Video Transcript
Hi, this is Alex, today we’re going to see together how to choose the right name
company name! Here we go… So when you are going to
choose your company name, let’s say at the beginning, there will be two main
possibilities. On the one hand, you can choose a business name
company name that will be directly linked to your personal name or your own name
or your own name. For example, my name is Alexandre
Marotel. I could give my company the name Alexandre Marotel.
That’s the first possibility. Then the second possibility is to give a name like
i could give my company the name Alexandre Marotel, for example, a name that we would call relatively generic.
For example, a generic name, in concrete terms, could be
Google it can be Adidas, it can be Nike!
In short, it’s a name that doesn’t have any meaning in itself…
For example Google at the beginning doesn’t mean anything, and obviously
with time, work and marketing
today when we talk about Google sometimes, we mean search engine, and we talk about
search engine, and we talk about Google. So there you go! There
there are advantages and disadvantages between having a company with its own name
own name or a generic name. And that’s exactly what I’m
i’m going to show you now. So when you have a company with a proper name
typically, it can be extremely interesting if you ever have a lot of
authority in a market. For example, if you are an exceptional chocolatier and
well, finally, you have a reputation as a chocolatier that is
and well, the fact of creating a company under your own name
it can be extremely interesting. Another example
if you are a fashion designer, really talented and well
the fact of creating a company in his name in this case, well it’s a very good idea
good idea. It is in particular what one sees enormously
with luxury companies for example, where the name of the company
is for example the name of the fashion designer or the name of the creator. Right!
So this type of name can be extremely
interesting if you have a massive authority on a sector or an industry from the start
an industry. Yes BUT! The thing is, it doesn’t only have
advantages and that’s exactly what I’m going to show you now. The big
problem with giving your company a proper name is that eventually
to your company is that eventually well, it comes between you and your person. Oops, it’s a
and your company, well finally it’s a little bit quotation marks
the same thing in fact. The problem with that
is that typically there are times when, for example, if one day you want to retire or if you ever
for example, you want to retire or if you have an accident in your life, well
well, the problem is that a company with a name, if your company has a name, if you have a
your company has your name on it if you have a problem one day and
well the problem is that it will directly impact your business.
So that’s part of the risk! Another element that is risky for example is
that if you ever want to retire and sell your business, if you want to sell your business
business, if you want to sell your business
with your own name, if your business has your name, the
problem is simply that it will be much less easy to sell your business if your
your business if your business has your own name. Okay, so this is
part of the elements that are, let’s say, negative if you ever name your
business in that way. And that’s a big part
part of the reason why I’m going to focus, personally, on the generic name!
generic name! Me, in the business that I’m going to create in front of you,
typically in SEO consulting, my company will not be Alexandre Marotel.
It will be a generic name that I will find. I’ll come up with a generic name. So, in a nutshell
these are the two main possibilities in terms of names. So for example, in my case, my proper name
my case, my proper name: No! That’s not what I’m going to go for, so what I’m going to do now is
so what I’m going to do now is I’m going to say OK. Now, I’m going to have a generic name for my business
my business, the thing is that right now I still don’t have the
name. I know it’s not going to be that, but it still doesn’t give me my answer on my
business. So what you’re going to do is actually…What I’m going to propose to you to do is to
what I’m going to suggest you do is to follow this path. So here, we’ll say
it’s like a funnel, or a funnel as you like
you want. And so the idea is that here we’re going to put ideas in quotation marks. Here
we’re going to fill in ideas and the objective will obviously be to have the
name of your company. Besides, we’ll put an “S” in ideas. The objective
so, for example, at the beginning to get ideas
the method which is… A method, I don’t know if it’s a method but rather a way of doing things that can be extremely relevant
of doing which can be extremely relevant.
It’s going to be, quite simply, the fact of brainstorming. So the
brainstorming globally, there will be two types of brainstorming in fact.
There will be brainstorming that will be done internally and the other that will be
external. And basically, what it will consist of, well, it will be extremely simple
simple, internally you’re going to get your team together
your team and you will simply ask your team, or if you are alone, do it alone
by yourself, do it by yourself. You’re just going to ask your team
to come up with ideas like this about the sector, the company…
What are the different topics, the different ideas that they can think of for this type of
what are the different topics, the different ideas that they can think of for this type of business. So you’ll end up
everyone will give an idea and you will end up with a
a good list. Okay. So that’s the good thing: it’s therefore
internal. I also like to – personally
to see externally. Why
brainstorming externally? Well, I like to do that
simply because it allows you to open up your horizon a little bit, and to
to have an “Out of the box” thinking. So really outside the box of your industry
the beaten path of your industry, and that’s extremely interesting for you.
OK! So the method I’m proposing to you, it’s not really a method
because it’s not at all academic but to brainstorm
let’s say externally. What you are going to do, you are going to
simply drink a beer, or go buy a drink for people outside, it can be either
it can be people you know, or people you don’t know, friends,
etc… In short, you brainstorm with people who are outside your business to ask them
business to ask them questions, to see how they see things
things. Do you expect to have a
knowledge about your field? The answer is no, and that’s actually the value of
the answer is no, and that’s actually the value of brainstorming outside,
because you’re going to get ideas that are really fresh. Right.
And so this will allow you once again to fill your kind of
list with all of the ideas that you’re going to work on.
OKAY! So typically what you’re going to have is for example here we’ll say
we have 150 ideas. Ok, so these 150 ideas are a bit like
if they were finally here. Here there would be 150.
So there you have it, these are ideas that are in bulk, so at first they
but we’re going to have to work on them a little bit.
So what I would suggest is that we try to find elements that are linked to some kind of
elements that will be linked to some kind of associations between certain words… Ok!
So, you’re going to try to associate the words, to try to find
company names that are at least original.
Okay. So if you do this normally you’ll end up
with fewer and fewer words. Okay! So for example if you have 150 at the beginning with 150 ideas, you’ll end up with maybe
with 150 ideas, you’re going to end up with maybe 10 business ideas
let’s say 10 business ideas. Ok… So here we are!
The thing is that we still have 10. And so we’ll have to obviously
we’re going to have to narrow it down to just one at the end. So what I am proposing
i propose to you is to… There are different approaches, but what I am proposing to you
is potentially to go and look here in Google from the start, simply
from the start in Google, simply to see
if your company name, in any way, shape or form
already has content created on the subject. This is going to be an element that’s going to
be important simply because sometimes there are company names that
interesting but for example if you ever find a company name where it
find a company name where there is already another
other website with a lot of authority that has created content on it that means that it’s
mean that it will be extremely complicated for you to be well
so just type the ten keywords in google and see what comes up
comes up. And based on that, if you see for example that there are big
websites with a lot of authority that already have content on this type of words
it’s not necessarily the first thing to prioritize. Right! But
it’s not the most important thing. What we’ll have to do is obviously
check also, it will be the fact that it is
available. And yes, availability is going to be extremely important because
it’s all very well to have ideas, the problem is that there are ideas
that are already taken. So you can’t, for example
buy a domain name, for example if you are looking for the domain name
facebook.com. Obviously, the domain name is taken. Therefore
you can’t buy it. Typically, this is the kind of item that you’ll have to
in quotes from your list. For that, it’s quite simple you’ll
take, let’s say 7…
business ideas, company names and put them either
in the equivalent, for example, of a site like GoDaddy which allows you to
to buy domain names and of course your domain name is taken, well typically
domain name is taken, and well typically godaddy will indicate it to you, so
typically, I typed in Facebook and without any doubt and well
facebook.com is taken. Ok! You can also use another site called
called LeanDomainSearch and there, typically if you also mark your
ideas and well not only will it tell you if your domain is taken but it will also
it will also give you some suggestions in fact about
of this name. Okay! So, it can be interesting sometimes to find
so, it can be interesting sometimes to find an alternative to the first ideas that you had.
Okay. So there you go, once that’s done, so once we’ve seen the
availability, one of the elements that will also be extremely important
is going to be linked to the history. So the history of the domain name.
So it may seem surprising but in fact when you are going to buy a domain name, it sometimes
a domain name, it happens sometimes, not all the time, but it happens that
it happens that the domain name is in quotes hosted a website
in the past. Okay! If you buy this domain name,
it means that today it is available, therefore you will be able to create the website
you can create the website you want. The thing is that sometimes there are
domain names where there was already a website.
The problem with this is that the history that may have been with the domain name and especially
the domain name and especially the history of the past website can have a direct impact on your
can have a direct impact on your choice of business name.
Why? Simply because in fact it may happen that you buy a domain name that is not in the public domain
It is necessary to verify that your
domain name is potentially blank, so if your domain is blank and has never hosted
never hosted a website in the past it is in quotes the best
the best situation, but what
can be really problematic, what can really impact you is if you ever
if you ever buy a domain name and in fact in the past there was a
website that was for example penalized by google because for example it
it was creating spam content, where it was doing things that were not accepted in the rules of google
and the problem with that is that if you don’t check it out and you buy it, it’s going to be
you don’t check and you buy a domain name because it seems nice
etc… Well, finally, the big problem is that you will be
and pay the price for a domain name and a website that existed in the past
on a website that existed in the past but that google remembers in
in fact. And so it’s careful about that because when you start a
business. If you have a domain name that doesn’t have
no history before. Let’s say you’re going to start from scratch.
The problem is that if you start with a domain that has been for example
penalized with websites that have been penalized before by google and the
big problem with that is that it’s going to impact your business
it’s going to impact your business from the beginning so you started at
minus 50. So be careful with that. To check that, what you’re going to be able to do
you can do is go to a site called waybackmachine, so
typically you’re going to enter your site name, the domain name and you’re going to
and you’re going to click on search, and you’re going to be able to see over time
what the activity of this company has been.
So here, typically I typed in facebook and you can see that facebook
over time but has had some content, so there you go. This is part of the
elements that will allow you to check that everything is good in terms of your
is good in terms of your company name.
Ok ! so there you go, let’s say on a name ! Ok !
Another thing I like to do in parallel with that is to have ideas, especially in terms of the
ideas, especially in terms of the graphic charter of the site and of the company
the company in general. So you might say to me “Well, I was looking for
a company name, why are you talking to me about potential graphic
why are you talking to me about graphic design, visuals, etc.? In fact, it’s often extremely
intertwined in fact. For example, if you have a business that…
I don’t know… A business name where you want to put the emphasis on… You
you want your company name to symbolize for example speed and
well the fact of having a red graphic charter
it can be extremely interesting. If you want to create a website that is
related to nature, having a green graphic design can be interesting too
interesting too. In short, sometimes, when we hesitate a little bit about the name
of companies and well it happens to me sometimes for example to choose between
i sometimes choose my color palette in quotes, and say to myself, “Here, Ok”. Finally I
i tend more towards red, I tend more towards green, therefore my
therefore, my company name will tend more towards this type of
subject. In fact where this type of ideas! So here it is, after that it’s my approach
that is personal but I think that it can be something that can be
actually interesting. The fact of directly thinking about communication,
visuals, when choosing your company name
it can be extremely relevant. So don’t lose sight of that.
So there you have it, basically I think I’ve said just about everything I wanted to say on the subject
i wanted to say on the subject, knowing that the objective for me is that
is that I’ve shown you basically how it works to choose a company name
choose a company name. At the moment for my part I don’t have
a business name yet. So what I’m going to do is
i’m going to play the game for my company that I created so
in SEO consulting. I’m going to do exactly the same thing but
i’m going to do exactly the same thing, but this time, whether you’re talking about
theoretical point of view, it will be really practical so I will show you the different
the different steps I go through to come up with a business name that
i’m going to show you the different steps I go through to come up with a company name that suits me, and that is aligned with my expectations.
Alright! So there you go, I hope you enjoyed this video
see you soon for the rest…
