Own name for company/web URL - good or bad idea?

[caro1ann]

Hello all! Very new to the forum and would appreciate your opinions both from a personal point of view (if you were a potential customer of mine) and from a business point of view.

I have thought long and hard over many years trying to come up with the ideal 'one' thing I should offer as a business service and quite simply I can't. I have skills, experience and passions in varying areas and I would love to encompass most of that and put it into one 'umberella' type company. Basically the business I am marketing is me! I would like to emphasise I am not a virtual assistant.

From MY point of view, the best company name/web domain I can think of to encompass what I am offering, is my own name. Now, I know there are pros and cons with using your own name for your company/website but I would like to get a snapshot of opinions from you.

So, good idea/bad idea and why?

All feedback welcome.

caro1ann

 

[StevenAitchison]

Hi Carol Ann

If you are the brand, and you're not planning on building up a business brand name in the future, then definitely got for your own name for the domain name.

You'll get a lot of readers or searchers searching your name anyway, so in google, Bing and Yahoo you will come high in the searches for your name, providing it is not a common name

Hope that helps.

Steve

 

[UKSBD]

It depends what your name is.

you can always use an eye catching pseudonym
at least that is what website marketing expert Gerald Duck told me.

 

[MASSEY]

It's preference at the end of the day really.

It is worth noting though if you intend to market a site that domains that contain words descriptive of site content get better response when doing things like search engine marketing for example.

 

[simonr]

why not have your name (or whatever) and the keyword-orientated name and just point them both at the same place?

S

 

[janecristy]

I think it would be better for you to select a logo and make it popular and turn it into a famous brand. It will definitely take a lot of time to convert it into a leading brand worldwide. If you think your name be your brand then you have to take advice of your Lawyer for registration of a name or your name, however you cannot use the other brand names. I think you want to have a brand without doing any thing which i think is not possible at all.You must have to compete and struggle for it continually and actively. Please do mind it you must have to be active and energetic for it.

 

[Phil Richardson]

Personally I don't think the name is that important, it is how you market it that counts.

 

[JamesCartwright]

I guess the only problem with your own name would be if you looked to sell-on the business in X amount of years time?

 

[ETCSports]

I would use your domain name as your company name or vise versa it builds up brand recognition.

 

[marketingquotes]

Hi Carol Ann

If you are the brand, and you're not planning on building up a business brand name in the future, then definitely got for your own name for the domain name.

You'll get a lot of readers or searchers searching your name anyway, so in google, Bing and Yahoo you will come high in the searches for your name, providing it is not a common name

Just thinking of the dragons on Dragons Den - they do OK out of it, and as Steve said, if you are the brand, then it will be fine.

 

[mcgovern]

A short answer is do you have a following, i.e. are youknown, if not, your name is not the best way to go in my opinion

 

[caro1ann]

The advice given more or less sums up my thoughts e.g. not a bad thing to do but not an easy thing either.

Currently if I type my name into google I come up on the first 2 pages anyway as my name is not popular.

Hmm.....I think I'll have to give it some more thought. Basically yes I am the brand but if I could think of another perfect business name I'd maybe go with that.

Definitely need to think some more!

Cheers all for your thoughts.

C.

 

[Richard Glynn]

It depends what you're selling.

I think your own-name URL is perfect for personal branding. If you want to sell your expertise perhaps? Or as a pointer to all the other

If you're building a business it could cause problems as you grow. And if you have an exit strategy trading as your own name could devalue your business: it would be worth less if you weren't involved.

 

[Ian-M]

Whichever way you go, please make sure the domain name and email address is something that is easy to spell. We speak to lots of new companies where they have to spell out their domain name, sometimes we even have to read it back phonetically as it is so difficult to understand what they mean.

Ian