because if a competitor has ‘claimed’ a niche with their name you will find yourself competing against an established idea and losing out on available opportunities.

Check URL hyphenation and length

Many company names can look good truncated into one word and make it easier for visitors to find you. For example ‘career-exchange.com.au’ would not be as straight forward as ‘careerexchange.com.au’ where URLs do not function with spaces but use hyphenation instead. However, if you have a function attached to your business name which makes it longer it is worth comparing the difference, for example ‘peterssmassageparlour.com.au’ becomes confusing whereas ‘peters-massage-parlour.com.au’ helps make sure that your name isn’t getting lost.

    4)    Register, place and update

Finally, once you decide on a business name (we hope it wasn’t too painful for you!) make sure you ‘nab’ your name in every relevant space you can think of, this will also do wonders for your SEO. Below are the common areas you should be getting an early foothold in once you’re ready.

Website: Register your own domain name with a hosting provider, refer to our domain hosting options article.

Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn company page and any others.

Directories: websites such as hotfrog and whitepages allow you to list your companies name and details for searchers to find. Many are free.

Register: The Australian Government shares steps to Registering your Business Name, and you can view more information on registering and trademarking your intellectual property here.

Is it all too much?

Career Exchange and Psych Press have had much experience when it comes to making new brands, products and webpages and we’re here to help. Let us know what you’re aiming to do or what your issues are in the online marketing world and we will give you a down to earth overview of whether our Content, Development or SEO packages can help. Contact [email protected] or call 03 9670 0590.