How much of branding depends on the name itself?

Question

How much of branding depends on the company/brand name itself to be succesful.

For example, someone wants to make a website, say for auctions for drinks or something and calls it something simple like uhmm BuyMill.com or Sellmill.com or something basic like that. Powered by a huge marketing campaign, can it actually be successful?

I am just so confused as i need to name my website. Its a auction site. At first i thought Sellmill or buymill was a good idea, friends and family agreed (dad has his own business as well). But im not sure as i asked people on yahoo answers, they seem to take it negatively!

Can someone please be kind enough to explain me what im doing wrong here?

Thanks ppl

Answer 1

The naming of your business could be one of the most important decisions you will make. A name's originality and legal availability will create a real asset value of its own, as it becomes marketed and gains market acceptance.

The name you choose will become the focal point of all the benefits and features that relate to your business. Customers will be able to find and refer others to it in the future.

I suggest either hiring a name creation firm or get together with your friends and/or family and throw a "name party" & have everyone bounce some ideas around. Compile a listing of names that you like the best. Once you have that list, do as much free research as you can before you delve into comprehensive research.

I listed some links where you can do some preliminary name checking. However, please be aware that this is merely scratching the surface of what's out there.

Only comprehensive research will tell you if the name is truly available. But, these links are free & a great place to start, so I'd try them out first.

Comprehensive research consists of looking at marks that are similar in Sound, Appearance or Meaning in the pending & registered Federal AND State trademark files as well as the US National Common-Law files.

There are other sites that offer free searching capabilities in conjunction with their commercial services, so I'm not able to post those links due to the Yahoo! TOS. You'll also want to check domain names & yellow pages, so simply do a search for "free domain name search" and "national yellowpages" and the appropriate links will pop up.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!