I’m currently hard at work spending my free time trying to turn an idea for an online classifieds business that I had about 18 months ago into reality. There’s so many things to do. Even if it is a relatively straightforward idea, there’s a load of stuff to get done to get anything worth putting in front of customers or community.  All that “stuff to get done” means that I’m learning a huge amount.  Hey, I need to get content for Ditch the Office from somewhere don’t I?

One of the more fun and entertaining things we’ve done is to name the business (or product in this case).  Maybe the name is important and maybe it’s not, but it definitely not straight forward these days.  No more AAA Repairs, Geoff’s Meat’s or Linda’s Bookkeeping. Particularly with web businesses, this is (or was depending on who you talk to) the era of missing vowels.  My business partner and I came up with the name furcle.  Well, what did you expect for an online business?  I’ll post some more info on what furcle is in the not to distant future when we’ve got some more information.

I’ve recorded the recipe that my business partner and I used to get a name. Some of the tools that I’ve mentioned are Australian specific so you may need to try to find something similar in your own countries. So, without further adieu, the Business Name Recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 sheet of brand identity
• 2 heaped tablespoons of humour
• A bunch of verbs, nouns, sayings and euphemisms
• 1 Internet domain name search tool
• 1 local trademarks search tool
• 1 business name search tool
• 1 random word generator tool (optional)
• 1 workshop bowl
• A dash of creativity
• 1 teaspoon of inspiration

Method

1. Preheat your brain
2. Line a buttered baking tray with a layer of your brand identity.  This ethereal step is necessary to provide you with some guidance to the nature of the name that will reach to your customers.  What does your brand mean?
3. Break up the bunch of verbs, nouns, sayings and euphemisms into a workshop bowl, add the humour, creativity and inspiration and work them thoroughly together.  Make sure you try combinations of the bunch (like taking pieces of words an piecing them together or if you’re struggling to get some words, try some of the random word tools listed below).
4. Keep mixing and watch for a particular verb, noun, saying or ehpamism that keeps rising to the top.  Skim it and place it aside.
5. Take the skimmed item and run it through the Internet domain name search tool.  You’re looking for a match against the ubiquitous “.com” domain or your country specific domains (e.g. “.au” for australia “.co.uk” for the UK etc).  If your name passes this step then continue to the next.  If it does not then return to step 4.
6. Take the same name and check it against your local/national/international business name registries to make sure you’re going to be able to use it. If your name passes this step then continue to the next.  If it does not then return to step 4.
7. Take the same name and check it against your local/national/international trademarks registries to make sure you’re going to be able to use it.  If your name passes this step then continue to the next.  If it does not then return to step 4.
8. Once the name is passed through these tools, place it on the sheet of brand identity on the baking tray
9. Repeat steps 4 to 7 until you’re happy you have enough options to fill the sheet of brand identity.
10. Wrap the words in the sheet of brand identity and bake in your brain for a few days.  If you’re into slow cooking, them you can leave it there for up to a couple of weeks.
11. As the sheet of brand identity shrinks to fit the names, you’ll find that it fit’s better on some or others.  Take the one that is the best fit and serve!  If you have a couple, then stick it back in the brain for a few days until there’s only one left.  If that doesn’t work then just pick one.

Reference

Here’s some reference materials to help you to get the best out of the recipe:

• Popular Internet domain domain name search tools eNom, Godaddy, MelbourneIT (for .au domains)
• Australian business name registry run by ASIC.  You can also try the ABNLookup for Australian Business Number checkes
• IPAustralia – Trademark registrations database
• Here’s a random word generators on the web, and here, and here, and here.
• Google is your friend if you need to find any of the above in your local area.

Happy naming!  I hope your recipe turns out.  We’re hoping furcle does and initial taste testing with a few people says that it’s promising.

By the way.  If this is a little obtuse or confusing, them please free to contact me via the comments and maybe I can give you some further help.