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Find out exactly how to come up with unlimited brand name ideas to choose from…all using my free printable! This step-by-step guide gives you all you need on how to come up with a brand name that attracts visitors and keeps them coming back for more.
Coming up with a brand name and choosing a name is a wonderful adventure when starting your blog or business. Rest assured, there will always be a unique brand name available that’s right for your online business – you just need some guidance and patience when creating it.
And creating it is exactly what we will be doing today with the free printable and guidelines below 🙂
What you need to know about domains
What is a domain?
A domain is the name of your website, which also called your url. The domain is the ‘www’ address that you give to people to visit your website.
It’s also how potential clients find your business on the internet and it’s usually their first impression of what you have to offer them. That’s key – telling visitors very quickly what you have to offer them. Don’t forget about getting this message across when choosing your brand name.
Should you register a .com domain for your business name?
Here’s the truth: you don’t have to register a domain ending in .com, but you probably should. Unless your business is physically based in a country other than the US and you’re targeting clients in that country, I would suggest sticking with .com.
Why? It’s much easier for most people to remember a .com than anything else and you’ll probably get more websites linking back to your online business, which is important for your Google ranking and showing up in online searches.
Once you’ve filled in the worksheet and you have some business name ideas, take a minute to check which .coms are available. If only one of your business name ideas is available as a .com, give it preference over the others.
You need to check a domain’s history before buying it
The history of a domain name is very important. If others have used that domain name for illegal things, spam or to trick Google. Google might have banned or penalized it, even if it was years ago. It’s important to check the history of a domain name and make sure it’s clean before you buy it. That’s the link to my entire post and printable dedicated to this – don’t miss this step.
Once you’ve bought your domain, make sure you protect your website from hackers using my five simple steps and that you use safe plugins on your blog or website.
How to choose a brand name for your online business
Choose a unique brand name that relates to your business and you could sell later on
In the past, it was great having keywords in your domain name – so this blog would have been called something like ‘OnlineBusiness.com’ or ‘WomenInOnlineBusiness.com’. But that’s no longer necessary. We use keywords in blog titles and meta data nowadays to tell Google what the content is about (we will go through all of this another day, don’t worry).
Drop the long keyword names and avoid using your own name for the brand name if you ever want the option to sell your business later down the road. You are going to struggle to sell an online business that’s called ‘JaneMurray.com’ to someone who isn’t called Jane Murray, but you’re much more likely to sell one called something like ‘StressLess.com’. I say keep your options open.
Make the brand name memorable
Keep the domain name short and sweet: No hyphens. No numbers. No strange spelling. And two to three words at most.
See how I got all that great info into short and sweet rules? You won’t be there to explain to every potential client how to spell your version of a word or how to write numbers (is it 1 or one?). Make it as easy as possible for them to find you.
I cover researching, branding, pricing strategies and lots more in my ebook on how to start a side hustle and build it into a business, if you want a full guide on the 13 steps to take to make this happen 🙂
Tell potential visitors what to expect if they visit your site
Clearly tell potential visitors in those two to three brand name words what value you will give them. Are they getting tangible products to buy, information on a topic, an emotional experience such as inspiration, or a service that will help them with something specific?
Don’t worry, the printable will walk you through this process and gives you a long list of mix & match bonus words to help you with brand name ideas.
Make your business name brandable
Coming up with a brand name is more than just words – you need to think visually. How will you portray your brand in color and graphics?
Ask your friends what they think of when they hear the brand name ideas you’ve come up with (without explaining what your online business is about). Listen carefully to what they say – do they immediately know what the website will offer them or do they get confused? If they get confused you need to come up with more ideas.
What NOT to do when choosing a brand name
Great, we’ve covered all the lovely do’s for your online brand name. Here are a few tips of things you want to avoid when coming up with your domain name:
- Don’t start the second or third word with the same letter that the previous word ended with. If you do, it will be extremely difficult to spell and potential clients will struggle to find you and struggle to read your brand name. Start new words with new letters. Which one is easier to read and search for: tiaratribe.com or tiaraadventure.com?
- Don’t use a registered trademark or close version of one. Do a trademark search to make sure there are no trademarks or patents for the name you want to use. Many online business startups have been burnt because they didn’t check this. I checked Tiara Tribe inside and out before paying for this domain. When I was doing my Amazon FBA course and starting up that business, someone in the Facebook group reported that they had to destroy their entire inventory of scratch maps because the name was registered. I felt sorry for them, but if they’d checked it would have saved them a lot of money and effort.
- Don’t use words you don’t truly understand or words from another country. Language is fluid – it changes over time. The same word may have different meanings to different people, based on their background, beliefs, etc. So stick with safe, simple words. I always think of this mobile conversation when I talk about changing language and miscommunication:
DON’T BE THAT MOM!
How to come up with brand name ideas
Grab the free printable from my resource library (take a peek at all other other online business goodies I have in there for you, too) and start coming up with business names in these three simple steps:
STEP 1: Answer questions
Answer the questions on pages 1 and 2 of the printable. Use single words and be as descriptive as possible. Instead of just saying ‘happy’ for how clients will feel when using your product, you could write over the moon, excited, thrilled, eager, motivated. Use thesaurus.com to help you find short, descriptive, easy-to-spell words for what you’d like to say.
STEP 2: Make combos
Play around with making combinations of words from your answers in STEP 1. Choose short, strong words that are easy to spell. Words that start with the same letter also work well (Tiara Tribe is a great example of this).
Use the bonus mix & match words on page 4 to come up with even more combinations of brand name ideas.
STEP 3: Pick your favorites
Highlight or mark the business name ideas you like most. I would say you should choose at least three options, but you can choose as many as you like.
You will use these combinations to start checking if the domain names and social media accounts are available, which we will cover in another post.
Get the Business Name Ideas printable free!
Download my Business Name Ideas printable and bonus mix & match brand words list by clicking on the image below for an immediate download. Have fun!
Coming up with business name ideas – Tiara Tribe 
