Coming up With a Catchy Name for Your Online Store

At the core of every successful business, be it online or offline, there is a name that sticks in the memory of customers worldwide. It’s usually something catchy that allows for a brand to be built around it, such as Nike, Apple, or the like. But before you become a brand, you first need a name that’s unique to you because this is what will help you stand out from the crowd.

While coming up with a unique and distinctive name is getting harder each day as more and more businesses are launched, rest assured that it is not mission possible when using a variety of simple tools or tips. As for the latter, creativity is key, but so is being short, simple and, more importantly, different from the rest of the industry you are stepping into.

The basic rule for achieving great branding is to keep it short. Make it snappy, memorable, and easy to pronounce (in all languages), and if you managed to discover yours that match this, then building the brand will be an easy process. Since this is a basic rule of marketing, professionals start with these steps, so if you’re finding the inspiration a challenge, then try the following strategy:

• Make up new words instead of using an existing one. Common terms are the most difficult to push it up to the first page of a Google search.
• Use words with personal meaning.
• Use the business name generator of various services such as Shopify, Namelix, Oberlo, and the like.

Shopify’s business name generator service, for example, allows users to search for names and check domain availability in an instant. If you are creative and lucky, it’s easy to get the domain name for your business first before someone else does that.

If you keep in mind that domain name generators are for inspirational purposes only, then you’ll be on the right path toward finding the right name for your new online store. Such software will suggest thousands of company and domain names in an instant based on the keywords that users provide.

While machine-generated business name ideas are great and likely the quickest way to check the availability of a domain name, they are unable to replicate the creativity of the human brain. That’s why a brainstorming session with your friends might be effective, who you’ll ask to donate ideas for a great purpose: your business idea.

If that doesn’t work out, remember that the internet has opened the doors to limitless possibilities, so you can either brainstorm with Google – type in a search term and see if you can use the results as inspiration – or tap into the freelancer market and launch a name contest using services such as CrowdDoodle.

If you thought that you can finally rest after deciding on a name, we have some bad news. The process only gets more complicated from here because now your business has a name, so it’s important to check things such as whether it conflicts with trademarked names and, secondly, whether a top-level domain name is available. A .com domain is often the easiest and smartest choice, but it isn’t mandatory; if you settled on ‘kittycat’ as a brand name, then the first thing to do is to check with a domain name registrar to see if it’s available. At this point you will have a database of targeted countries but, if not, search on Google and you will get the necessary feedback.

The domain name should be creative because it will be the search terms that your customers will need to learn in order to visit your store. As such, there are modifiers that can be considered such as [YourBrand][Main Product], for example. But you can always add a verb such as “get” or “shop” into the mix, so the registered top-level domain name is unique and talks about the brand you are building, too.