Starting a new business
When starting a new business there are so many factors business owners must consider in order to maximize their opportunities for business growth. One big decision that all business owners must make is the name of their business. This article outlines some of the important factors to consider when making that decision.
Consider the meaning of your business name
It is important to consider how the brand will be perceived in the general community but primarily among your potential clients. For example you would avoid names that portray the wrong image for your brand such as “Sleepy Dave’s Skydiving” or “Costly Hotels”.
Location
The suburb or general location in your business name can sometimes be worthwhile but other times it may limit your business growth or ability to provide services outside of this area. A business called “Hay Street Pizzas” certainly provides your potential clients a great idea of where the pizza shop is but if you then decide to expand your business to another location you may come across some issues.
Business name availability
This is a very important point. You may well spend heaps of time coming across some amazing business names but if it is a great name there is a high likelihood that someone else may have already selected it. You will need to investigate whether the business name has already been taken by doing a search on the ASIC website business name search.
Domain name availability
It is just as important to check that the domain name is available for your business before you make the final decision. If you wish to grow your business and be found easily on the internet you will need to make sure that the domain names have not been taken already.
Some things to consider here:
- Localised domains – it is usually beneficial to select a domain that is localised to the business – ie Australian businesses usually select a .com.au or a .net.au domain rather than a .com domain. That being said anyone can have a .com domain and some Australian businesses do prefer to purchase these if they are available.
Length and Keywords – Having keywords in your domain can be beneficial when ranking in Google but saying that there are many other factors that are just as important and keywords in your name don’t guarantee a high google ranking. Your potential domain should be a representation of your business name to make it easy for new clients to be able to find you. If you do however have a long name it would be worthwhile trying to shorten it down so your domain name is not too long for clients to have to type. ie If your business name was “Matt’s Pool and Small Pond Cleaning Service” we would not recommend registering the domain mattspoolandsmallpondcleaningservice.com.au. If changing the business name was not an option you would be better off to register a domain such as mattspoolcleaning.com.au. While another option is to use an acronym such as mpcaspcs.com.au this is not recommended unless your business is very well known to your customers using that acronym. Acronyms in domains remove any keywords that may work in your favour and sometimes may even form keywords that may be even more unfavourable.
- Multiple domains – If there are multiple domains available for your business name why not consider registering them all. Domains are relatively cheap to register. Once you have them registered no one else is able to take that domain name. There are some registry conditions on some domain names, which are worth investigating first but generally speaking if you have an Australian business “Mighty Jack Brewing” and the domains mightyjackbrewing.com.au, mightyjackbrewing.net.au and mightyjackbrewing.com were all available then it would be beneficial to register them all. If only one was available (eg mightyjackbrewing.net.au) then you would have to decide if is would be worthwhile registering just in case your potential clients accidentally type in mightyjackbrewing.com.au and go to someone else’s website.
Feel free to use the following links to assist you in the choice of your new business name and contact one of our staff members if you need any more information about domain name registration, web hosting or web development.
