I know it doesn’t sound like it should take much too just slap a name to your Business and go with it. Well, there is a lot more to this than just slapping a name on a business card and going with it.

Start by deciding what you want your name to communicate. To be most effective, your company name should reinforce the key elements of your business or branding.

Does your name really have to be meaningful? My answer to this is yes. You do not want to spend an unlimited amount of time explaining your business name to everyone that hears it. You want your name to communicate to your consumers what your business is all about.

Be careful not to name your business a name that will limit your niche or your geographic location.

Your name needs to allow growth. If you have any desire to grow or expand your business as you go, you do not want your name to be specific niche orientated. If you were to start up a gardening business and you wanted to grow into landscaping in the future, you would not want to have a business name like Lorraine’s Petunias. Without a lot of thought, you might come up with Lorraine’s Outdoor Garden Center.

Now, I know you can be a little more creative than what I just did there but can you see where the one limits your business to selling petunias, or maybe expanding into annual flowers. But would you expect a name like that to have vegetable plants or even landscape products?

Make sure your name does not limit you to a specific niche unless you know for sure you will never go any further.

Make sure it does not limit you to a specific geographical location. We wouldn’t want to add Michigan into Lorraine’s Outdoor Garden Center because that could limit who would actually pay your site a visit.

If you want to only sell to a specific location then by all means use your town or state or even your country in your business name. Would you click on my links if it took you to Michigan Internet Marketing Services? Well, you might if you were in Michigan. But my business reaches worldwide, and I just put a limit on who I might reach with my online business.

• Make your name easy for people to pronounce
• Make your name easy to spell especially for people doing searches online for your business. You don’t want them to end up on someone else’s web site
• Make sure your name fits your objectives
• Make sure your name describes your company that you have in mind
• Make sure you like your business name
• Make sure that your name is your name and that it is not already in use. If a name is already used, like abc.com, don’t choose abc.org because it is available.  People are used to typing “.com” so do you best to get a .com name.

Remember your business name is what your customers will come to recognize you and services from. So make it good!

You can check out domain names here.