If you want Jet Blue or ikea or some other brand, you’re just as likely to type the brand into google as you are to guess the domain name. In essence, we’ve actually added a step in the process of finding someone online. (How else would anyone find Del.ico.us?)
This means that having the perfect domain name is nice, but it’s WAY more important to have a name that works in technorati and yahoo and google when someone is seeking you out.
Sort of a built-in SEO strategy.
Interesting thoughts.
Naming For Search?
It’s funny to think that people would choose a name based on web search. Yet it happens all the time. It’s why I grabbed 7nights.com back in the day. I wanted something that showed up high in directories. Might not have been the smartest idea, but there you have it.
He goes on to talk about a naming strategy that relies on words that remind you of something.
The shift, then, is from what the words mean to what the words remind you of. The structure of the words, the way they sound, the memes they recall… all go into making a great name.
This is part of what we were thinking when we choose the name “Blue Flavor” for our company. It doesn’t mean much of anything really, but it was fun and it evoked a feeling of playfulness that we were looking for. It reminded us of fun. After all, we’re professionals who want to have fun with our work. That is an underlying principle of what we’re all about. So a fun name was appropriate.
And we thought it quirky enough that it may well be memorable.
Having Fun With a Name!
There was a lot of back and forth and hand-wringing going on while trying to come up with our name. We knew we didn’t want any made up words, no mangled Latin and no number-based names. I argued for something with real meaning at first, I think my favorite was “Last Grain Studio” or something like that. I later decided that a name that we could apply our own meaning to might be better in the long run and a lot more fun.
So we went with something silly, fun, unique and hopefully memorable. Sure at first glance you might think, “what the heck?” but that’s part of the idea. Regardless, it’s better than “Altria, Achieva, Factiva or Kalera.” ;0)
I’d take it a step further, Keith. I think aside from what you already mentioned, the thing that really convinced me on the name was when we came up with it and how many people automatically visualized things like blueberry otter pops, bubblegum snowcones, and even baby blue mohawk (how could one ever forget seeing something like that?).
The point here is that there is no real blue flavor like there is orange flavor. What images pop into your head are simply either associations or names of products or items companies and people used to describe something that already existed (e.g. blue flavor instead of blueberry).
Our hope is to define that. To define what it means simply by what we do and how we affect the sites we work on and the people we work with.
Hey Keith,
I took your advice and purchased a hosting account a while back from Dreamhost. They offered a free domain name during sign up so I picked something out of the air. I was reading Covey’s 7 habits at the time and trying to start a new habit each month… Voila… 12habits.com . I’m working on a front page and a theme for the name. It’s kind of cool to start with the name first and the concept second. Any ideas would be appreciated.
John
Hey Keith, Could you elaborate on why you avoided number-based names when you were coming up with Blue Flavor. It seems like number-based names can be cool sometimes.
I suppose one risk would be potential confusion for users that aren’t familar with your site (e.g., how would users compare 37signals to 9rules?).
Personally when I was creating a site for my wedding photography business, <a href=”http://www.seattledigitalwedding.com” rel=”nofollow”>www.SeattleDigitalWedding.com</a>, one of the more important factors was search engine placement. At the time it seemed like everyone else was calling themselves “John Doe Photography” so I was also looking for something that stood out a little bit, but yet wasn’t too abstract.
Anyway, curious to know if you have any additional thoughts as I’ve got a couple naming projects coming up in the near future.
I don’t have anything against number names really, it’s just they’re kind of common in the high tech/web space. I do think a “guessable” name that is SEO friendly is good for some companies, like what you’re doing. A whole lot depends on your customer base and how you plan to reach them.
I’m a writer and marketing consultant, and one of my clients has a naming problem. Well, to be honest, I have a problem with their name. SEO isn’t a big issue, because they operate in a small, specialized, word-of-mouth niche. The problem is all in connotation…they’re a startup company that needs to convey stability, commitment, and customer-centricity…and they’ve chosen a company name and product name that convey the precise OPPOSITE of all those things.
Just needed to vent. Wish me luck.
p.s. Please excuse the anonymous post. It would be unfair to my client to identify me or them.
“The problem is all in connotation…they’re a startup company that needs to convey stability, commitment, and customer-centricity…and they’ve chosen a company name and product name that convey the precise OPPOSITE of all those things”
OK I’m curious now!
I think that number based names are so cliche these days. Fair enough to the 37s 43t and 7n who were there first, but to name your site 13crumpets because it’s all the rage now is a little silly. I’m still a fan of a name that gives people some idea of what you actually do. However I do like the name “Blue Flavour”. It reminds me of young kids having a conversation about eating ice-blocks. “Mines orange flavoured.” “Mines raspberry! What’s your’s?” “Mines… umm… er… BLUE flavoured!”