A Simple Process To Create A Business Name

Do you want to give your business a name that has psychological appeal?

While some business names fail to inspire people, a good business name can be one of the most valuable assets to your business

In this article, you’re going to learn a process that I have used personally to create business names.

Using this process, you will be able to create a business name that has a perception of credibility and familiarity. Even though it’s a completely new business.

People will feel drawn to click on your ads. They will want to click on your website when they see you in Google.

That’s how powerful a good business name can be.

This is a simple method to create that effect.

Basic Tips On Choosing Your Business Name

When choosing your business name, there are a few considerations to keep in mind…

Don’t make your business name too long. Longer business names are harder for people to remember and type into Google. Names containing two words are ideal but you could use 3-4 words if you really need to.
It should be easy for people to pronounce. Business names that are too long or difficult to pronounce are hard for the brain to process. If the brain has difficulty processing your business name, it’s unlikely to remember it. And that’s a disaster for branding.
You can use your personal name in your business name. For example “Roger Jones Health Coaching.” But remember this will make it difficult if you ever want to sell the business to someone else one day.
The business name should usually contain words that have associations with your niche/industry. There are exceptions but generally, this approach is best.
Avoid using words that have negative associations.
To get ideas flowing, try a tool like the Shopify business name generator. You just enter words related to your business and it will generate possible names.

Check Domain Name Availability

One of the most important considerations when choosing a business name is the availability of the website name (known as a domain name).

If you can’t get the ‘.com’ or your country-specific domain extension (eg. ‘.com.au for Australia or ‘.co.uk’ for the UK) form of your business name, it’s best to pick a different business name. You can quickly check the availability of a domain name through a service like domain.com.

As you go through the remainder of the ideas in this post, be sure to come back and check domain name availability as you come up with ideas.

How To Create A Psychologically Appealing Business Name

This is my personal favourite approach to creating a business name. The goal of this process is to create a business name that has psychological appeal. And you can do it in less than one hour.

It leverages a principle in psychology known as the mere exposure effect.

The mere exposure effect means that people develop a preference for things that are familiar to them.

Even though you’re starting a new business name that nobody has heard of before, you can still take advantage of the mere exposure effect. You can make people feel like they have already heard of your business. Even if they haven’t.

Step 1: Find Words Associated With Your Niche

The first step is to make a long list of words associated with your niche.

For example, if you decided you wanted to create an online blog about personal finance, your list might look something like this:

Money
Savings
Taxes
Spending
Wealth
Investing
Capital
Credit
Worth

Recommended Resource: Use the Thesaurus.com synonyms directory to find words related to your niche.

Step 2: Find Words Associated With Industry Leaders

Go to angel.co and search for startups in an industry related to yours. Continuing with the example above, I’ll search for Finance Startups.

Start another list, made up of words you find that aren’t directly associated with your niche. In the image above, we can see the words joy, berry and town. Keep going until you have 20-40.

If these startups are doing a lot of their own promotion, the words in their business names unconsciously become associated with the niche.

You can also run a Google search for top websites related to your niche. For example, I searched Google for ‘top personal finance websites.’ I found this list of Top 50 Personal Finance Blogs..

Now you should have two lists of words. One list with words relating to your niche and one with words not directly associated with your niche. Take these two lists and add them to a tool like Rank Watch’s Free Word Combiner.

This will give you a list of all combinations of these words. You will potentially have hundreds or even thousands of names to choose from.

Step 3: Pick Your Name

You should now have several good options for your business name and domain!

Go through the list, pick the ones you like and then check the availability of the domain name. Before making your final choice, I recommend running a few final checks:

Ask friends for feedback on the name. They might notice a problem with it that you have completely overlooked.
Type it in Google. What do the search results look like? Ideally, you will want to rank in the #1 position on Google when people search for your business name. If there are a lot of large, established websites showing up in Google when you search that term, it may be difficult to rank number 1 for it.
Check to make sure nobody has a trademark on the business name. In Australia, you can search for trademarks here. In the US, you can search for trademarks here.

What’s Next?

Now you’ve chosen your business name, you can get started on your business. Get your business name registered in your state or country. In some cases you may want to get a trademark on the name. But that’s not always necessary.

Remember that you can always change a business name if needed. Especially in the early stages of your business – changing your business name is not too hard.

It’s better to make a decision now, knowing that you can change it later if needed. Then you can move on to other important functions of your business and start bringing in money.

If you’re just starting your online business, read this guide on how to start an online business in Australia. Even if you’re not in Australia, you will learn a lot about the steps to get your online business running.