Name Your Business Without a Business Name Generator

By Adam  |  3 Jul 2015 09:00:00

I wrote a blog post in the past about how you could use a business name generator in order to name your business. Hopefully that post has been, and will be, useful to anybody who was hoping to start up their own eCommerce website, but what if you don't want to use a business name generator? I can see why you might not want to use one; it just feels more natural and more authentic to come up with the name yourself. From a professional perspective, it doesn't really make a difference; how could the customers know whether you came up with the name yourself, or if you used a generator? But I can see why you might be happier if you came up with the name yourself, so in this post I am going to talk about how to come up with your own business name using only your mind!

The first thing to keep in mind is a simple acronym: KISS. KISS stands for Keep It Simple Stupid, which is a pretty good rule when it comes to naming a business. Don't forget that you're also going to have to name your domain, and the shorter your domain name is, the more likely it is to be found. Try to go for a simple, single word, maybe one which you created yourself. Don't just go by your own judgement either, write it down and make sure your friends can pronounce it without hearing you say it (if people can't pronounce the name of your business, they can't suggest it to others) and just ask them for their general opinion of it. If everybody you talk to hates the name, there must be a reason!

Secondly, be sure to keep in mind trademarks and copyright. Once you've come up with a name, be sure to have a quick search online to make sure that there aren't any businesses using names which are the same or similar. It'd be a huge shame if you started out your business and slowly began to become a success, only for a bigger company to threaten legal action as soon as you reach a certain level and they become aware of you. Big companies can be merciless with these kinds of things, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

Finally, just try to make it unique, creative and memorable. I know that probably feels like such an obvious point, but it can't be said often enough. If your website has a boring sounding name, nobody will click on it. A common method for naming businesses is to merge two existing words together or to spell an existing word in a new way, think of: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Sellr, eBay, etc. These kinds of names are often quite popular and it could be worth your time to try something similar.

Of course, naming your business is just one of the many things you need to do to get yourself a successful business! You need to consider what your service or product is going to be, what your unique selling point is and how to market yourself. Take a look through the posts on this blog if you want a little advice on any of those things. If you think you're all ready, then sign up for Sellr right now! We'll give you everything you need to set up your eCommerce site and you can do all that without paying a thing.