Naming Your Online Business

[jamestl2]

Hey all,

As some may know, I recently launched a Wordpress Business a month or two ago. But recently, I stumbled across this page:
WordPress › About Domains (http://wordpress.org/about/domains/)

This states that I'm not supposed to use the word "Wordpress" in the domain. (Which I didn't realize when I registered the domain.) And I didn't mean to perform TM infringement, so I'd like to do this as soon as I get a chance.

So now, I think it'd be best to search for a new domain and basically "relaunch" my business.

I think I'd like to have it end in "press" to help with branding. Now it's just figuring out what to start it with. So does anybody have any good naming tips? What did you do to find the right name for your website?

[KristineS]

Oh, I hate naming things. I've named a couple of companies and several products and it is always an exhaustive process.

We always start out with a list of attributes of the product or business. Then we start playing with words and names. Once we get a list we like, we start ruling out the ones that someone is already using, or the ones that sound too much like someone else's name. We also check on domain availability.

Finally we get down to a usable list. Then we just spend a few days living with the potential names. Sometimes after you've said a name 20 or 30 times you'll realize you don't like it as much as you think you will.

[Harold Mansfield]

I usually look for the domain first (of course looking to include any keyword or phrase that I can) and then name it what ever the domain is.
You can't really name it until you know what is available. An online business usually takes the name of the domain, although not always.

I'm starting a new blog this week, and I didn't have a name for it until I registered the domain..all I knew is what I wanted it to do (or what kind of blog it was).

[vangogh]

James I wished you'd asked me. I knew about the WordPress thing. I'm not great a naming things either, but good words to use would be press, theme, and word. You'll find many of the names you want are already taken, but see if you can combine another related word to either press or theme.

Think about what you're doing and see if you can find a word that fits and then make the combination. If you can't find an available name then you can try tacking on a less common word at the end.

I did just come across this post on 10 useful tools for finding the perfect domain (http://webdesignledger.com/tools/10-useful-tools-for-finding-the-perfect-domain-name) which might help.

[jamestl2]

Sorry Steve, I didn't know you knew about it. ;)

Basically, my primary goals for the business now are to modify existing WP themes to meet clients' needs (Editing things like CSS, XHTML, etc.). And I'll probably be expanding to custom themes and plugins, etc. once I get the time to actually develop them.



I usually look for the domain first


Yeah, that's kinda what I meant. I'd be doing a domain search while looking for different naming possibilities, and I'd go from there. Although there's pretty slim pickings, even with wordpress in the domain, there's not too much available.

[KarenB]

WordPress Mountain doesn't mean a whole lot to me as a business owner, to be honest with you.

In fact, it also makes me feel a little intimidated as if there were this huge mountain to overcome before I could use WordPress as my blog/website.

If you had said something like Press Without the Mess, Press to Impress or Online Blogs Without the Fog or something along those lines, I might be interested in following what you had to say. (I know those sound corny, but you get my drift.)

Your website (I know this is a topic that is best delegated to the website forum, but I just can't help myself) appears very dry, to-the-point and not very inviting. It begs of some visuals. (Do you have a logo?)

Sorry for straying off topic, but I strongly believe that a website should inspire hope and make someone want to turn the next page, so to speak.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you expressed your concern about "branding" and how you could do that without including WordPress in your name, yet at the same time, offer your services to maximize others' services.

WordPress is a great tool for those wanting to publish their blogs.

"Sometimes after you've said a name 20 or 30 times you'll realize you don't like it as much as you think you will."

I agree, but you never know what the public will think. You may think a name sucks, but when you test it out, others are wowing it!

Be unique, be clever, tout your best qualities and services in your domain title and you can't go wrong.

Karen

[jamestl2]

When I originally thought up of "Wordpress Mountain" I was trying to give the impression that WP is greatly large (in terms of usability, support, etc.) and everyone had the ability to "climb" to their potential.

I'm actually working on a new theme ATM while I figure out what to name it (in part because I agree that my current theme is a bit dry).

As for my logo and graphic design skills, I have none whatsoever. I may come up with a rough sketch of a logo and create a basic PNG, but again that will not be necessary until I come up with a new name once I start branding my site.

[vangogh]

James the reason I know is I went looking for similar domains and happened across the info fortunately before I purchased a domain. press and theme do seem to be the dominant words people are using. Using one or both will probably be good for branding, though it will also mean more competition for the keywords.

[jamestl2]

Alright, I spent a few hours doing some domain searches, and this is the list of (available) domains I came down to (.com's):

carbopress
cryptopress
factopress
orbpress
spectropress
vertipress
virtuopress
zeptopress


I want my site to sound kind of techish and professional, yet still unique and memorable. And to give an idea of the new look, I should say that, while I'm still putting up finishing touches on my new design and brand, I'm going for a more dark bluish, chromish graphical feel (as compared to my previous theme design).

What do you think? Do some of the names sound misused or out of place? Or do some of them sound good?

[vangogh]

None of those extra words speak to me in any specific way. They all do get the press in so I think they'd be brandable as far as WordPress. I like the rhythm of the two syllable words so virtuopress and orbpress would be out for me. Nothing specifically against either other than they aren't the two syllable words in front.

The ones that sound the most techish to me are cryptopress, spectropress, and vertipress. I'm not entirely sure why. Of the three I like vertipress the most, but again not entirely sure why. I think it's just the way it sounds when I say it.

Ideally I think it would be better to use a word that was closer in nature to what you'll be doing. Something that evokes the idea of design, development, or even blogging and writing.

[KristineS]

None of those suggestions work for me. They don't mean anything. I'm more in favor of company and site names that have some relevance to the business that's being done. For me at least, it makes them easier to remember.

[Harold Mansfield]

To me, none of those names do anything special in describing what you do, so there is really no SEO, or branding benefit to them to make anyone immediately recognize what your business does. You will still have to do the same SEO, branding,and marketing as if you named it anything else, so why not just name the company anything you want...even use your own name.

[jamestl2]

Well what about big sites like Google or Yahoo, or even Microsoft?

I mean, none of those words have any relevance to "Search Engine" or "Online Business" as Google is a math term, Yahoo is a crazy person, etc. Yet the marketing departments seemed to turn out just fine for them, name-wise.

I already decided I wanted to go the "press" route, so that's some branding right there, right? As in anyone who's looking and visits the site will have the idea that it relates to Wordpress, with the 'press' at the end.

Also, I didn't really want to go the personal name route. Naming my company after myself just seems a bit too egotistical for my tastes, not really my style.

[jamestl2]

I also did a few more searches, and I tried to match them closer to what I do:
movepress
drivepress
finishpress
closepress
solvepress

A few of those could be considered me finishing up the touches on clients' themes (finish, solve, close), while the others would consist of me actually doing the work on them (move, drive).

[vangogh]

Well what about big sites like Google or Yahoo, or even Microsoft?

Do you have the same budget those companies do to promote their brand? I'd also say that all three companies when first formed offered something very new or markedly better than what existed at the time. You're going to be offering essentially the same thing many other people are offering. There's nothing wrong with that of course. It's just that you have to consider where you're starting as a business and where you hope to be in time.

I'm assuming you won't have a large budget for advertising and will need to find ways to market yourself the limits spending. One way to do that is with a domain name. If you choose one that makes clear what you do it can help with brand your business with the services you offer.

I think using 'press' helps. Search enough for WordPress themes and you'll come across a lot of sites using 'press' as part of their name. 'Theme' is another good work to use for the same reason. Unfortunately you're not likely to find a domain like themepress.com at this point. You might have to use something less common, but ideally you still want to choose words that reflect what you'll be doing. And again that's because you won't have the budget to spend on advertising and branding.

A simple example of the point. Most people will assume .com is the extension for your domain name. That doesn't mean you can't use another extension. You just have to understand that doing so will mean a little extra work getting people to remember .net or .org or whatever extension you use. If you look up at the logo here the .net is in red specifically for this reason. The red stands out and it should help people remember the .net.

The words you've been choosing so far in front of 'press', don't really make a connection with the services you'll be offering. That doesn't mean you can't use any. Many of the domains you're mentioned would certainly be easy to remember. It's more than someone (specifically your target market) won't necessarily hear the name and make the association with it and wordpress themes so you'll have to do a little extra work to get them to make that connection.

I think that's all people are saying here. The connection to what you do isn't part of your name. You don't have to make that connection as long as you understand it will mean more work branding the name.

You might want to use theme in the name instead of press since theme is closer to what you'll be offering.

Take zeptopress. Zepto doesn't mean anything to me. Press could mean a lot of things. I might think press as in journalism or printing press. I might things press as in to pressing clothes. Maybe bench press or press a button. There are a lot of associations you can make with the word and most won't specifically call out WordPress services. Your market will probably think WordPress sooner than the average person, but they still might make those other associations sooner.

Now change the domain to zeptothemes.com. Again there's no association with zepto, but the associations with themes will make more of a connection with the services you're going to offer.

[KristineS]

Well what about big sites like Google or Yahoo, or even Microsoft?



They have massive, massive, huge marketing budgets, so they can spend millions of dollars every year training people to remember their names and what they do.

You can't go by what the big guys do. They're playing on a whole different playing field.

[KristineS]

O.k., just goes to show I should read the post right before mine before I post. Vangogh made the same point I just made, and a great deal more eloquently.

Is this a case of great minds think alike?

[vangogh]

Sure. If I get to be counted as a great mind, I'm happy to share that with you. :)

[Paper Shredder Clay]

Have you tried a mind map. Briefly start with a word or two and keep shooting out other words that are linked to that word and then finally combine those words. It might help you.

[Spider]

You are spending considerable effort on what you think and what we think, but where is the "what THEY think"? -- your clients-to-be!

Who will your clients be? You want a name that is techie and professional, but will your clients be techie and professional?

First define your target client. Then you can start thinking about a name that will appeal to them.


As for Google or Yahoo!, or Microsoft? Microsoft was a perfectly simple name - micro (small) soft (software) - Microsoft started off writing software for micro computers - their target market was micro-computer companies. Thus, it was a very obvious name - had nothing to do with the amount of money they had to promote it.

Likewise, Yahoo! (Don't forget the exclamation point, which is part of the name.) Again, a very logical and simple choice. Yahoo! created a directory of websites at a time when there was more and more material on the web and no way to find it. Yahoo! - was a youthful exclamation, as in - "Yahoo! I found it!" Target market - young people who were searching the web for whatever they could find.

(I have no idea how Google came about - maybe they succeeded IN SPITE OF their name, not because of it.)

My point is, determine your target market first. Without that, you cannot find a suitable company name, nor a suitable domain name.

[Harold Mansfield]

(I have no idea how Google came about - maybe they succeeded IN SPITE OF their name, not because of it.)


Legend has it :), that Google is a play on the actual number named Googol It's a "1" with 100 zeros after it, and it's actual name (spelling) was a mistake.

Here is how the story goes:


In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin called their initial search engine "BackRub," named for its analysis of the web's "back links." Larry's office was in room 360 of the Gates CS Building, which he shared with several other graduate students, including Sean Anderson, Tamara Munzner, and Lucas Pereira. In 1997, Larry and his officemates discussed a number of possible new names for the rapidly improving search technology. Sean recalls the final brainstorming session as occurring one day during September of that year.

Sean and Larry were in their office, using the whiteboard, trying to think up a good name - something that related to the indexing of an immense amount of data.

Sean verbally suggested the word "googolplex," and Larry responded verbally with the shortened form, "googol" (both words refer to specific large numbers). Sean was seated at his computer terminal, so he executed a search of the Internet domain name registry database to see if the newly suggested name was still available for registration and use. Sean is not an infallible speller, and he made the mistake of searching for the name spelled as "google.com," which he found to be available.

Larry liked the name, and within hours he took the step of registering the name "google.com" for himself and Sergey (the domain name registration record dates from September 15, 1997).

[Spider]

Excellent! See - another perfectly simple reason for the name.

But first you have to decide your target market. In Google's case - people wanting to search an enormous amount of data.

[jamestl2]

I already understand who my target market is, people who sites powered by wordpress and use themes they want to have tweaked or modified to their preferences. Basically those who aren't as code savvy as myself. (They don't understand the XHTML or CSS behind the theme, how the loop works, PHP functions and template tags used, etc.)

As for the name itself, that's what I was aiming for on my second list, what my target wants. Like Solvepress, the 'Solve' stands for me solving their problems, and 'press' representing WP, so put together that means I'm solving people's Wordpress problems. (Not saying I'm leaning towards solvepress, I'm just using it as an example.) On my first list, I was just throwing names out there to see if anything stuck.

And believe me, I've already searched many different variations of names like themepress, htmlpress, etc. and they were all taken. (Another reason why I thought I'd try to choose something more unique, because there's less of a chance that it'll already be registered.)

I just picked those popular companies because most have already heard of them. I've seen many smaller sites out there that name themselves that have nothing to do with what they offer, or what they're all about. Just take domains that people register after their own personal names for example. To me as a visitor, the personal domain name means pretty much nothing for me. It's all about what content niche they post about or what services they offer.


I think I've already tried using something like a "mind map". I've picked words like "modify" or "edit" and used it in front of press during the domain search. And while those were already taken, I just used a thesaurus and searched again. I did the same process with several other short key words I was thinking about using.

[Spider]

I already understand who my target market is, people who sites powered by wordpress and use themes they want to have tweaked or modified to their preferences. Basically those who aren't as code savvy as myself. (They don't understand the XHTML or CSS behind the theme, how the loop works, PHP functions and template tags used, etc.)
...Great! You're already on the right track. It wasn't clear (to me, anyway) that you had clarified your target client. Does this mean your clients-to-be will be techies and professional, as you state you want your site to be? Sounds like it. Just not as technically advanced as you, I presume. Or, too involved with other things and pleased to find someone who can modify WordPress themes for them.

So - would TechPro work, or something along those lines?

If "xxxpress" of all sorts are so unavailable as a domain, would the popularity of that not turn you off?

I see that the following are available--

protechliner
jamestechpro
j-techpro

... and having a name that is not so restricted to wordpress allows you to expand into other areas at a later date.

[jamestl2]

Thanks for the suggestions, however I'm not sure I'd want to specifically use something like techpro.com, as it's way to broad for the audience I'm aiming for. When I hear that, it sounds like it could represent something like computer repair, or software development. (Although I do like the sound of techpress, or propress, but unfortunately they, and several other variations, are already registered.)

I do like the branding purposes behind using xxxpress.com, but I do see your point on so many people already registering xxxpress domains. However I have a feeling the majority of those taken domains are just owned by domain squatters, with not too many people actually building their businesses around them, as I haven't really seen much use of the option. (Although to be fair, I haven't spent long hours of searching for ones that specifically do.)

And I understand about expanding, what I want to do, and I even have plans to do so in the future, however those expansions are still in the realm of wordpress. In addition to adjusting peoples themes to meet their specifications, I'll also look forward to expanding into custom plugin and theme development.

If I were to expand beyond WP (although I don't really see that happening any time soon), I'd probably start an entirely new business altogether, and just register another, different domain for it.

Since xxxpress.com domains do seem to be fairly common, I wonder how I could still specifically show visitors I use WP in my domain, without wordpress.com's or xxxpress.com's. Something to think about...

[Spider]

James-WP.com is currently available, plus other xxx-WP domains.

[vangogh]

James using wp in your domain could work too. Enough people call WordPress WP for there still to be branding to be gained from it. Do a search for just the 2 letters and WordPress.org comes up right behind the Washington Post.

Just so you know I caught something last night saying that WordPress was about to put something out about rules on using their name, logo etc. As soon as I see the official word I'll let you know.

[jamestl2]

Thanks for all the help everyone.

I found a domain I liked that ended in press (and my timing is kind of urgent, being that I'm graduating in a few weeks).

I'll look for feedback, update my sig, etc. once I get the new site up and running.

Thanks again.

[vangogh]

Good to hear James. Don't hesitate to ask more questions if you have any and I know you have my email so feel free to ask there as well if there are things you don't want to say publicly.

[yoyoyoyoyo]

so, they advocate that you don't use the name WordPress in your domain name.

But, is it actually Illegal?

[Patrysha]

so, they advocate that you don't use the name WordPress in your domain name.

But, is it actually Illegal?

Not in the the criminal sense of illegal, but a trademark holder is always under the gun to prevent all unauthorized use of the trademark. If they don't defend it to the hilt they could lose infringement cases down the road. That's why businesses like Disney seem fanatical about their licensing...