wickchick Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Hello all I'm fairly new to the board, but not to making candles or tarts. I've been dabbling since early 2005, and have recently began thinking about starting a part-time business. I primarily make tarts, but have tested several candle containers. I also make air fresheners and bath melts. My question is, when choosing a business name, should I try to incorporate several products into the name (for example: www.blahblahcandlesandtarts.com or www.blahblahcandlesmeltsandbath.com). And no, blahblah isn't in the name I know the term tarts is trademarked, so I probably won't use it at all in my name, I just used it here for an example. Or is it better to keep it short and simple: www.blahblahcandles.comeven though you do sell other items? Just thought I would pick your brains and see what the general consensus is on this. Thanks so much for taking the time to help me out Kitty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodtveidt Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 My wife and I named our little enterprise after our daughter. Of course, we do much more than candles, we do a whole line of gifts that goes beyond B&B, so it wouldn't have made sense to put anything candle-ish or B&B-ish in our name. Try something truly unique, but something memorable that will stick with people for a long time. If you sell more than candles, try using "Gifts" in your name (we did this), like blahblahgifts, or even blahblahbnb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Late Night Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 I think short and sweet is better. Something easy to spell so people can remember it and won't get frustrated typing it into a search engine. If you just use blablacandles.com and later you decide to add jewelry or bath products, you may miss some sales. Omitting the name candles or adding the word gifts is a thought. Yes, tarts is trademarked so I wouldn't even go there. I probably wasn't much help.:embarasse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wickchick Posted February 12, 2007 Author Share Posted February 12, 2007 Thank you both, I do appreciate it. It's such a major decision! I've put alot of thought into what I'd like and how I'd like it to look, now I just need a name to reflect my "theme" I agree with keeping it short and sweet, no funky hyphens or weird abbreviations...etc. Guess I'll have to wrack my brain a bit more. I've given myself at least a year to get my business up and running, so I've got a little time to work things out. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodtveidt Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Tis definately a major decision, likely the biggest one you'll ever make. My wife and I struggled with our name for awhile...we almost settled with the name "Faun Lights" because we both liked the Narnia movie. But your business name will be the word people associate you with, so better make it good. If you can't think of anything right now, just give it some time and whatever you do, don't think too hard about it...the proper name will probably just come to you eventually. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wickchick Posted February 12, 2007 Author Share Posted February 12, 2007 Thank you I've got some ideas (okay, a HUGE list of ideas, LOL), but like I said, I'm not in a huge rush...so I'll work on it. I like your business name, very nice and original. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Late Night Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 One other thing, when you think you have the name you want and are ready for a website, don't run it through one of the domain places unless you are ready to buy it right then. There are people out there who monitor those places. When they see someone has searched a name, they grab it up with the hope of selling it back to you at an outrageous price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodtveidt Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 I'm not sure if godaddy has that problem, which would be ironic since they're one of the top registrars in the world right now. I've done hundreds of searches on godaddy over the years and never had one squatted. I don't trust any other registrar anyways...But that is a bit of sound advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scented Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Pick something that rolls easily off the tongue too and might project a lot of images for artwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 When choosing a domain name the rule of thumb is to keep it as short as possible, easy to spell and easy to pass on verbally. However your business name and domain name don't have to be identicle, but should be similar. The content of your pages and how they comply to the search engines' catalogueing criteria is what is going to give you a better ranking and more traffic on your site, not the domain name. So if you incorporate the blahblahblahcandlessoapstartsandeverythingunderthesun.com into your domain name it will not help people when they do a search. A good site map will get you a better page ranking then a good domain name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodtveidt Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Both are important, really. A domain name that is memorable is easier to pass along via word-of-mouth, and in many places, word-of-mouth is the best advertising that money can't buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wickchick Posted February 13, 2007 Author Share Posted February 13, 2007 Thank you so much! All of this is wonderful information. I had never even thought about people stealing domain names by monitoring domain stores. How irritating! You guys have so many thoughtful insights and ideas, I really appreciate it! I still have so much to research and learn before taking the plunge. I’ve got tons to learn on how search engines work and such. I’m starting with my business plan, and will then go from there. I figure that will give me a good starting point But of course, I’d like to have my name first! Who knew choosing a name would be so tricky (okay, I knew, but just assumed something quick and clever would come to me...it hasn’t, LOL). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 How search engines work...http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2168031A little thick, but quite valuable. Keep in mind that Google has the market share for search engines and they recommend, as I said before, a good site map and as many links to your site elsewhere on the net. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Free Business plan templates and resources...http://www.score.org/template_gallery.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSoaps Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Not wanting to toss an ugly wrench into the mix here, but you also need to make sure that when you choose your name that it's not copyrighted by someone else. So try to come up with something completely unique to you. Trust me, every version of scent has been used somehow. Other common words are garden, heaven, craft, wicks, wax. I'm not saying these can't be part of it, just make sure you have something completely unique in it, then check it against the US Trademark and Patent site. I know I have their link somewhere, but I honestly can't find it. My favorites folder, even though it's mostly organized, now has so much in it, that it needs a very good weeding out.You don't want to be in business for a year (or 2 or 5), and suddenly get a cease and desist letter for trademark infringement. As for what to use as part of your domain name, something with your company name is easier to remember, but something easy to remember that also talks about what you offer, will help with your search ratings. Your URL does not have to be your company name. Example, your name is Country Candles - your URL could be countrycandles.com or handmadecandles or soycandles. Just make sure whatever you choose for your URL (domain) that it's easy to remember, and easy to verbally share. We actually changed company names because our name (and thus our URL back then) needed to be spelled EVERYTIME. It got very old. Avoid any dashes or punctuation. So don't do country-candles.com. You'll run into the same issue with the spelling, telling people it's country dash candles dot com. Lots to think of, and I agree...don't plug it into the domain searchers unless you're ready to buy it. I had an old one of mine stolen out from under me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.