How To Name Your Business To Withstand Time & Trends.

Coming up with the right name for your business can be tough.  Especially this day and age where it seems like everyone is trying to throw up an ecommerce site & every name you have thought of seems to be taken.  Here are 6 helpful tips on what NOT to do when you are coming up with a name for your new business and some tips to help you out.

#1.)  Do not name your business after a current trend. Businesses with a current trend or fad in their name will be left scrambling when that trend goes out; and they all eventually go out.

#2.)  Do not put a random number in your business name.  Here's the scenario: You have your heart set on a particular business name, you find out it's already been taken, you figure, "Well, I'll just do 'MyCompanyName21'". NO. It looks extremely unprofessional, it sounds unprofessional, and people are less likely to take your business seriously. It sounds like you couldn't come up with anything else so you just threw a number on the end, which is essentially what you did. Instead, get back to the drawing board and figure something else out.  There are creative ways to incorporate numbers into your business name, this is just not one of them.

#3.)  K's & Z's. For the love! Don't do this! When I see a company replace a C with a K or an S with a Z, I devalue them immediately. It may not be right, but it's been proven that people instinctively do this. Case in point: Kreations or Creationz, or even worse Kreationz.  It screams, "this is my hobby business", not,  "this is going to be a business that's around for the next 50+ years".

4.)  Which brings me to my next point, do not put "creations" in your business name if you expect to be a business that establishes itself and is around for the duration.  The word "creations" says "craft business" to buyers.  The word "designs" is also outdated and saturated.  Of course, so is "designZ"! (See how I did that?)

The other big factor with this is return customers. "Quick!  What's the name of that shop we bought that t shirt from? 'XYZ Creations'?"  Customer goes to Google that and finds nothing.  Why?  Because you've spelled it wrong in your name.

5.)  Do not make your business name too long. Giving your business a long name leaves too much room for error.  It makes you less searchable because people do not want to type a long name into a browser and are also more likely to spell it wrong.  Stick with something short and sweet, but do not use abbreviations unless they are you are normal abbreviations like, "Co." for company or "Inc." for incorporated.

6.)  Do not use your name or another person's name unless it is easy to spell and easy to remember.  Like RuthRyanJewelry of Etsy did when selecting her business name.  It is short and easy to remember.  If you have a name that people could confuse the spelling, I would avoid using it in your business name.  For instance, Lainie can be spelled "Lanie", "Laney", & "Lanee" or Megan can be spelled, "Meagan", "Meaghan", "Meghan", & more! 

So now you're probably asking yourself, "How DO I name my business?" Here are a few pointers:

●  Think outside the box.  For instance, I was in Clearwater, FL 2 years ago and we stopped to eat breakfast and walk the strip. I saw the cutest, vacant building that said, "For Lease". It had a red door. I said, "If I lived here and started a business, I'd rent out that space and call it "The Red Door".  It's short,  sweet, &  obvious.

●  If you're going to use numbers in your business name, do it creatively.  For instance, Vintage618. I took that from simply adding a local area code to the word Vintage, but it's unique, creative, and easy.

●  If you can do it creatively, adding what you make/do in your business name is helpful for your searchability where optimization is concerned.  For instance,  RuthRyanJewelry on Etsy.  She incorporated her name which is short & easy to remember, along with what she makes, jewelry.  Here is one of my favorite pieces from her shop: 

I can only imagine there are people reading this that are saying, "I put 'creations' in my business name and I'm doing great!"  I understand that, but how great?  "I'm going to be a million dollar company" type of great or "I am a stay at home Mom that can pay all of my bills & then some" with my business type of great (which is awesome), but what companies that have struck it big have any of these in their names?  ZERO.  That is my point. 

I'll wrap it up with this:  Think 30 years down the road and you hand your business off to one of your children or a family member; does the name you've chosen withstand time?   Tell us your business name and how you chose it in the comments below!

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