Select Your Name With Your Future In Mind
If you’ve decided that you want to be more of a “do it yourself” person until you feel more comfortable with possibly outsourcing, let’s take a look at some of the basic steps to start your business….specifically names.
What’s In Your Name?
It’s okay to be creative with your business name, but you need to think into the future and not just the here and now. Having those cute names can damage your chances of success later. Who would you do business with first, “Candles by Casey” or “Kelly’s Kute Kuwel Kandles“? I mean which one would you take more serious? Just food for thought.
This same principle applies to your website address. For example, if I wanted to buy candles and I have landed on your website and someone else’s, and for the most part you both offered the same products and pricing. I’m looking at CandlesByCasey.com and Kellys-Kute-Kuwel-Kandles.com…again which one would you choose to open up your credit card to online?
And before you say anything else, YES you are definitely going to register at least one domain….it’s no more than $10 bucks so you don’t have any excuse.
Do not have a website address like:
Kellys-Kute-Kuwel-Kandles.TooCheap2BuyADomain.com
with an email address of
KellyKarter@Kellys-Kute-Kuwel-Kandles.TooCheap2BuyADomain.com
This is an example of how, if there was a free domain service at http://TooCheap2BuyADomain.com, your domain name would look like. That’s because all they do as add the sub-domain name you pick onto their existing domain.
Come on people, just don’t do that alright?
Okay, back to the business name……
Are you going to establish an official business, or will you just do business as a d.b.a.? It is not a requirement by any means that you officially establish a legal entity, but it is smart. In my state I only paid $50 to form my business. I did some research on how to do it, completed the process, and in this electronic world we live in, I received my articles of organization the next day.
Secondly, establishing a business protects your personal assets against lawsuits and judgments, and you can avoid double taxation….everybody wants to avoid taxes right? Most of the information about starting a business can be found on your states’ website. Do some research before jumping head first into this though, but I found it to be relatively easy.
After officially establishing your business, you will be able to open a business bank account because you do not want to mix personal and business activities. You can then setup an account at paypal and/or 2CO for payment processing, and always keep a clear paper trail of any monies coming into and out of your business.
An accountant once said to me “play now and you will pay later”…so keep that in mind as you set your plan.
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3 Responses to “Select Your Name With Your Future In Mind”
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I seriously believe that choosing one’s company name, be it a “brick-and-mortar” store or a purely online business, is something that should not be done when one is in, shall we say, a whimsical mood. Sure, there may be some modicum of intellectual snobbery, but I’d rather do business with a store such as Books and Books than one called Oodlez-n-Oodlez o’Books or its online equivalent.
I have to agree that it is never a good idea to cheat yourself on your domain name. Anyone who says it is the same to have a yourname.someonelses.com is simply not being honest or does not have a clue about what is really going on. I also think it that having something that relates to what you are doing is very important as well.
People often fail to see how this effects them in the future and like any other business your internet business name should be just as important.
In choosing a business domain name, one must tread very, very lightly that fine line between a little whimsy and practicality/business savvy. It’s almost analogous to business attire – I mean, who looks more business-like and serious? A guy or woman in a no-nonsense suit, or one wearing a tie-dye T-shirt and cutoff jeans? Same goes for domain names. You don’t want to be too bland, but you don’t want to be too silly either.