If your small business already has a name that your customers are familiar with, then I don't recommend changing it. If you feel like refreshing your existing name,

then look for the most recognizable way to shorten it. For example, if you are "Jim's Dogs of Dixie County," then you could shorten it to "Dixie Dogs."

On the flip side, formulating your small business' name from scratch can be a tedious task. Luckily, there is a way to concoct your company's name easily.

Once you position your small business brand according to BRANDING TO THE POWER OF 5, your company's name will become obvious. The most important thing to remember is to base your name on your customer's needs.

There is a buzz going around that says you need to create a "unique" name for your company to be recognizable. "Unique" names are ideal. But, naming your company based on what you offer such as "Wanda's Quilt Design," can be equally powerful because what you provide is clear.

TIPS FOR Creating a unique name

• Start with the VALUE your small business provides customers
  BRANDING TO THE POWER OF 5 describes the meaning of  VALUE in your small business. Look at your business or potential business from your customer's point of view and base your small brand's name on your VALUE.
  
  
• Check available URL addresses
  As stated in the Making Your Website section, .com addresses, for whatever reason, hold a certain level of clout. This authority could be based on the habit that we all have of typing .com after a URL.

Either way, secure a variation of your name as a .com or .net (.org if you are non-profit) and if you are not a Web-based small business, you could get away with some of the new .biz, .us or .ws varieties.

Also, because you will rarely be able to secure four or five letter domain names on the Internet anymore, you will need to be creative. Avoid long URLs such as JimsDogsOfDixieCounty.com.

Internic (www.internic.net/whois.html) is the best bare-bones domain searching tool on the Web. If you find a domain name available, use one of the other all-in-one services listed in the Making Your Website section.

• Check the USPTO for availability.
  Search the US Patent and Trademark Office database to see if your name can be used in your industry and consider contacting an attorney to help with the trademarking process
  
  
• Avoid "Latin-itis"
  A big 90's thing was to look at a Latin dictionary for prefixes and suffixes to attach to a word such as Reliant, or Profitus. Any which way, I almost guarantee you that the domain name is taken by a company or horded by a cybersquatter.
  
  
• Check your new name's meaning in other languages.
  I remember once I was renaming a company for a client. One of the suggestions I came close to presenting turned out to be the Spanish word for "Pig." So, if you conjure up a name dissimilar to a word in the dictionary, double-check it and any derivative version with Google's Language Tool.
  
  
• Put the new name in front of friends and family.
  Don't tell them that you are asking for their opinion about a potential business name. Write down the name you have "chosen" for your small business on a sheet of paper and then look at their eyes when they read it. What do you feel from their reactions? Don't expect anyone, even the ones who are closest to you (sparing your feelings), to give you an honest answer.

Naming your company is less demanding, if you know what your small business is pitching. Recently, I renamed a multi-million dollar company in a short amount of time. By identifying the VALUE they were offering clients, their name willingly emerged. View naming your small business from the same angle. Think of the VALUE you provide customers and try to form a name based on your small business's "Soul" Pitch.

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