I've narrowed my business name to to a possible 2 (with variations) - I wanted to know what people thought sounded better. I will be providing IT support for home and small business users and web design services. the two options are -
Comstar IT
Blue Diamond IT
Possibly followed by 'services' or 'solutions'. I've checked names at Companies House, domain availability and checked that not two many results come back in Google.
I appreciate the honest response. I was thinking of names with Geek in them, but there's someone near me that does IT support and the company name is Geeko, so it might seem like I'm copying him.
Blue Diamond is not particularly original, but has lots of branding and marketing potential.
That was my favourite (Actually I started with Blue Star but there are too many IT companies using that already) but I prefer Bluebird as it's shorter, has branding potential and numerous possibilities for analogies etc.
By the way the reason I'm going with Blue in front of everything is partly due to the colour for use in branding and also because it's near the beginning of the alphabet for directory listings, although I'm sure most of you figured that out.
Find a name to suit the character you project. Its not that your names aren't good its that there's not enough info as to why you choose those names, so no one can relate to them.
The name is important, but for as long as it has reasonable spelling, it does not bring something strange on Google, it at least somehow expresses what you do and/or the values your business stands by, and it is not in some way offensive, it really does not matter that much.
Your business will 'grow into its name', what is more important is your reputation and quality of service you deliver and this will take time to build up. No amount of clever 'branding' will do this for you.
From the above, my favourite would be 'FIX I.T.', simple and straightforward, tells the whole story in a blink... but I am not your customer so don't listen to what I say.
How about putting 2-4 names on a A5 card (with your contact details and a good offer) and spending THIS weekend knocking on the door of homes/businesses in your area asking 'Hi, I need your help. Which name would you like for my business?' That way, your customers will tell you what they like and they get to keep your card as well. You should be able to get some bookings by Monday
The name is important, but for as long as it has reasonable spelling, it does not bring something strange on Google, it at least somehow expresses what you do and/or the values your business stands by, and it is not in some way offensive, it really does not matter that much.
Your business will 'grow into its name', what is more important is your reputation and quality of service you deliver and this will take time to build up. No amount of clever 'branding' will do this for you.
From the above, my favourite would be 'FIX I.T.', simple and straightforward, tells the whole story in a blink... but I am not your customer so don't listen to what I say.
How about putting 2-4 names on a A5 card (with your contact details and a good offer) and spending THIS weekend knocking on the door of homes/businesses in your area asking 'Hi, I need your help. Which name would you like for my business?' That way, your customers will tell you what they like and they get to keep your card as well. You should be able to get some bookings by Monday
Good luck,
Milan
Thanks. From the Google point of view, a lot of names I've come up with return a lot of other IT companies which means more competition on Google and less chance of customers finding the right site, especially if they only have the name to go by.
Good idea with the cards - getting feedback on the name plus possible new clients as well.
I'm trying to keep it fairly generic as I could end up offering IT support, Web Design and bespoke Software Development as well so I don't want to limit the impression of what I do with the name. Hence 'solutions' or 'services'.
I would not try to 'keep it generic' as that is a mistake. Your customers will want to buy from you because you are an expert on one very specific thing which they need right now.
If you make it obvious that you do a bit of this and a bit of that, you might well come across as a business which cannot do one thing well...
Market for fixing IT problems will be very different from designing websites which again is different from designing bespoke software; you are at a danger of spreading too thin. You need to figure out what one thing will work best for you in these times and focus on that one thing 100%.
Later, you can always trade under a different brand to deliver different kind of product/service 'website fix i.t.' :-)
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Trying to decide on business name
