Step 1. Finding a Name

Coming up with a business name is one of your first steps when it comes to putting together your business. The first thing that you want to do is make sure that no one else is already using the name that you are hoping to use. There are a few different ways to go about finding out if are able to use the business name or not. If you find out that someone is already using it in your industry do not fear, you may just have to come up with another way of wording it.

The following are three steps to follow when coming up with a business name:

1.) Some may disagree and I can understand why, but I feel the first place to look when searching for  new business name is to look for available URL’s. You know, dot coms. If you want to call your business Good Records, and goodrecords.com is not available, you may want to think of another name. If you are set with your name, then you may need to find another way of wording it.

There a number of different companies that you can use to purchase a URL. Godaddy.com has gained a lot of ground in the past few years for not only domain names but also site hosting. Other companies people use are Networksolutions.com and registrar.com to name a few. The choice is up to you, JUST MAKE SURE THE NAME YOU WANT TO USE IS AVAILABLE.

2.) Once you find a name that you like, you need to make sure that this name is not already trademarked or being used for a similar type business in your industry. To do this you can go http://www.uspto.gov/ and run a  trademark check.

3.)You will also want to use a Local Business search using tools like Google and Yahoo to make sure that no one is calling their business the same thing in your area, even if it is a different type of service. Just because they are not listed on Google or Yahoo does not mean that they do not exist, to be completely sure you may need to visit your City Business Bureau’s website and do a name search to see that the desired name is available for use in your city. In the old days you had to go down to City Hall to see what was available but now most cities have this information available through their websites.

If you pass all three of these steps, there is a good chance that you just found a Business Name.

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