Select Your Travel Business Name

How important is the name you choose for your travel business? I would venture to say it is probably one of the most important decisions you will make and one that will live with you for many years to come. I guess it could be likened to naming a child. There are books, websites and more resource information available for those choosing a baby name than imaginable. It is not just about the baby anymore, but there are sites and books about naming pets, as well. It is a very important decision to choose a name as we live with it after it has been given as does the recipient or for the purposes of this article, the business.

In the travel industry we have so many “sexy” options in choosing a name. Let’s face it; travel is sexy. Travel is exciting, educational, intriguing, fun, exploratory, thrilling, adventuresome, luxurious, relaxing and the list goes on and on. One would think choosing a name would be a pretty simple thing to do but perhaps so many choices makes it an even harder decision to make. I have been doing some research lately on choosing business names, so let me share some tips I have discovered. Some of these questions might help you with your decision or perhaps will help you as you develop a new division of your travel business (or look to expand your brand).

1. Does it say what your business does and is it authentic?Let’s imagine I call my agenc

Joanie’s Cruises. Maybe I do sell cruises, but perhaps I also specialize in selling packages, groups and maybe I am very proficient at selling tours to Ireland. I would have to ask myself if just my name and the word cruises is really telling the prospective client what I do. What do you think?

2. Is the name short so that it is easily remembered?

Joanie’s Cruises, Packages, Group Travel and Tours to Ireland. Well, I for one, cannot even remember that one, so how would a client ever be able to do so? I need to shorten this name to be more memorable.

3. Is it easy to pronounce?

Travel Experiences Extraordinaire by Joanie. Now this is a tongue twister and even I do not want to have to repeat it too often. I guess this is not the right name.

4. Is it simple to spell or will it require explanation to do so?

Let’s go back up to Travel Experiences Extraordinaire by Joanie. I had to use spell-check just to spell extraordinaire and then even my family members misspell Joanie, so perhaps it is not a good choice for a name based on the idea that it is difficult to spell.

5. Does it shout why your travel business is distinctive?

If we go back up to the Joanie’s Cruises (or even any of the others noted above) they all miss on this bet. Nothing shouts out at me why anyone would think my business was distinctive. It sounds to me like I do everything everyone else might do and how good could I possibly be at doing everything effectively?

6. Is it unique enough that it does not sound like a typical travel cliché?

I am not even going to go there with any of the above names I have selected. None are really unique and they all sound like same old, same old.

7. Would it offend any prospects?

I guess I can honestly say that the above choices would probably not offend anyone unless they hated to cruise, or perhaps thought group travel was not for them. It might discourage them from choosing to contact me though. Perhaps someone who really did not enjoy travel in Ireland might think they would not like me as an agent because I focus on that. It is pretty hard to get around these things, as you cannot please everyone. Being cautious not to use any controversial or other offensive parts of a business name is a very important consideration.

8. Does it have growth potential?

Let’s think about this one. With the Joanie’s Cruises, I rather sound like a one-lady show don’t I? It might seem strange if I had agents working with me for them to use the name Joanie’s Cruises, if in fact they were not Joanie. Am I limiting my business growth with the use of a first name?

9. Is the Domain Name Available?

In today’s world, you must be careful not to select a name that already has a brand identity online. Your agency name should be available as a domain name too. And, only use the name if you can get the .com name that goes along with it. Don’t be afraid to buy the right domain name if you need to.

10. Do you like it?

Now here is a very important question to ask yourself when choosing that travel business name. You have to not only like it, you need to love it. You have to enjoy saying it to people and you have to be proud of it. It is the essence of the beginning of your brand identity. If you are not sure about a name, talk to others whom you respect in the business world and get their honest opinion. Hit them up with a few choices, so they are not inclined to say “sure, it is great” only because you have offered a single name and not other optional ideas.

11. Are the social media handles available for your business name?

You will want to make sure that appropriate usernames or “handles” are available for your business. They should reflect your business name and / or value proposition, be memorable, easy to spell and available on all social media platforms you intend to use.

12. Would an acronym make sense?

Acronyms make a ton of sense if you specialize is an extremely narrow niche. A great way to find a great business name is to start with the domain name first. If you can find an acronym that has all the trappings of allowing you to build a business name around it, then this might be the best way to go.

How to Establish Your Business Name in 5 Steps

By now you should be thinking about business names that might make sense for you. Here are 5 steps to zeroing in on your final business name.

1. Brainstorm

This is the fun part of you business naming process. Start by writing every word that is related to your business in any way. Write down synonyms for the words and keep on adding as many words as possible. You want your business name to accurately convey your value proposition as concisely as possible. Use a thesaurus to continue to add words that relate to your business. Once you kind of run out of words to add, then start using one of the websites that will suggest business names based on your keywords. Here are a couple of them.

NameSnack.com

Namesnack is a great site and is considered the number one business name generator. It is easy to use. Simply put keywords from your list of words into the dialog box and then get up to 100 different relative business names for your consideration. The site also checks to see if the url for each name is available, or not.

BusinessNameGenerator.com

You can generate thousands of business names using Business Name Generator and also check for available urls, as well.

Simply Google “Business Name Generator” and you will find dozens of name generators all with their own unique value proposition.

sedo.com

Another excellent way to search for appropriate business names is to visit the domain name seller Sedo. Simply put your business name keywords into the search bar and you will see hundreds of domain names that are for sale that relate to your business keywords. This is a great way to locate an awesome business name if the Internet will play a large part of your agency.

2. Chose the Best Business Names

By now you should have a good number of potential business names and it is time to start narrowing your choices down to the most logical and appealing names. They should make sense for the business, be easy to remember, be easy to spell, and have all the qualities mentioned in this article.

3. Make Sure Your Name is Consistent with Your Business Structure

Depending on which business structure that you have chosen to operate, your name should be appropriate for it. As an example, if you choose a S or C Corp you may want to include “corporation, incorporated, company, Inc.” or some other acceptable word to let consumers know that they are dealing with a corporation. The same is true for a LLC. The letters LLC should be included in the business name to advise consumers that they are dealing with a limited liability business.

4. Research, Research, Research

Now that you have your short list of potential names you should research each one for keyword competition, domain name availability, social media handle availability and the name’s legal availability. If one of the name’s keywords delivers huge companies in the search results, you may want to keep looking until you find the name where you are likely to gain the number one spot in a Google search. Make sure you understand all of the criteria of the name you finally choose, as picking the wrong name is likely to make creating a successful business more challenging.

5. Register Your Name

Now that you have arrived at a business name that meets all of the above criteria, it is time to move forward. Each different business structure has different requirements for name registration, so make sure that you seek the advice of your attorney and / or accountant. Each State may have unique requirements for registering business names, as well. Once you have registered your business name, you should register or acquire the domain name and create business pages using the business name as a handle on the various social media platforms that you intend on using.

In the next tutorial we will take an in-depth on how to register your domain name and open your business bank account.