Qualities of a good business name
- Memorable
- Stands out
Take the following as guidelines. Sometimes you may need to ignore some of these guidelines to make your business stand out.
Consider how your target Audience will perceive your business name
Watch out for words that sound like other words when put together
Source: Worst Business Names
- Pho King
- Analtech
- Morning Wood Company
- Bunghole Liquors
- Poopsie’s
- Sam & Ella’s Chicken Palace
- Passmore Gas
- Chew-N-Butts
- Master Bait and Tackle
- Dumass Taco
- Knobs ‘n Knockers
Make sure it is easy to pronounce and spell in different targeted languages, unless you want to sound fancy
The spelling of some words may be difficult to remember for speakers of other languages. For example “Beautification†may be OK in English, but hard to remember for Spanish speakers.
Some words may sound the same in other languages, but are spelt significantly differently. For example, “Connection†in English, and “Conexión†in Spanish.
Legal Considerations
Make sure your company name is not similar to others in your state.
If you are starting a business in Florida, follow this link for the Ultimate Guide to Naming an LLC in Florida.
Digital Considerations
Type your domain name all in lower-case letters
When people type your domain name, they most likely type it all in lower-case letters.
Some issues like repeated letters and unintended words become more obvious when you spell your domain name all in lower-case letters.
Make it easy to type in the browser
Try typing the name on a mobile phone.
Make it easy to generate email addresses
Try a few email addresses:
Domain name character length
The first thing someone needs to do to open your website or send you an email is type your domain name.
So if your business name is long, consider using an abbreviated form as a domain name.
Here is a list to help you pick a name based on character length:
- Short – Between 6 to 14 characters
- Medium – At most three syllables
- Long – Less than four words
SEO Considerations
Don’t put too much emphasis on SEO when it comes to picking a business name. An over reliance on SEO can make your business seem spammy.
Using Keywords in the Business Name
Don’t think too hard about this, but if you are considering using keywords in your business name for SEO purposes, make sure the keywords have very few competitors.
For example, if you are a pizza restaurant:
- Miami’s Best Pizza (too much competition)
- Joe the Baker (Better, but Joe is a common name)
- Zack’s Pizza (This would work in many places)
- Seneca’s Pizza (OK, this has very few competitors)
Avoid hyphens
The main reason I would avoid hyphens in a domain name is because there are very few cases where I would use hyphens in a logo (wordmark), so having the logo without a hyphen but the domain with a hyphen could confuse people.
Check out this article to read more about the Pros and Cons of using Hyphens in your domain name.
That being said, overall, keywords and hyphens are not really going to make much of a difference when it comes to SEO.
Read this article to learn what Google’s John Mueller says about keywords in domain names, or this article about what he says about hyphens in domain names.
Naming the business after yourself
If you want your business related to a Personal brand or Family business, it makes sense to name it after yourself or the family.
Using your personal name is also common with professional service firms like lawyers and accountants.
However, when it comes to a corporation, you may want to consider what would happen if you leave the company or the cost of rebranding after an acquisition.
Research Tools
- GoDaddy
- City Division of Corporations
- YP.com
- Yelp.com
- Thumbtackeatmywords.com