Got a great name for your small business? Check with the Arizona Corporation Commission (azcommerce.com/start-up) to be sure the name meets state requirements and has not already been taken.
Small Business Administration guest blogger Anita Campbell suggests five more considerations before picking that perfect name:
1 Be sure the name can be found on the Web. Go to your favorite domain registrar, search to see whether the “.com” URL is available and try to get the dot-com version. Buying that dot com extension at auction on the secondary market later can cost you big bucks.
2 Besides .com, consider other domain extensions that suggest the type of business: a consultant might opt for JohnQSmith.guru. You can always have more than one domain name; just make sure they are directed to your website.
3 Names go through trends, like adding or dropping letters such as Unbxd or Dribbble. Consider if that trendiness will be difficult to spell or remember. Will the public remember to drop the right combination of vowels or to add in that extra letter?
4 Do you pick a name that is catchy or descriptive? Businesses were named ”AAA Pest Control of Pima County” to be first on alphabetical lists in the yellow pages. With the Web, names shifted toward the descriptive terms that the public looked for in search engines (“Tucson Used Car Dealer”).
When you want people to remember your name, catchy trumps descriptive. Better is both: easy to find when searching, yet memorable. Or get two domain names — one that matches the brand name and one that pairs up with searches.
5 The majority of companies that export are small businesses. Consider not only how that name sounds or what it means in the United States, but how it will be interpreted in other countries and languages. Will your business name be pronounceable and spellable in those countries and is there already a famous competitor there with the same name?
