What’s In A Name?
June 6, 2010 | Business, Domain by Paul Baumgarthuber |
Starting a new business or website can be a very stressful and overwhelming experience. With so many different details that need to be taken care of it can be easy to rush through some very important decisions like choosing a name for the business or website. Many people might think a name is a name and the implications of choosing a name are not paramount. In my opinion it is one of the most important factors in creating a successful business or website.
So What’s In A Name…
The name you choose is going to have many implications on your business such as your ability to optimize for search engines, how easily people can directly navigate to your business website, and how people feel when they hear your business or website name. To make sure that you are making the right decision about your name choice there are factors that need to be taken into account when choosing a business or domain name. Some important questions that address the important factors you should ask yourself before choosing a name are;
- Is the name short and memorable?
- Does the name describe what the business or website does?
- Is the name confusingly similar to an existing business or website?
- Is the name easily pronounced and spelled?
- Does the name elicit a positive emotional response?
- Are the keywords in the name keywords people are searching for?
Those are some of the important questions to keep in mind when choosing a name for your business or website. Remember that your name choice is going to be with you and your business for a long time. Choose wisely!
Poor Business Name Choices
Here is a collection of businesses who might have wanted to spend a little more time on choosing their name. The information and images were taken from stokedonbusiness.wordpress.com.
Rapex contacting was a typical slow neighborhood renovation company until 2005. In that year, news of a South African anti-rape condom known as the Rapex hit blogs and forums around the world. Since then Rapex contracting’s business has boomed and their vans can be found all over Staten Island.
Krap Krup is a Halal line of food products sold in London, England. They have capitalized on the booming Muslim population in the U.K. The word Krap means something similar to Yes in Thai. Despite alienating most of the native British population with their name, thousands of Islamic Brits are saying Krap to Krup.
This one only gets creepier. According to their website, this is “North Carolina’s Original Children’s Sale”. It’s a flea-market atmosphere where parents from all over the State come to sell their cast-offs. A 3rd level of creep can be found in their FAQ’s: Quoted from kidsexchange.net: “CAN I BRING SOMEONE WITH ME TO HELP ME WATCH THE CHILDREN?” and “CAN MY CHILDREN WORK A SHIFT?” Kidsexchange has 400+ helpers and is a member of the Events Leaders organization of Raleigh, N.C.
Foc! is a furniture consignment store in Tornoto. They sell used furniture for some of the highest-end hotels, restaurants and luxury homes in Ontario and have a carrying inventory that exceeds $1mil.
W.T.F. Inc has grown so much that they rebranded, changing their colour scheme, logo and website but, amazingly, stuck with the WTF name! Wall-Tiles and Furnishings Inc. operates in Kansas, check out this quote from their website: The world’s largest aluminum forms manufacturer and supplier, Wall-Ties & Forms, Inc., is the premier designer of aluminum concrete forming systems and concrete formwork accessories. Over 29 years ago as a new business, WTF manufactured wall ties – thousands of them. Today we produce and ship over 30 million ties a year and over 100,000 aluminum concrete forms.
A leading fast-food chain in Indiana, T-Balls sells varieties of hot dogs to hungry Americans.
Made by The House of David in Winter Garden, Florida. The Bible Bar is sold in a variety of retail locations including: health food stores, Christian bookstores, gift shops, specialty stores and even some grocery stores.” They also successfully sell copies of the book Moses Wasn’t Fat. I couldn’t make this stuff up.
It’s a resort in Montana that offers Restaurants, bars, rental properties, and motorboating. According to reviews, it’s the most fun place on the Lake of the Ozarks.
Poor Domain Name Choices
Here is a collection of active websites who might have wanted to spend a little more time on choosing their domain name. The information and images were taken from independentsources.com.
- www.whorepresents.com – A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity.
- www.penisland.net – Pen Island is an ecommerce website that sell pens.
- www.powergenitalia.com – This site is for an Italian power generator company.
- www.speedofart.com – The site is an art designers website.
- www.gotahoe.com – A Lake Tahoe travel information website.
- www.therapistfinder.com – A website for looking up information on therapists.
Next time you have to choose a name for a business or website make sure to take some time to make an informed, well thought out decision or you might just end up on a list of business names gone bad.
