Hack For Choosing Business Name

Most new entrepreneurs don't think about their startup name too much but it's a big deal. Choosing the right name for your business is as crucial as naming your newborn. Just like how an awkward name can make your child's life unnecessarily complicated, a bad business name can stifle your company's growth.

Don't believe it? Check out this list of famous companies that all ended up changing their names:

Cadabra » Amazon
Sound of Music » Best Buy
Research in Motion » Blackberry
AuctionWeb » eBay
BackRub » Google
DrivUrSelf » Hertz
Burbn » Instagram
Blue Ribbon Sports » Nike
Japan Optical Industries Co. » Nikon
Marafuku Company » Nintendo
Brad's Drink » Pepsi
Stag Party » Playboy
Sky Peer-to-Peer » Skype
Unadulterated Food Products » Snapple
Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo » Sony
Cargo House » Starbucks
Pete's Super Submarines » Subway
Goodfellow's Dry Goods » Target
Walton's Five and Dime » Walmart
Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web » Yahoo

Proper way choose the right name for your startup? Here are several tips to get your creative juices flowing.

Keep it generic

In 1945, an entrepreneur named Sam Walton opened a business called “Walton's Five and Dime.” By 1969, that company was renamed “Walmart.” Sam Walton had to change the name of his business because he realized that a more generic name would allow him to expand his business model and it would also appeal to his target audience much better due to its simplicity.

Although it's not impossible to change the name later, it's much more difficult than starting with the right one from the beginning. Once your company is established and well-known, rebranding it will cost considerable time and money, resources that can be better utilized elsewhere to grow your business.

Keep it simple

While names like Fiverr and Flickr do work, these companies had to spend millions on marketing alone to reinforce their brands to prevent potential customers from getting confused.

Once these companies grew, they even had to acquire the correct spelling of their domain names, fiver.com and flicker.com, as customers would easily misspell them in their web browser. Flickr eventually spent over a whopping $600,000 to buy the domain flicker.com. Yikes!

Make it memorable

It's a bad sign if people have to keep asking you the name of your company. You want a name that is catchy and memorable so it stays on top of people's minds.

Jot down a bunch of ideas and make a list of names you like. Then rank them based on their length. The shorter ones will generally be easier to remember.

The world is changing and a company's brand name is becoming a lot more important by the day. Having a unique and memorable business name is the only way for a new company to stand out from the crowd.

A great product alone just won't cut it when you have millions of businesses around the world with similar products and services competing for customer attention.

Evoke a feeling

Humans are emotional creatures that primarily rely on their feelings to make decisions. This means your future customers will care about how your brand name makes them feel when they're comparing you against your competitors. You want a business name that evokes a feeling inside them that click here coincides with your brand image.

Test it out

Don't keep the name you like a secret. Talk to other people about it. Mention it to your friends, family, coworkers, or neighbors for valuable feedback. Ask for their first impression because that's likely what your potential customers will be thinking about when they first hear your business name.

Amazon was originally named "Cadabra," like the magician's phrase "abracadabra." But Jeff Bezos decided to change it after noticing that his lawyer confused it with the word “cadaver” which is used to refer to a dead body.

Check for conflicts

Before you commit to a name, check to see if there are any other businesses that use that same name especially those that are in the same industry as you.

Start with a quick BackRub (Google it). Then look through your Secretary of State's database. Follow that up with a trademark search. Make sure there aren't any potential conflicts before moving forward to avoid major legal headaches down the road.

If you find any potential conflicts for the name you like, move on to the next one on your list. Otherwise, consult a trademark attorney to see if your name infringes on another trademark. Sometimes if the business using your name is in another industry, you may still be able to use it.

Get the domain

In today's tech-savvy world, it's crucial to have a domain name that matches your company name. And you can't just grab one with any random extension like .net, .org, or .co. It has to be a .com, the most popular and trusted extension online. If you don't own the .com then you're just giving away free traffic to whoever does because that's where a lot of your potential customers will go.

The problem is that finding a great domain name is like looking for a needle in the haystack. Most good ones are already taken. This is why we built Alter, a domain marketplace that connects entrepreneurs with premium business names.

Final thoughts

Choosing a business name for a new company can seem like a daunting task at first just like when you're about to name a newborn. But once you get through it, you will thank yourself later when your business starts to reap its benefits. No matter what name you end up picking, remember to enjoy the journey because that's what life is all about