Tips to Choose a Great Business/Domain Name

These days, every business is an online business. Whether you plan to utilize the web for
web retail, online marketing or both, the first step to establishing an online presence is securing a memorable domain name for your business. (For the internet new-comers: An example of a domain name is upstartsolutions.net) See if your Domain Name is Available

Here are some tips for snagging a great domain name:

1. Consider domain name availability as well as registered business name availability while still naming the business. This will keep thing simple and avoid unexpected disappointments. Example: We had already designed the logo for a new accounting business with the name The Bottom Line. Clever, right? So clever that it was already registered in almost every state as a corporation and as a ficticious business name in their county over 50 times in variation. Every variation of domain name was also already registered. Check availability first...
   
   
2. Consider if the name you are seeking will lead to competing markets, or negative associations (both are bad) Will the common mis-type of your url lead to a competitor? You may consider a different domain name. Will the common mis-type lead to offensive content? Definitely reconsider. Example: We were designing a website for an online Mom's group who had chosen the name "Hot Mamas". Totally innocent on thier part. However, this domain name and innumerable variations are common URLs and search terms for, you guessed it, porn. Not a great choice...they went with Mama Mafia instead!


3. Creativity does not trump Clarity! Avoid repeating letters between words (like mossservices.com), or anything you are going to have to spell over and over to clients (your email address will most likely use your domain name, so try to keep it simple). If using initials for your business, try to avoid similarly sounding letters, since these are easily confused and clients may not have a reference for what the acronym stands for. Example: When we were still new, we had an angry call back from a client who demanded to know why we let him choose the domain name tps.com for his "Total Protection Services". He explained that all day long he spent listening to confused customers calling to clarify: "ctf? ebx?", instead of using those calls to sell his actual product!


4. If you have a unique name for your company or product, be sure to immediately register it. It is not always malicious, people have a way of getting the same idea at the same time. Also, when you are excited about a new idea you have the tendancy to share, but think twice. Buy the name, then tell everyone about the new idea. We've seen proud business owners surprised to see that they now need to buy a recently registered domain back from someone whom they "shared their idea" with. Don't be held hostage, don't share your idea until you own it.
   

If you discover someone else has already claimed the name you want, don’t be discouraged. If you are just starting out and have just selected your business name in the planning step, consider searching potential new names for domain availability before committing a name. If you are dead set on the name you have, you may have some hope yet: Often entrepreneurs allow their domain name registration to expire or are willing to sell their name to you at a reasonable price. Most domain name registration services provide contact information for domain name owners or offer a way to bid on domain names that are up for sale. You might also consider your domain to be a memorable tagline rather than the business name. For example: Upstart Solution's tagline is "You've got a great, idea. Now run with it!" so another possible domain name might be "runwithit.com"

Upstart Solutions offers a number of low-cost web services to not only register your domain name, but also set up email and websites for you, complete with e-commerce capabilities. You can See if your Domain Name is Available here!

Infatuated with Your Business, Much?

One of the most exciting parts of what we do is engaging daily with people whose lives are full of blooming possibility. The excitement and energy of that new idea finding root and sprouting mimics so closely the infatuation of adolecense: highly emotionally charged, and tending toward irrational optimism without care to the cerebral or rational. If you’re anything like the many new business owners we see, you’re probably romanced by the exciting possibilities of your business concept, making it even more important at those early "honeymoon" stages to be methodical about the mechanical aspects of your business. One of those, without a doubt, is structuring a real business plan.

Here is a real-life example of infatuation without planning:
I consulted with an amateur photographer who "had her own business". She originally came to Upstart Solutions for just a logo, but as I collected information about what type of business she had or what it actually did it became clear that she did not know. This was her idea: she just wanted to take pictures. She didn't want to communicate with clients, or do any selling of services and printing, or even have to be anywhere at any time. Just when she felt like it, she would take pictures of whatever she wanted (the sky/plants/her hand), and then she would put them up on her website and people would pay her millions of dollars for them.
Now don't laugh (too much). This is her dream, but it is not a business concept. She was telling me her Life Plan, but had not successfully translated that into a Business Plan and was so romanced by her dream life that she was completely neglecting the logical consideration of where money would come from or even if what she was talking about had any market demand. ("Pictures of some chick's hand" surprisingly did NOT turn out to be a commonly searched term in any of the search engines!)

But, that dream can be translated into a viable business. Some talented professional photographers do make money in those peramiters. With a little market research I learned that there are stock photo websites that take submissions from photographers of almost anything, and then when they are downloaded the photographer is paid a fee. No personal website development, shopping cart or merchant account is necessary for these photographers to make money (read: low overhead). To address the other important part of her Life Plan, their schedule is their own. Furthermore, I found that with a little market research into the most commonly searched photo topics, you could take photos that would sell and there is no cost for the deliverable to the client. I approached the woman with this viable business plan, sure that she would be ecstatic. Instead, she said that she just wanted to "do it her way". Which apparently meant abandon the business in 3 weeks and start on something else equally well thought-out :)

That is what I mean about the adolecent quality of infatuation to beware of: she had "I love my Photography Business" doodled all over her notebook for a few weeks, but knew nothing about it, and the longer she went without learning/doing/seeing anything, her attention span went to the next infatuation. In case you were all anxiously awaiting the end of that story; No, she did not make millions of dollars.

I could tell you similar stories about the most logical business plans with no passion or romance behind them that were equally successful (not at all). You need both, that is why we say that the first step is to define what you are passionate about. This is a lifestyle more than a product. You don't have to necessarily love anything but the life your are creating for yourself. That is why some people leave 100k per year jobs to start a business, it is the lifestyle they've created that they don't love...not the 100k per year!

As you walk through all the aspects of the Business Plan and account for what it will cost, where the money will come from, and do real market research on what you can expect to make, your excitement can be directed productively at creating the result you desire. To continue the analogy, infatuation combined with honesty and real-life experiences equals real love. Cross-stich this on a pillow or whatever you have to do to remember: A little business planning goes a long way.