Choosing the perfect business name is a tricky game and the wrong name can be uninspiring at best but can get you into trouble at its worst. Alternatively, the right name can give your business the desired credibility and also embody your company’s value. But how do you choose the one name that is perfect for your business?

Here are some tips to help you.

1. Making the best of linguistic tricks

Often businesses in the process of selecting a name for their company are torn between choosing a name that will make them stand out in the crowd and choosing a name that will make them fit in with the society. 

But the clever solution is to choose a name that will make you stand out in the crowd and also instantly connect with your audience. 

2. Choose a name that is simple

Don’t select a name that is long, complicated and difficult to understand. As mentioned above, your business name should be able to resonate with the audience you are trying to connect with. It should sound nice and also should be able to evoke a positive feeling. Take for example Volkswagen which literally translates to 'people's car'. 

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3. Avoid copying

Copying your competitors is the worst thing you can do to your business. It is not necessary that the kind of name that worked for your competitor would work for you too. It can also hamper your brand name.

4. Be creative 

Don’t be restricted to choosing a name that is way too descriptory and boring. For example, Phuket Printing Services is not only boring but people may not even remember the name. You don’t want that to happen to your business do you? Choose a name that is quirky and instantly connects. For example, Flash Print, is both short and fun. You can also take the example of Coca Cola. Coca-Cola's name comes from the the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring in the drink. Another example is that of Reebok which is an alternate spelling of rhebok, an African antelope. The company founders found the word in a South African dictionary. Interesting isn't it?

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5. Avoid pun in names

Puns are jokes or words that sound alike but have different meanings. It is best to avoid it while naming your company as many people may not understand the essence of it and you may end up losing clients. However, if you do use a pun, make sure it is clever and memorable. For instance a boutique furniture shop called 'Wooden-it-be-nice'.

6. Don’t restrict yourself while exploring

Today you might be just selling apparels but later you might want to expand to electronics and accessories too. So a name like ABC Clothing Ltd is very limiting. And it’s not a good idea to constantly keep changing the name of your business either. Hence choose wisely.

A domain name has a huge impact on your online visibility. And depending on your marketing strategies on how you want your customers to find you, you may select one.

7. Domain name considerations

Once you have zeroed in a name, you would want to make sure that the name you have chosen is available for you. A domain name is the name of your business and users can access your website using the same. For example in the URL www.wikipedia.com, wikipedia is the domain name

A domain name has a huge impact on your online visibility. And depending on your marketing strategies on how you want your customers to find you, you may select one. Here are some tricks to choose a good domain name:

1. Try for words that are longer than six-seven letters because it is highly likely that words shorter than that have already been taken by some other business.

2. Use phrases in naming your domain. For example, if your company is into interior decoration, you can have beautifulhomes.com or lightmyhome.com as your domain name. 

3. Move away from trends. It is not necessary to stick to all that is trending. Google keeps changing its algorithms and to be able to rank well and come up on search results instantly, be unique.

8. Legal considerations

Before hurriedly picking up a name for your company, it is important to determine the business structure first. 

• Is your business a company? If yes, you need to register it first. 

• If you are a sole proprietor or have a partnership, then you need to register accordingly

The next important thing to determine is registering your business name for a trademark. Unless you do so, your name can be utilised by any other unauthorised entity and you will not have any right to take legal actions against that entity. 

Let us know in the comments section below if you found these points useful.

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