A business name can be a huge factor in the ultimate success or failure of the entity. Unfortunately, many people fail to give a lot of thought to it prior to moving forward. There are many factors to consider including something memorable, a name related to your area of work and, potentially, the availability of the domain name.
Married?
Picking a business name is like getting married. You are going to have to stick with it till the bitter end. It is estimated a prospect will need to see your advertisement and business name at least 22 times prior to doing business with you. Once they associate your business with a certain name, making a change will be disastrous. Once you pick something, stick with it.
Naming Your Business
If you are going to be married to your business name, you need to make sure the bride isn’t already married to another suitor. There are four significant issues to consider.
Initially, you must determine whether the name is already being used in your state. The Secretary of State controls the names of all corporations, LLCs and partnerships. Most also have a web site where you can conduct name searches. Even if you are a sole proprietor, you should check the name against those already registered in the state database. If the name is being used, you will need to consider an alternative.
Assuming the name passed must with the Secretary of State, you should check it against existing trademarks file with the Patent and Trademark Office. The “PTO” maintains an online database. As with the Secretary of State, you can conduct an online search to make sure no other business is using it.
In this day and age, many businesses incorporate a web site as part of their business model. If you are in this boat, you need to check to see if the business name is available as a domain. If it is, you should register it immediately. If not, you can either change your business name again or focus on a domain name incorporating your service or product instead of the business name.
You business could be devastated if you do not take these precautionary steps. Imagine the negative impact on your business if the name has to be changed three years down the line. Take a breath before you select a business name. Like a spouse, it can be either a good or bad choice.
Additional useful info
Believe The Hype Making Millions Online
How much money can you make online? Are there really online millionaires?
Of course there are, but is it reasonable to expect that you can be one of them. Don’t let the hype surrounding the emergence of opportunities cause you to lose your common sense. Millionaires are made by effectively assessing the needs of a market and having a product or service that addresses those needs.
The internet can greatly expand your ways to sell products or services. Some people have been able to use this to make a great deal of money. Some companies that operate only on the net have made online millionaires of their founders.
Before the internet there were auctions, but no eBay. With thousands of items sold daily, each one making a profit for eBay, there is no doubt that the founders must be online millionaires.
Before the internet there were bookstores, but no Amazon.com. Amazon is now outdoing traditional bookstores. Don’t you wish you were the founder of Amazon?
Online millionaires start with an idea and a belief in themselves. They find a way to set themselves apart from the rest. Like real world millionaires, they often have enough faith in their ideas that they risk their own money and even seek additional funding elsewhere. Once they get started, they make themselves big enough that the other competition does not threaten them.
Online millionaires start early in the game. For example, now that we have eBay, people often forget there are other auctions. The only real competition Amazon has is traditional bookstores that were always there.
If you want to be an online millionaire, think of a need that is still largely unfulfilled. After that, you will probably have to believe in your idea enough to take some financial risks. If it doesn’t work, you lose your investment. If it does, you might join the ranks of online millionaires.
Posts by SpeakBindas Editorial Team.