What's in a Name?

I was just reading an article at Entrepreneur magazine, "How to Name Your Business," that sparked me to think about the importance of choosing a name for a website.  The tips in the article are absolutely applicable in choosing the right domain name, but there are a couple of additional considerations before heading over to the nearest accredited domain name registrar.

Sound
One consideration is the sound. How does your domain name sound when it is spoken?  Run some ideas by your colleagues, family, & friends to gauge whether the website name rolls of the tongue or sounds like an inaudible mumble.

Availability
The best name in the world may shoot out of your brainstorm session like a bolt of lightning, but is it available for purchase?  Many common words and phrases are taken.  This doesn't always mean that the domain name is not up for sale by owner, but if it has been taken then the price tag could be out of reach.

Brevity
In a world of information overload, sound bites, short attention spans, etc., businesses should consider short names. This is also a good idea for printing a url on marketing materials ("url" stands for Uniform Resource Locator, which is the web address for a page).  What is easier to remember (and type into a web browser)? Pizza.com or bigtonyspizzajointinchicago.com?

Coordination
It may not always be possible to have a domain name that matches your business name.  Think about how the two names can work together.  A business name like Blush may not describe the product that is sold on premise (organic frozen yogurt), but the domain name of the business can help to describe the brand name and product: www.blushyogurt.com.

Multiple Domain Names
Don't worry if the perfect domain name doesn't pop out on the first attempt. Domain names are inexpensive (around $10 per year in most cases) and can be redirected to one main website, blog, Facebook page, or any other page on the web for that matter.  Register multiple domain names.  Multiple domain names can also be used to track visitors from different marketing campaigns or to test new products.

Where can you register a website domain name? Try GoDaddy.com, for starters.  Here is a list of ICANN-accredited registrars to compare with other domain name registrars.

Big Innovation at a Small Business

My good friends at MOCD, LLC recently turned the concept of a simple, blank journal into something incredibly innovative.  They wanted to create a product that could be used as a tool for self development in response to a "Galactic Moment" that will occur when, on December 21, 2012, a "Winter Solstice Sun will align with the galactic plane at the center of the galaxy."

According to the site, this event happens only once between every 26,000 years.  They gave some deep thought to this epic event and came up with a clever way for people to jot down their own perception and feelings around this moment in time.

The journal contains one page for each of the 720 days from January 1, 2011 to December 20, 2012, and is intended to be a motivational countdown in order to record and help us to accomplish our goals in a meaningful way.

You'll have to see the journal for yourself in order to experience its uniqueness.  MOCD, LLC only printed 1,000 copies. It is available online at 2012 Notes.

So what are you doing with your small business to stay innovative and to provide value for your customers?

Traveling Through a Bookstore - Lunchtime Walks

I'm using my lunchtime walks more frequently now as opportunities to have discussions with small business owners.  It's amazing how much information we can bounce off of each other about running a business and managing a site in just a few minutes.

Today I met Dan Webb, of Dan Webb - Books, a bookstore near downtown Oakland.  We chatted about the mysteries of driving traffic to websites.  Something that seems to be working out for him to attract a few site visitors is when he posts new books for sale on his site.  He mentioned that some titles do better than others when they're picked up by the search engines.

The title that grabbed me today in his brick and mortar "site" was The Vegetarian Table: Japan, by Victoria Wise.

Thanks for the book and the chat, Dan!

Flexible Planning for Your Small Business

Lee Zalben, owner of Peanut Butter & Co. in Greenwich Village dishes out some kernels of small business wisdom over at OPEN Forum, in a video segment called "Small Business Rules: The Peanut Butter & Co. Rule." He urges small business owners to build "enough flexibility into your plans to be able to move quickly and to be nimble."

As I build my own business I try to keep in mind that, as in most endeavors, it's a learning exercise. This helps me to adjust quickly and welcome fresh ideas to improve my services and products to customers. How can you be more flexible in planning for your own shop?

Your Customers Are On Yelp. Are You? - Social Media Minute

Yelp.com is one of the top 50 sites in the United States, according to Alexa.com traffic stats.  Chances are good that your small business is reviewed on Yelp. And, much of the time, the reviews on Yelp can have a great deal of unbiased truth to them.  Have you spent 5 minutes there to see what your customers are saying about your business? You'll learn a lot be searching for reviews about your business. Spend a little time to make sure that your business info is accurate: store hours, address, contact info, web address, etc.  Maybe you'll find out that some customers would really like to see a better vegetarian selection on the menu of your cafe, or that the teeth cleaning is great, but the magazine selection leaves much to be desired at your dentist office.

Here are some reviews for one of my current favorite lunch spots in Oakland, CA: Brown Couch Cafe

Working on blog posts. Contact Jesse with article ideas. Select guest posts welcomed!

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