Internet Marketing

Build your identity

Brand building is an important part of any business strategy because it is how you will be seen in the marketplace. Your brand is not the same as the websites that you run although they are brands in their own right. It has more to do with the name that you give to a business that will operate all the sites that you decide to create as your business develops. Also, it is a name that you may need to use when registering with local tax authorities or other bodies although that is a subject which will be covered later.

Follow up:

An Example

The best way to see something is through an example so I will walk through some of my business structure.

The master copy of this article is currently held at 59phost.com although that is blocked from public access. A version then gets posted to The 59p Site and that is the main version that is visible to a wider audience. Now both of these are brand names for my business but they are not the name of the business.

My overall business is named Inaregee which may seem a strange name but it is quite easy to explain. I live in a place which has postal codes that begin with the letters 'RG' and saying that out loud makes it sound like 'aregee'. That option returned matches from the search engines but, turning it to 'inaregee', it was unique. A good solution for me because, as the business develops, it increases the chances of being found in searches which is a clear business benefit.

Choosing a name

First and probably most important is to compare any name that you may choose with those used by the big companies. They have legal departments that will ruin months of your work if they sense that you are using a name that is too similar to something that they own.

Next choice can be to use your own name but that can bring problems especially if your name is common. It does keep the choice simple though and nobody can argue against you trading with your own name.

Personally, I prefer to go down the route of using the unusual because it is a way of engaging people. I named my business Inaregee which means that people are going to ask the meaning of it. You may have letters in your postal code that could produce something similar. Unusual words are also a good choice because they are also conversation starters.

Keep the name short though. It needs to be made into a logo for the business and, more importantly, people need to remember it.

Checking the name

The first step in doing this is to just search for it on the internet. Just enter your preferred name in your search engine of choice to see if it is being used by others. Hopefully it is not but, if it is, then all may not be lost as a slight modification to it may solve the problem. If it is close to others then be sure to look at who they are so that you can be sure that they do not have big legal departments that may come down on you for using a name too close to theirs though.

Other records could also be searched such as companies or trademarks although there is a good chance that these would have shown up on the search engine.

Also check out the rules on company name registration because, when your business grows, you will want to move to incorporation or limited company status. There are rules on names that need to be observed there too

Name Chosen

Congratulations because you are now in business.

It may not be all good however because there might be restrictions on how you use a business name in your country.

As far as I am aware, there are no restrictions in the UK apart from a requirement to include the name of the business owner. That may not be true in your country however and I will update this information to include other countries as I obtain it.

Summary

Choosing a business name is important as the months and years past. It can be the same as the website that you wish to run but much better to have something that can include other areas as the business develops.

Homework

This should not be unexpected given the theme of the article. It is to choose the name for your business using the ideas given