does the choice of a name matter? how much

[KristineS]

I have the problem of my name vs. the company name too. The company for which I work, but do not own, has started a couple of subsidiaries in the past couple years. I've been responsible for the Marketing for all of them, and have become very closely associated with the companies. A lot of people will refer to the companies as "Kristine's Company" and not the actual name. If you search my name I come up for all sorts of press releases and company blogs and comments on forums on behalf of the companies.

I guess the main issue for me right now is I'm becoming a brand on behalf of someone else. That's something that I still haven't quite figured out how to address. I'm also kind of amazed that the company has allowed it to happen. There certainly are enough articles out there about the dangers of allowing someone who works for you to become the face and voice of your company.

[vangogh]

Kristine that probably works more in your favor than the company's. For example say you left to work for another company in the same industry. You get to keep your name and hence the brand you've built on it. That brand goes with you to the next company. Your current company would then have to start over. Think about it. People refer to "Kristine's Company." They might not even notice the difference if the company behind Kristine changed, because the brand they see is you.

[davek]

Examining this issue at an SEO or internet marketing standpoint.. regardless of the actual name of your company, you want to have the domain name for your website to be something that contains one or more major keywords relevant to your business. For example, if you're company name is HuggyTreeLandscaping.. you want the domain name of your website to be something along the lines of landscapinginatlanta.com

Hope this helps.

[iamjohns]

you know names are very important they are the catch of the bate which means depending on how people are interested in your name they will come back and forth and want to enter possibly buy something that may lead to your name , i like the city name tho its interesting also it will be very productive on the google search yet sometimes your webpage might be on the second or third page so not so many people may go there good luck with publicity though , its a good head start....

[DeniseTaylor]

Just wanted to chime in with my thoughts:

There are appear to be a lot of real-life experiences on this thread, which are golden. There are personalities and customer bases to take into account, as well as location.

But it seems that whatever you do, what you actually do should be mentioned in the name. So in the case of Dave's Plumbing, the word plumbing is used so you can tell it's not a tavern.

I have friends with local businesses and they use descriptive words in their business name, so their name actually becomes an advertisement each time it is used: Professional Electrical (which relates a sense of trust) or Reliable Cleaning (meaning they show up and they don't flake).

Online, it's advantageous to use a keyword related to your industry in your title to help get search engine exposure: Carpet Cleaning Experts. Of course there are always redirects for domains to add to it's versatility.

[vangogh]

I like using a word describing what you do as well, hence the word design in my domain and business name. I don't like setting absolutes on this though, because so much can come down to your goals for the business and even the budget you have to spend marketing.

Using a descriptive word simply means less work in having to communicate to people what you do. Take Google for example. Granted now we all know what Google does, but their name itself gives no clues. Early on they needed to communicate they were a search engine. They were able to do that and now we google instead of search. On the other hand the nam Google is pretty easy to remember and spell and pass on and use as a verb. I don't think their name is the reason for their growth, but it probably helped at certain points.

Whatever words you choose to use in your company name, there are going to be trade offs. I think it's more important to understand those trade offs than think in absolutes about using a specific word. For example in Dave's case his business name is in the format "location service" That works great within his location and saves some money having to associated the service with his business. On the other hand it would make it hard to change services or offer them in a new location. Neither of which are likely to be issues to Dave. I on the other hand started out offering hosting services and had the word hosting in my business name. I later decided to drop hosting services, which required a name change.

[Blessed]

This is a good topic Dave.

It took me awhile to decide what to call my graphic design business - I had several ideas, but when I would "google" them they came up too many times in the search engine so one day I was watching the dog play and called a friend of mine who is in the business and asked "what do you think about 'Crazy Dog Creative'" he liked it, offered to draw me a dog for my logo and here I am. I'm not convinced that it is the "best" name I could have given my business - but it is memorable and I don't plan on changing it!

[vangogh]

Jenn your name works fine. The word creative does let people know something about what you do and Crazy Dog is memorable and easy to spell. It's easy to look back and think up better names, but by then it's often too late. Then again I did change my company name after 2 or 3 years and it worked out well.

[Four94]

Good question.

We got our name because we are 4 guys who live around the Chicagoland area.

There is road called "I94" that connects us all to the city.

Thanks,
Mark Richardson

[Rzacny]

Once you have established a strong presence, then you could have most any name (Lemon Rock, Frog Butt) and it would suffice. But in the beginning, I believe that your either need a simple descriptive name for you business, or you need a strong descriptive 'tag line.' In the early stages it cetainly helps a bunch for people to be able to know what you do without asking or guessing. The name or the 'tag' should say it. The attorney is right, names don't prevent sales, it's the reputation and profitability that makes a good sale happen.