The Business Naming Experience Blog by Maryanna

Choosing A Business Domain Name - What If Your Choice Is Taken?

When choosing a new domain name for a business website, it's not uncommon to find that your desired name has already been registered by someone else. Even more frustrating, often times these names aren't being used for anything, they have just been registered speculatively in the hopes of being able to sell the domain to someone like yourself at some future time. If you are faced with the task of registering a new website domain name for your business, and you find your choice already registered, what should you do?

First off, don't settle for a TLD other than .com. What's a TLD? It stands for Top Level Domain, and it simply refers to the three letters after the "." part of the domain. There are lots of TLDs, but the best known are .com, .net, .biz and .org. In our experience, .com is vastly preferable to any of the others because of it's acceptance in the marketplace, and it's favorable treatment by the search engines.

Second, try to allow yourself some leeway when deciding what domain names to go after. If you have the luxury, make the acquisition of your domain name part of the process of naming your business, and make sure you can secure the website domain you really want. If it's too late for that, make sure you have more than one choice, so there's likely to be at least one still available.

Third, consider using your most searched for keywords as your domain name, instead of your business name. For example, let's say you own a daycare in Amarillo, Texas called Tiny Talents. Maybe there's a daycare by the same name in another city, and they have already taken tinytalents.com. Why not rather choose a domain based on the search term someone would likely use to find you, such as amarillodaycare.com or daycareamarillo.com? By doing this, you will find it much easier to get your website ranked for your favored search term, and you won't be frustrated because your desired name wasn't available.

Finally, if all else fails and you simply must have a certain domain that's already been registered, you may find that your desired domain name is available for purchase at a reasonable price. If it's imperative that you have a particular domain, and the current owner is willing to sell, negotiate with them. Perseverance often pays off, and you might just get the name you thought was unavailable to you.

At The Business Naming Experience, all names we develop for our naming clients do have .com availability at the time of presentation. We feel that is just one of the many benefits every one of our clients deserves when beginning a new professional venture.

Should You Ever Use Your Surname In Your Business Name?

If you are thinking about using your surname as all or part of your business name, think carefully. Using your surname may carry unlooked for consequences, and should be carefully analyzed before you finalize your choice. Several questions arise.

How will your surname impact your future business prospects? Is your surname a good or a poor choice when it comes to the specific type of enterprise you will be operating? Will your surname bring a positive or negative energy to how prospects, customers, and vendors perceive your business? Also, there are practical considerations, such as the possibility of acquiring a trademark or patent using your surname.

Factoring into this decision is the age we live in. It's a fact of corporate life that much of the communication engaged in between corporations and their clients or customers is now carried out in a most impersonal manner, through the widespread use of technology such as email and text messages. Face-to-face, and even voice-to-voice contact has become much less significant in the machinations of the average business, and therefore the potential impact of one's surname on business process is likewise diminished. However, for some, this may be the very reason to strongly consider the use of their family name; to rebuild some of that personal, one-to-one communication energy back into the day to day operation of their firm.

Although there are several highly successful uses of surnames in business enterprises over the past hundred years or so - including Ford, JC Penney, and Trump - keep in mind that your surname may not lend itself to your particular type of enterprise, or even to business in general. For instance, if your surname is Violet, and the business you are planning to begin is a Plumbing Contracting firm, you may be better off looking elsewhere for naming ideas.

Other reasons to veer away from use of your surname in naming your firm include the lack of a sense of energy and excitement, as well as difficulties in differentiating your business from others in the same niche. For example, the surnames Smith or Jones aren't likely to accomplish much when it comes to standing your business apart in the minds of your prospects.

Before deciding either way however, why not take some time to carefully consider whether or not your surname could be incorporated into your business name in a unique or creative way? Doing this well, perhaps even with the help of a qualified and experienced nameologist, might well leave you with a business name with a pleasing and powerful impact, and lay a firm foundation for future business success.

Everyone who owns a business knows it would be extremely expensive to go through a company name/identity change. Yet, there are times when such a change could breathe new life into an enterprise. Certainly negative association in the marketplace might provide a catalyst for creating a different brand. And when negative association combines with a subliminal that does not support growth and profit, the benefits of adopting a new name are difficult to ignore.  

So what about BP? Should British Petroleum go back to using Amoco as their name? Or should they consider a totally new brand? This giant corporation faces two issues:

• There's an ever-mounting distrust by consumers, resulting from mismanagement and unsafe practices around the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf.
• There's also a major problem with the name BP. A name that is void of vowels can't perform well energetically, because the power of language is carried through the vowels. And the subliminal of this name opens a company to severe loss when and if a lack of ethics taints the scene.

So what does that mean? Negative public association, combined with a subliminally unsuitable name, can continue to spell disaster even years down the road. While executives at BP might balk at the thought, this is a company that would benefit greatly from a new identity, the sooner the better!