October 18, 2006 at 15:28Seven Tips for Choosing a Web 2.0 Startup Name
New online startups appear every few seconds. In such a situation, it is especially important to choose the right name for your offspring. Here is a list of tips for choosing a name for a modern online startup.
1. Short URL.
Judge for yourself what is more convenient to type in the address bar several times a day: Google.com or AskJeeves.com ? Naturally, the first is more convenient. Now it becomes clear why the search engine Ask Jeeves shortened its own name to Ask.com and bought the corresponding domain. If you can’t beat a competitor in functionality, you can at least make your URL shorter than it’s.
A short URL helps to remember the name of the site and makes it easier for users to access it, that is, it actually increases traffic. The ideal address should not exceed five to seven letters. It is undesirable to use more than two words in the name, but it is better to limit yourself to one.
2. Recognizable or original.
When the Flickr service (read as “flicker”) became popular, many startups decided to follow this fashion. They also chose names with a missing letter in the suffix. Numerous sites with names like Locatr, Bookmarkr, Zooomr, Preloadr, and Frappr have spawned on the Internet. But linguistic tracing paper did not bring success to unlucky entrepreneurs.
For the name you need to choose either a term that exactly describes the type of startup's activity, or an original, catchy word.
3. Pronunciation aloud
The name should be convenient to pronounce, and also to write without errors by ear. So we take care in advance of spreading the startup’s name by word of mouth, that is, by the viral type. If the name doesn’t fit the language (say PriceWaterhouseCoopers), then you can hardly count on viral marketing.
4. Capture the .com zone.
This advice is not so important for Russian startups, which are oriented towards Russian users and traditionally prefer the national zone .ru.
But if the service is intended for a global audience, then you must definitely register the corresponding domain in the .com zone. Even if he is busy, it is advisable to contact the owner and try to buy the domain. I wonder how many visitors come daily to dig.com to a site owned by Disney Corporation? It seems that they are not going to sell the domain, although there probably have been offers from Digg.com .
5. Avoid hyphens
Only in rare cases is the use of a hyphen necessary. For example, the name experts-exchange.com is certainly better than expert sexchange.com. In other cases, if the domain without a hyphen is already taken, it is better to choose a different name, and not use a hyphen, otherwise most of the visitors will go to the wrong address.
Cybersquatters earn by registering consonant domains - why send part of their audience to them?
6. Avoid linguistic hacks.
Gone are the days when names like Del.icio.us were considered fashionable. Still, traditional spelling is more familiar. That is why Yahoo bought the domain delicious.com - for the convenience of users.
7. Meaningful name
All normal words have long been registered as domain names. However, if you think about it, you can always find a phrase of two meaningful words that will look good together. There are many such examples: Feed / Burner, You / Tube, Hot / Mail, Tech / Crunch, etc. The phrase should mean something positive and be understandable.
1. Short URL.
Judge for yourself what is more convenient to type in the address bar several times a day: Google.com or AskJeeves.com ? Naturally, the first is more convenient. Now it becomes clear why the search engine Ask Jeeves shortened its own name to Ask.com and bought the corresponding domain. If you can’t beat a competitor in functionality, you can at least make your URL shorter than it’s.
A short URL helps to remember the name of the site and makes it easier for users to access it, that is, it actually increases traffic. The ideal address should not exceed five to seven letters. It is undesirable to use more than two words in the name, but it is better to limit yourself to one.
2. Recognizable or original.
When the Flickr service (read as “flicker”) became popular, many startups decided to follow this fashion. They also chose names with a missing letter in the suffix. Numerous sites with names like Locatr, Bookmarkr, Zooomr, Preloadr, and Frappr have spawned on the Internet. But linguistic tracing paper did not bring success to unlucky entrepreneurs.
For the name you need to choose either a term that exactly describes the type of startup's activity, or an original, catchy word.
3. Pronunciation aloud
The name should be convenient to pronounce, and also to write without errors by ear. So we take care in advance of spreading the startup’s name by word of mouth, that is, by the viral type. If the name doesn’t fit the language (say PriceWaterhouseCoopers), then you can hardly count on viral marketing.
4. Capture the .com zone.
This advice is not so important for Russian startups, which are oriented towards Russian users and traditionally prefer the national zone .ru.
But if the service is intended for a global audience, then you must definitely register the corresponding domain in the .com zone. Even if he is busy, it is advisable to contact the owner and try to buy the domain. I wonder how many visitors come daily to dig.com to a site owned by Disney Corporation? It seems that they are not going to sell the domain, although there probably have been offers from Digg.com .
5. Avoid hyphens
Only in rare cases is the use of a hyphen necessary. For example, the name experts-exchange.com is certainly better than expert sexchange.com. In other cases, if the domain without a hyphen is already taken, it is better to choose a different name, and not use a hyphen, otherwise most of the visitors will go to the wrong address.
Cybersquatters earn by registering consonant domains - why send part of their audience to them?
6. Avoid linguistic hacks.
Gone are the days when names like Del.icio.us were considered fashionable. Still, traditional spelling is more familiar. That is why Yahoo bought the domain delicious.com - for the convenience of users.
7. Meaningful name
All normal words have long been registered as domain names. However, if you think about it, you can always find a phrase of two meaningful words that will look good together. There are many such examples: Feed / Burner, You / Tube, Hot / Mail, Tech / Crunch, etc. The phrase should mean something positive and be understandable.