What is in the name?

What is in the Name? - Freelance WorkTips

Planning to launch your own business? Choosing the right name for your startup business is a critical part of staring your business. It not only distinguishes your business from your competitors but, it also can make the difference between success and failure. The name you choose reflects on what your business is all about and what your potential customers will perceive of your business. Your business name will reflect your company’s values and its distinguishing characteristics.

Moreover, you need to ensure that the name you choose for your business can be registered and is also web savvy i.e. is the domain name available?

Remember there is no singly correct way to choose the right name for your startup business, but the only way your business will succeed if your products or services score well on quality. There are many examples where the business names are ordinary and simple and are doing well in the market. Similarly, there are companies with very unique and catchy names that are not doing very well. So it boils down to this that the business name does create an impression in the mind of the potential customer but , ultimately the quality of your products or services which you offer will decide the future of your startup business.

In general it is advised that the business name should be catchy, simple, and easy to spell and pronounce. Remember that in trying to be catchy and different the name shouldn't be too confusing or vague for the customers to understand or you might end up loosing the customers.

Think about what you want your company name to convey.

The business name you choose will appear on your business cards, letterheads, website, promotional materials, and everywhere else, so you should consider what you want your company name to convey. Service oriented businesses should consider a name that includes or describes what the business does so that it will be easy for their prospective customers to recognise what services the business provides.

It is very important that you think hard before selecting a name for your business because it is going to effect how your customers feel about your business. The more obscure, difficult to pronounce, or spell the harder it will be to remember.

Brainstorm to identify name possibilities.

Once you have decided on what you business name will convey, start your brainstorming sessions. In these sessions think about words that describe your products or services, the benefits of using your products/services. Think of words or phrases that will evoke the feelings you want your customers to feel when they see your business name. Use dictionary, thesauruses, and any other resource which will help you. Form a list, go through any web service and see how many have been taken already. Check www.uspto.gov if the potential business names are not already a trademark.

Once you have shortened the list check the rest of it to see how many have been registered as domain names. This step will likely cut down quite a few potential names away. Lastly, Google your potential online business name in quote to see that no competitor appears on the name you have chosen.

The moment you decide the name of your business, make sure to register it, claim your domain name, your social media identity and if required trademark your name.

While choosing the right name for your business few things to consider:

•While abstract words can be catching, like Yahoo, Google, and Amazon the more obscure a business name the harder it will be to remember and can lead to confusion and set your business back in terms of awareness. So choose a familiar name, which is easy to pronounce and remember.

•Misspelled words not only can make your business name stand out but it can also help you in domain name registration. Examples of misspelled names are flickr, and tumblr. While it may be creative to misspell words it does not always work to your advantage. On the other hand misspelled words will not be easy to lookup in the search engine.

•Two Syllable or Compound words can be used by combining 2 words together to name your business. Examples of this are Facebook, Skillshare. This will not only be useful in making your business name memorable but, it can also help you in registering your domain name easily. Choose words which will not only appeal to you but will also appeal to your potential customers.

•Initials like IBM and Acronyms like AT&T can be used if your business name is long and multiword phrase (an acronym is composed of the first letter of each word in a phrase), but a poorly chosen business name can result in unfavourable acronym.

•The name needs to sound good while saying aloud. Use a name that has meaning and conveys your business message/benefits.

•Avoid names that are too narrow or too literal. So don't use names which will restrict your growth in the future. For example when I started out my business in content writing many of my friends advised me to select a name which had writing or content in the business name, but I decided on "outsource2me", this way when I decide to expand & go into web designing and more I won’t need to change the name of my business.

•You can use Keywords to name you business by making use of words which directly give an idea about the business. No frills, just directly to the point.


In conclusion I would say that it is very important that you think hard before selecting a name for your business because it is going to effect how your customers feel about your business.

As always you are welcome to post your questions and comments below.

Have a great and prosperours life.

Cloud Computing

It can be defined as “Computing in which access is gained through internet to data and files, or software applications which are stored on remote machines owned by somebody else”. In general terms Cloud Computing can be for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet.

Cloud computing has distinct characteristics that differentiates it from hosting is that, the service is on demand; a user can have as much or as little of a service at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider. A good example of Cloud computing is you online email service of Yahoo!, Gmail, or Hotmail; where the vendor houses all the hardware and the software necessary to support the email service. The only thing required is an internet connection thorough which you log-in using a web browser. You can access it from anywhere as it is not physically installed on your computer.

Cloud computing is catching on very fast and it is not just a fad any more-simple reason being that the traditional computing  is very expensive and requires a variety of hardware and software to be purchased and a whole team of professionals to keep it running at client level. With cloud computing client side management of hardware and software is eliminated and it becomes the responsibility of the vendor-which means the clients only pays for what it has used, upgrades are automatic, and applications can be scaled up or down easily. With Cloud computing you just need open a browser, log-in and start using the application or update your data or files.

Cloud computing can be very beneficial for small or mid-sized businesses, as they don’t need to purchase lot of hardware and software to run their business applications and storing of data. Business can store their information in the cloud and pay only for the space utilized.

Benefits of Cloud Computing includes:

• Cost Savings — Cloud computing can bring hardware costs down, where businesses won’t need to buy the fastest computer with the most memory, or a large hard drive. Instead, an inexpensive computer terminal including a monitor, input devices like a keyboard and mouse and just enough processing power to connect to the cloud system would be sufficient. Cloud service providers do the system maintenance thus further reducing maintenance requirements.
• Scalability/Flexibility — Businesses will be able to start with a small operation and grow to a large operation, and then scale back if necessary. The flexibility of cloud computing allows businesses to use extra resources at peak times, enabling them to satisfy consumer demands. Cloud computing gives its subscriber’s wide access to computer applications. The will not have to buy a set of software or software licenses for every employee. Instead, the company could pay a metered fee to a cloud computing company.
• Reliability/Mobility — Cloud service providers use multiple redundant sites which can support business continuity and disaster recovery. As systems are accessible from anywhere, workers have increased productivity.

Conclusion:

Cloud computing provides many options for the everyday computer user as well as large and small businesses. It has opened up the world of computing to a broader range of uses of resources by giving access through any internet connection.

Cloud computing is a model for enabling everywhere, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). Clients would be able to access their applications and data from anywhere at any time. They could access the cloud computing system using any computer linked to the Internet. Data wouldn't be confined to a hard drive on one user's computer or even on a corporation's internal network.

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Finding Your Niche

A “Niche” is defined as a "situation or activity specially suited to a person’s interest, abilities, or nature". (American Heritage Dictionary 4^th edition)

Knowing that we want to start a business is not enough; the important thing is knowing what kind of business to start.

Your online business should be something you are ‘passionate’ about, it should be something which interests you or suits you nature. Working for something you are passionate about will yield great results. If you are passionate about something your commitment towards it will be very high. Your passion should dictate your ‘niche’.

Having a specific knowledge/skill or your work experience can also be your niche. I recommend grabbing a pen and a paper and start jotting down atleast twenty things which you are passionate about or have knowledge about.

While brainstorming for new ideas for your future online business, keep in mind that a successful business is the one which is providing a product or service that others will actually buy or pay for. Satisfy the need of your target market, and your target market will keep your business profitable.

Beware that an idea may seem promising, and destined to make you rich, but the real test will only come when you actually launch your online business. So what ever the idea/niche may be, it should be researched well before investing your time and money into it.

• Some of the questions which need to be asked:
• How big is the niche?
• How competitive is the niche?
• How profitable is the niche?

Google your idea/niche (in quotes) and look for these things:

• How many results?
• What kind of sites are in top 10?
• Who is your competitor?

If the results are few, then your niche may be too vague. If it is too many, then you need to zoom in on a tighter niche.

Action Steps

Gain the knowledge of your niche and what the market wants. There are so many online business ideas to choose from, so be sure to pick one that you’ll enjoy running and that will keep you motivated.

As always feel free to ask question or leave your comments below. 

Until next time take care!

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