Selecting a name for your new business
This is an aspect of your new business that deserves time and attention. A good name is a valuable marketing tool and facilitates word-of-mouth advertising. A bad name can doom a business to obscurity.
Start out by brainstorming about your new business idea. Come up with a list of words that describe your business. What services do you provide? What problems do you solve? What do you want people to think of when they think of your business? What are some of your unique traits?
Creating a "brandable" name
To be brandable, your name must be both memorable and meaningful. Memorable is pretty self-explanatory. When people think of your business the should quickly remember the name. Meaningful requires that your name evoke the concept or strength of your business. With a small start-up business, like the concierge business, you won't have the budget to "create" meaning in a made-up word like Yahoo or Xerox.
Go back to your list of keywords and begin trying different combinations and variations of those words and concepts. You want to come up with a lot of different possibilities to choose from as you investigate the status of your name.
Where have all the good names gone?
Once you have come up with a list of potential, brandable, names for your business, you will need to investigate each to see if they are already in use. Don't be discouraged if some of your first choices are already taken. You can check if your business name is in use for your state usually by going to your state's website. Most states have some sort of small business resource section and an online business name availability check.
You can also check for federal registrations and trademarks at the USPTO. Just because a name isn't listed there doesn't mean that there isn't a trademark issue. You should also check various search engines to see if there are other businesses using the name.
Establishing a web identity
You've come up with your new business name, but have you 
checked to see if the domain name is available? Most businesses find obtaining a great website name to be challenging. Many of the shortest, simplest, logical, and catchy names are already registered. Coming up with a business name online can be challenging, but is important since many people now use the internet as their number one source of information. Extremely long domain names, mis-spelled words, dashes, and hard to pronounce words can keep people from finding you. Many people make the first attempt to find you by entering BusinessName . com into their browser. This would be the ideal set up for your online business presence.
ConciergeDirectory.org has a variety of domain and website solutions for people starting a concierge, errand, or related business.
Next: Selecting a Business Structure
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