Choosing a company name – it’s hard!
Research!!
Not only is it hard to come up with a unique company name, completing a checklist of the items below is essential to building your presence both in the business world as well as online.
Clarity, simplicity
While your company name, especially if you are going to register it, needs to be unique, make sure it is simple and clear. It may seem like a cool idea using wordplay or a funky spelling but remember, people need to find you! If they can’t spell it they’re not going to find your website, Facebook page, business pages, etc.
Name availability
Check with your local county/state to see if anyone has registered your chosen business name. A great resource for finding where to look for business registration and name searches is the Small Business Administration
Domain name
Check that you can get your domain name on the internet. Even if you are not planning to start a web presence immediately you need to secure the domain name before someone else does. Registering your domain name allows you to set up email addresses for your company presenting you in a more professional light. No-one will take an AOL, Hotmail or Yahoo address seriously as a business!
You can check domain names via some of the registrars directly or purchase one through many of the hosting companies like Bluehost. You can purchase a domain name or a hosting package depending on how you want to run your business/website or store. Using just a domain name you can redirect to another service, for example, Shopify, Wix, etc. where you can run their online store services. With hosting you can install, configure and run your own website, store, blog, etc. We have some recommendations for online store services here.
Social media
Check all of the social media platforms and also Etsy if you plan to create a store there.
The common sites you need to check are:
- Snapchat
- Google Pages
- Bing
- Google+
- Etsy
Decide if you want to create a presence on social media. I would recommend at least having placeholders so that you can secure your name and brand it before someone else tries to use them.
Choosing a company name is hard work, but a memorable name will bring people back, lodge in customers’ minds and you’ll get repeat business and referrals.
