Naming a company
Brand Name
You have a great idea for a new business. You've researched on and offline. You even have some great ideas for a site to market. Maybe you even have a color scheme. But now you're stuck. You must come with a name and you have nothing, nothing, nothing at all.
This is a too common occurrence when it comes to starting up a new business. Sometimes it is easy, perhaps you are selling some kind of service … your last name plus the name of the service (ie, Cole Web Design) and you're good to go. Or maybe you had a stroke of inspiration and found the perfect name it embodies exactly what the company does. But for most of us that is not the case.
I will share some strategies that have helped me get to the names companies in the past. This is not the end all that whole business of naming strategies … not necessarily right for you. But it works for me and maybe you can help get over the hump and into the most important things like making money.
What are you doing all the other
This is always first I'm doing when it comes up with a name. Head to your favorite search engine to search for companies that are similar to the company you are starting. Try to think of a few different searches and see a lot of sites, including those that do not seem related. This will do a few things. One that helps eliminate names that are already taken. Two will help your mind open to different ideas. It is always interesting to see how different people who have attacked the same problem. Enter any word or phrase you see that pique your interest as you can use in your next step.
Word Association
If you have ever had any type of class creative writing is likely to have done this before. Take a word or phrase that describes your company, you can even use one that you got from the last step, and write on a piece of paper. I suggest using an unlined sheet and write their sentence in the center, which helps release your creative mind a bit. I know it sounds a bit like Voodoo, but trust me it works, but you can do whatever you feel comfortable with, that is important. Now clear your mind and focus on that word. Then start writing, anything that pops into your head, even if it seems stupid, just write, not a classification. Keep writing until you run out of steam but at least do it for a good couple of minutes, this should fill the page. Now take the sheet and go through each word or phrase and the circle of light of high or you really like. Keep this as we will use in our next step.
More words
Now take the list and sit on the computer and head to thesaurus.com. Alternatively you can sit with a thesaurus, but I think the computer is much faster, type faster than I seek. Now take each word in your word sheet association and search for synonyms of the same. Again write the words that look interesting. As you doing to try to keep your mind open as you probably think of more words. If you record on the list and the search for its synonyms as well. Do not worry if your list is too long. You really can not, and we're going to cut here.
Winnow
By now you should have a good list of words and phrases that relate some way to what his new company will do. Now we have to cut a bit to make it more manageable. Go through the list and look for words that are all too common. By a party is not going to be memorable and two likely someone is already using them for his name. After you search for words that are too dark or too difficult to pronounce / spell. You want a name that is easy to remember and write when someone is typing in the address bar of your browser. Try to reduce the list to perhaps 10 to 15 words that you really like. Do not cut too much as you want some options when you go to find a place or register your company name.
Finalize
Now you need take the name of the different ideas you have and see if they are available. There are many resources you can use. You can search to see if a company already uses one name. You must also check with your local corporation commission to see if a name is already registered. Once you find a name which can lead to a domain registration service to see if the domain name is available. This can be complicated as many areas have been registered by hunters hoping to take advantage of them for having to seek a domain name is identical to the name of your company. Why my site is in opposition to cruciald.com crucialdesign.com.
Conclusion
I hope this sheds some light on the process of choosing a name for your new business. Just remember that great ideas come with many failures along beside them.
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About the Author
I am a Graphic and Web designer who specializes in helping companies create a coherent brand that can help them stand out from the crowd. You can see my work at cruciald.com.
Awakening To The Light