Naming rights - How to pick the best business moniker

31/05/10 posted by Annie

So you're starting a new business - but you can't come up with perfect name! Unless something's a definite grabber, it can be hard to settle down with the right name for people to know you by. Your own special branding (and keywords) are of supreme importance in today's fast-paced world of search engines, social media and website integration - and there are so many things to consider, like character length for Twitter, and making sure you don't get caught out by common spelling mistakes in search engines.

Start by brainstorming some keywords that relate to your business - and get expert help (thesauruses, poet dictionaries - you name it. Friends can also be great for ideas). As Mashable suggests, try mixing and matching your keywords up into compounds, like YellowPages, YouTube or FaceBook. But whatever you do, don't forget about the all important keywords which will make you shine in Google's eyes.

Deliberately fashioning your name to be a top result in a Google search is a great idea if you expect a lot of your clients to come from the internet. While you might think "John's Plumbing Newtown" isn't sassy enough for the new age plumbing service you want to start, you need to be thinking from the perspective of your potential clientele. Dull as the name may sound, you'll top searches for "plumbing newtown" - and that's what you want. However, this won't work as well for some businesses where branding relies on an emotional connection with the company name. According to Christopher Johnson from the The Name Inspector blog, keyword based business names are lifeless and a bit spammy. If your business needs more individualistic branding, like a photographic studio or web design company, it's important to have a compelling presence outside of Google searches.

Always incorporate your online and search goals with a clear business strategy. Having the perfect name from the outset should help elucidate the rest. However, don't let your name limit you if you think there might be room to grow in a few years. Michael Martine, SEO expert and blogging extraordinaire from Remarkablogger, says even though descriptive business names might be great for SEO purposes, they tend to sound generic and dusty. If you belong to a fast-moving industry like technology, your business's function might completely evolve in a few years: don't get stuck calling yourself "Annie's Floppy Disks" if you move onto other things in ten years!