How To Pick A Name For Your Home Business

Tips For Selecting The Right Name For Your Home Business

One of the most important things your home business needs is a solid, easily recognizable and easy to remember name.

Your home business name will usually be the very first thing that almost all of your customers see.....long before they meet you, they will have responded to something or someone that told them the name of your business.

So What?

So, if you're planning on running a professional operation, don't call it 'A1 Supplies' just because you want to be listed first in the phone book.

You should pick a name that says something about you and your home business, and that people in your target market will be able to say without feeling awkward.

The Professional Name

If you're running a serious business targeted at other businesspeople, you'll probably want to keep the name somewhat reserved, yet memorable.

A good formula is your surname, followed by what you do: 'Smithfield Tailoring', or 'Watson Engineering'.

You might also want to add the name of the town where you live: 'Watson Engineering Yourtown'.

Little things can make a big difference: 'Watson & Associates Engineering' or 'Watson Engineering Co.' both sound quite good, for example.

Although it is not recommended to use your first name, generally it sounds terribly amateurish.

When you think about it ,would you rather deal with Ted's Office Supplies or the Johansson Office Supplies Co.?

Another approach is to leave out your name altogether, and simply become 'Yourtown Engineers' or 'The Yourtown Engineering Co.'.

This can make you sound like the first choice locally, especially if your main competitor has the name of another town nearby in their name.

The Corporate Name

Generally Corporate names won't fit very well with a home based business.

They tend to sound extremely formal, but there's a still a place for them. Especially, if your goal is to deal with the big companies that this kind of name appeals to.

Simply think of a word to describe your home business and translate it into Latin.

Then add the word "Consulting", if you want.

The Trendy Name

If you're going for a younger or technology-savvy market, you might want a less formal name.

Names of this form should be kept to one word, and preferably written in lowercase, URL-style.

Another common trick is to make '.com' part of the name.

Notice the difference between 'Fun House' and 'funhouse.com'.... the Fun House doesn't sound like all that much fun, does it?

The Playful Name

You'll be surprised by how many people will love the name of your home business if you just decide to name it after an animal, and possibly use that animal in your logo too.

If you don't have much of a marketing budget, this is a great way to get a quick brand identity -- if you choose the panda, for example, then people start associating you with pandas, and you can have panda-pattern designs on your stationery and decorate your office with bamboo.

This type of approach may sound a little strange, but don't underestimate its power. After all, a little strange can easily turn in to something people will naturally talk about and that can mean a certain notoriety, something any home business can benefit from.

The Shortened Name

One home business naming method that seems to be especially well-used by the big hitters is to take two words that describe your business, shorten them both, and make it one word.

So you end up with Fedex (Federal Express), or Microsoft (Microcomputer Software). This is good for suggesting what you do without having an overly lengthy name.

The Random Name

If all else fails, a great way to make up a name is to just string together sounds that you like until you come up with a made-up word.

This can be a surprisingly good way to come up with a name -- and it will be completely unique.

Make It Easy

Whatever you do, though, make sure the name of your home business is easy to pronounce and spell.

If your surname is hard to say, then don't use it.

If people seem to have trouble spelling a made-up word, come up with something a little easier.

You will likely lose out on an enormous amount of word-of-mouth business if people have to write your name down just to communicate it to each other.

Check for Others

Once you have several name ideas for your home business, it's time make sure you check to see that no-one else is already using them.

It will prove a little expensive to get halfway through starting your home business only to find that the name you wanted is already taken.

Also, you'll have trouble establishing any kind of Internet presence with an over-used name, if that was part of your plan. If your name is too common, you won't stand a chance of getting yourname.com.