Deciding on a name for your business is not an easy task, but it’s an important one – you have to have a name otherwise you can’t create a website, you can’t do any marketing, and you can’t even really give anyone any details about what you’re doing, as they’re never going to be able to find you.
This means that sometimes business owners might rush when it comes to coming up with their business name because they just want to get started. They want to get everything legal and registered, they want to start marketing and finally selling, and they want to see their future goals come to fruition sooner rather than later.
Those are good plans to have and it’s great to have ambition, but the problem is that rushing to come up with a business name could lead to mistakes and regret. Although changing your name isn’t ideal, sometimes it’s the best thing you can do, and here are some of the reasons why so that if you find yourself having this problem, you’ll know just what to do.
You’ve Outgrown Your Name
When you started your business, you might have been doing just one thing and focusing on just one area. So the name you came up with then might have made sense at the time, which is why you’ve been using it ever since – it was a good name or at least one that worked.
However, over time, things can change, and it’s quite often the case that a business will expand and start selling different products and services either instead of what they sold initially or as well as. This isn’t a bad thing at all; trends and popular items change, and it’s actually very sensible to keep up with those changes and sell things that people want to buy.
The problem, of course, is that the name that made sense at the start might not make so much sense now. In fact, it might even be confusing to new customers who don’t know what you sell or what you do. In that case, getting help from business name services is a great option – you can come up with a name that isn’t so specific, and ideally, you won’t have to change it again in the future, even if you change what you sell.
You Found Something Better
As we mentioned above, sometimes a business owner will pick a name just because they need one to get on with the job of starting a business, but it’s not something they’re overly keen on. They know it’s just something that will do for now, and when they come up with a better name, they always intended to change it.
Perhaps that time has finally come. If that’s the case and you’ve found or been given the perfect name that you can be really proud of, the name you know is going to be what people remember, and that will really help your business get to the next level, you should make the changes you need to as soon as you can.
Your business name is so important that there’s no point at all in keeping it just so-so or mediocre when you’ve got one that’s excellent that people are going to love as much as you do.
SEO Works
SEO (search engine optimization) is a big part of any business’s marketing strategy (or it should be, at least), and your business name can play a big part in that.
Getting found online through search engines is a vital part of building your business, so you need to pay attention to SEO and use all the right tools and tactics to boost your website to the top of the search engine results (or as close as possible to the top). One tactic could be your business name. A boring and unoriginal name is not going to help you stand out, and it’s not going to help you make sales, but a name that takes into account various keywords and phrases and that’s unique and original will stand out and it will help you make sales because it will help with your SEO efforts. This could be the ultimate reason for changing your business name, as it’s going to make a massive difference to your website visitor number and, eventually, your profits.
It Was A Joke
Sometimes, it seems like a good idea to use a business name that’s a pun or a joke of some kind – they sound funny and different, and people are going to remember them. However, over time the amusement factor can wear off, and it might just sound a bit lame and cringeworthy, especially if the joke was really what might be called ‘of its time’. All of this means that not only will you be less keen to market your business as much as you should because you’re embarrassed about the name, but you might also find that people are put off and don’t want to buy from you because the joke just isn’t funny anymore. At the very least, it’s not particularly professional.
That’s why it’s probably time to change your business name if you started it as a joke that stuck. And if it linked to something that was a trend at the time but that is no longer around, it’s even more important to get it gone as soon as possible and replace it with something that’s timeless and classy. If you want to be taken seriously in business, you need to take yourself seriously first, and that means not having a joke as a name – if you do, you’ll be seen as a joke by others, and that’s not a good position to be in.
Final Thoughts
Although changing your business name requires a lot of thought, not to mention some red tape and a lot of upheaval (your website URL will need to change, your logo, your branding, and so on), sometimes using a business name generator is definitely the right way to go. If you find yourself in any of the situations we’ve mentioned in this post, a name change is the best step to take.
