How To Come Up With The Perfect Name For Your Small Business Website?

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October 6, 2022 Marketing

Coming up with a unique, brandable name for your small business has long been an arduous, time consuming task, and with 33 million small businesses in the US alone, things aren’t getting simpler anytime soon. As a web presence becomes front and center for businesses of all types, shapes, and sizes, getting a catchy domain name has the potential to make, or break a budding enterprise.

The criticality of this task is further compounded when you realize that there is no turning back once you zero in on a name. This is something that the mom-and-pop establishments of the old economy, who could barely understand the differences between domain and web hosting, learned the hard way, being forced to either settle for a domain that strays from their long standing brand, or shell out a premium for one that matches it.

Being two-decades into the digital economy, and with many new businesses opting for a digital-first approach, coming up with the perfect name for your small business essentially begins with domain name availability. In this article, we guide you through some tried-and-tested best practices to help you choose a name for your small business website that perfectly represents your values, mission, and vision.

1. Understand The Story

A name, either for a domain, website, business, or brand, essentially conveys a story, and before you start hunting for the perfect name, it is pertinent to first understand the story that needs to be told. The story essentially begins with the products and services offered by a business, but digs deeper into the mission statement, ethical considerations, and overall value proposition, among other things.

Ask yourself, what does your business represent? Is it customer service, affordability, quality, or anything else? Business owners should ideally work on a brand brief that provides clear answers regarding the value being provided, the core demographics, a buyer persona, and emotions that it seeks to arouse, before even thinking of brainstorming names, or checking their availability.

For example, Spoon Me, a popular frozen yogurt brand makes an exceptional play with the words, referencing the act of eating delicious frozen yogurt, all the while evoking pictures of love and warmth that comes commonly associated with spooning. This, while catering predominantly to millennials and Gen Z makes it a textbook branding play.

2. Competitor Research

Next comes a deeper understanding of existing market trends, which includes the branding, and names used by competitors, in order to take an approach that remains in-line with prevailing norms, without seeking to stir the pot, or confuse consumers. Performing an extensive competitor analysis can even help prevent instances of duplication, or infringements on intellectual property.

There are also certain associations in the minds of consumers owing to long, established practices that need to be adhered to. For example, the suffix ‘Sagar’ has long been associated with certain styles of low-cost restaurants in southern India, making it pertinent to use this term as a way of conveying the concept, and messaging to the locals.

3. Play With The Words

With a strong understanding of the story, brand messaging, demographics, along with industry trends, and practices, it’s time to start with the brainstorming task, often sitting with a dictionary, or thesaurus to identify synonyms, antonyms, and meanings effectively. With a systematic approach, inspiration should start striking on a regular basis, so make sure to take at least a few weeks before finalizing.

Depending on the demographic, audience, and the nature of the business, don’t be afraid to play around with the words. The term Flickr is a similar word play that merely dropped a noun, while still conveying that it has something to do with flicks, all the while appealing to young, hip, and cool millennials in the early-2000s. A practice that has since been replicated by Tumblr, and Grindr, among others.

4. Check Availability

Checking for domain name availability should go alongside your brainstorming process, and you should ideally arrive at the shortlisted options after checking for their availability. More often than not, you are likely to see your desired name already owned by some other business, but if you’re hellbent on a particular name, there are variations in the name, and extensions that remain possible.

Although not recommended by most branding experts, a number of different business names that are no longer available as a .com, or .net, are currently available with a .co, .io, or, .org extension.

Business owners can also consider going in for variations in the name, such as including a hyphen, changing the spelling, apart from geographic extensions pertaining to a country, or even a city such as .NYC for New York-based businesses.

5. Test Perceptions

When you think you have narrowed down your options to a short list of possible names, make sure to consult with others, so as to avoid any personal bias in the decision. This should ideally extend beyond your internal team, or co-founders, to even actual consumers and industry veterans, in order to get the perfect feedback on your selections.

A focus group would be ideal in this regard, but isn’t necessary. With the right approach, you can create your own focus group of friends, family, customers, and colleagues to test how your name and branding is perceived, along with feedback on the same. Collection discussions, and brainstoms of this type can result in more ideas, and inspiration, to help you arrive at the right course of action.

Final Words

Even in the digital landscape, perceptions and impressions continue to determine success, and as a result, it remains increasingly pertinent to put in effort when it comes to identifying the ideal name for your business website.

If you’ve got the cash to spare, you can always consult with naming agencies, or brand consultants who often have a well laid out formula for coming up with appealing names. Being a one-time investment, it can be well worth the price, especially if you’re looking to stick with the name for years to come.

There are a lot more considerations, especially pertaining to domain SEO, and weaving such aspects into consideration will only further complicate things, which is why it often makes perfect sense to take professional help.