Would like your input on my Start-up brand name!

[Rightcoast]

Hey Folks,

Is it best to use descriptive/geographical names or Brandable names for Ecommerce?

I'm in a niche market with room to expand to horizontal segments o I am just wondering if descriptive/geographical names can single you out in the long run...

Thanks in advance!

[huggytree]

I think someone should know what you do just by reading your company name

[Rightcoast]

Thanks for the Input HT.

But I guess for start-ups a descriptive name would be easier than a brand..

[Harold Mansfield]

If your product's branding is based on geography, such as Vermont Maple Syrup, Cleveland Teddy Bears, Detroit Watch Company, then yes.
If geography or location has nothing to do with the product, and you are selling to a national/worldwide market then location means nothing as far as the name goes, unless you just want to use it as part of the branding. It's really up to you.

The most important thing to help determine which way to go, is what is available to be registered as a URL. You can have 20 ideas for names, but if you can't register or purchase them in a .com (or be happy with a .net, .co, or other extension), then you are wasting your time speculating beforehand.

[Rightcoast]

Thanks Harold. I admire your your brand name NHABIT, if that is your company name.. Interesting outlook & I really appreciate your input. My geography has really nothing to do with it since it will all be ecommerce driven. I am just stuck between using keywords in my company name to drive website traffic or using a brandable name with no specific keywords in the url.

For instance United States " " Corporation which would be US"keyword".com vs. Brandname.com with no keywords.

Would it help or hurt?? Ultimately I just have to go with it!

[KristineS]

Whichever you choose you will have to market the name to make it known. As Harold pointed out, geographic brand names are good when the geography matters. If it doesn't descriptive names might help. In the end it comes down to what works for your business and how well you market the name you pick. One of our companies is named EnMart. Doesn't tell you what we do or sell, but we've publicized the heck out of it, and now a lot of people know who we are and what we sell. It takes effort, but almost any name can be made to work for you if you're smart about how you market.

[Rightcoast]

Very true statements. Excellent analysis from everyone. It's not the name, it's what you do with it!!

Thank you for the motivation!

[Harold Mansfield]

Thanks Harold. I admire your your brand name NHABIT, if that is your company name.. Interesting outlook & I really appreciate your input. My geography has really nothing to do with it since it will all be ecommerce driven. I am just stuck between using keywords in my company name to drive website traffic or using a brandable name with no specific keywords in the url.

For instance United States " " Corporation which would be US"keyword".com vs. Brandname.com with no keywords.

Would it help or hurt?? Ultimately I just have to go with it!

If I could have registered a URL with a coveted keyword in my niche, I would have. Unfortunately I couldn't so I opted for something short. These days the root URL alone is not enough to drive traffic. Personally I opted for brandable, and even took a bigger leap using ".IT". I'm pretty comfortable with different extensions and think it's better to get something nice, and short in an off extension like .co, .it ( if you are in Information Technology), or a domain hack, than it is a really crappy, long, jumbled .com that doesn't stand out, or is hard to remember.

In your example, I'd rather have Brandna.me, than something ugly and long with no pizazz. Think about this...if you were starting a technology magazine, would you rather have "technologymagazine.com"? or something like "Gizmodo.com" and embark on making it your own? "technology magazine" may be the keyword, but it makes for a boring brand.

Lets face it. Not many people are sitting around waiting for search these days. They are usually linking from social media, ads and other marketing methods. So in that case, brandable works far better, and it still doesn't stop you from SEO'ing your content for search.

[huggytree]

Thanks for the Input HT.

But I guess for start-ups a descriptive name would be easier than a brand..


Cocacola....says cola in their name
Walmart....says mart in their name


there's a way to be descriptive and have it be a brand name.....if you want people to know who you are and what you do I recommend it