Tips on Naming Your Startup: Part 3

Today we present the third part of our article on how to best name your startup. Despite our experience with startup disappointments, coming up with a name for a new venture is a simple process.

Today we will try to explain all the necessary steps that need to be taken in the process of choosing a company name.

- Make a list of keywords:

Browse the relevant section of one of the popular online startup media outlets and copy all the startup names that are relevant to your business. Identify the top companies and study their formation.

If you have ideas beyond those suggested, keep a notebook of new names and keywords you come up with during this process. You can become a keyword generator by thinking about your company's direction, what makes it unique, and the value your offerings provide to consumers. (Spend a few minutes turning each of these concepts into keywords.) Finally, you can use online dictionaries, such as Thesaurus.com, to find synonyms for specific keywords.

- Use the generator for keyword combinations:

First, enter your keywords into LeanDomainSearch.com to see the keywords available for registration.

Generate clear abbreviations with Domai.nr.

Finally, use Wordoid.com to create imaginary word combinations.

The purpose of using these tools is to examine the results to help you understand how keywords can be used in your business name.

-Find domain market offers based on your keywords:

Focus your attention on BuyDomains.com and Sedo.com, as they have large databases and excellent filtering tools. By filtering your search results, you'll see potential domains and their prices. However, before you start making offers, you should take one last step: browse their domain name portfolios to consider names that don't contain your keywords.

Browse domain portfolios:

Visit NameLayer.com and Namecore.com. NameLayer is essentially a small inventory tool that allows you to quickly browse domain names by business category. This is important for inspiring names that aren't based on obvious keywords.

By following this process, you'll have a whole list of great names at affordable prices. And you won't have to sift through a bunch of names during a brainstorming session or wait for the perfect name for your business to suddenly strike you.

Once you have a list of names and before making a final decision, you should decide how much money you can afford to spend on a domain and also collect feedback.

The amount of money you'll have to spend on a name depends largely on three factors:

How much "weight" does your company need to attract customers? "Weight" in our context refers to how important the perception of your name is to establishing a company's identity in your industry. For example, it's not advisable to spell your name with a period (Securit.ee for a company with the keyword "Security"), but in the name of an exchange app...

Whether you're a B2C or B2B company: Many B2C businesses rely on advertising and customer acquisition through social media campaigns, which directly rely on the brand name, providing recognition, memorability, and ease of communication. On the other hand, many B2B companies grow solely through existing partners, who aren't as interested in the name as they are in the reliability, cost, and quality of your company's services.

Identify which customer acquisition methods your business will focus on, and then decide how big a role your business name will play in implementing those methods.

How much money do you have:

If you have the money, set aside a certain amount in case you need to protect your perfect name. If you don't adequately invest in your name, all your marketing efforts could come to nothing.

Finally, you must process the feedback:

Pay special attention to the emotional reactions your name evokes:

You can glean useful information by observing the initial reactions of your family members, friends, and colleagues to the name. Sure, your startup's name may hold a lot of meaning for you personally, but what does it really mean to your customers?

Make sure your employees support your name choice:

Employees are the ones who share the company's motives and goals, and the brand name should strengthen this connection. If employees don't embrace your approach, you'll never build a strong, successful team that's proud of its work.

Once you've decided on the most suitable name for your business, don't despair if you discover the domain is already owned by someone else or is not for sale. You can try to negotiate a sale with the current owner(s) of the domain.