It’s easy to get caught up in the name game and spend too much time worrying about coming up with the perfect domain and business name. As a quick reality check, don’t expect your domain name to be so amazing that just seeing it will inspire a prospective client to grab the phone and call you for coaching. That’s the job of your marketing materials and continued interactions with your prospective clients.
So when it comes to naming your business, here are some important points to remember. Choosing a business name is not as important as choosing a child’s name. It is likely that you’ll change it as you grow as a coach. It’s ok if it is not perfect the first time around.
Secondly, when it comes to enticing people to visit your website, a domain name that contains key words like “ADHD”, “ADD”, “distractibility” and “focus” can certainly help. But know, that the majority of people find your website using your geographic area, or the titles of the various other services you offer to people such as articles, teleclasses and coaching packages. For example, if someone saw that your article titled, “5 Steps to Get Your Motivation Mojo Back with ADHD” was available at your website, they would click with little concern about what your domain or the name of your business looked like.
Here are 12 more points to consider when coming up with your business name:
- Easy to read – On the web, hard-to-read pages are very frustrating and are quickly closed. We want things easy as pie. Keep it simple.
- A catchy domain name, one that grabs attention and is easy to pass on to others is ideal. Consider these points:
- Easy to understand – Again, if we have to think hard about what we’re reading, it creates doubt, hesitation and stalls actions. When clients are confused, they don’t buy. Stay away from jargon words we may use in our business, such as “growth mindset”, “aha coaching”, “getting unstuck.” They may not be words or phrases familiar to clients trying to find your ADHD coaching service.
- Shorter is better – Names with simpler, shorter words are easier to remember, spell, share and type in correctly. For instance, CoachBev.com is easier with less chance of misspelling as CoachBeverlyADHDCoach.com
- Easy to remember – This helps people spread your name by word of mouth. I’m sure you’ve had the situation where you’ve said to someone, “You must check out this website. It’s umm… I’ll email it to you when I get home.” The problem is, you won’t remember. Names that are easier to remember are more ideal. One option is to use your name and or your location in creating your business name. For instance LaurieDuparCoaching.com is easy to remember. Using geographic clues in your website or business name is similar. For instance www.BayCityADHDCoaching.com would be meaningful to someone in the San Francisco area, or www.SacratmentoADHDCoach.com would certainly help people to find you. As coaches that we can work with people globally, but people are still looking locally for services. Including some geographic clue in your business name capitalizes on this habit.
- Easy to spell – Some names are easy to read and understand, but can be difficult to spell. And when it comes to reaching your website, if it’s misspelled, it’s not reached! Pay attention to domains that could be spelled multiple ways. For instance coachingforadhd.com is great, but I still get asked frequently is that “for” as in the number or spelled out?
- You like it – You’re going to use this domain name for years to come. It should be something that sounds and feels good to you. You need to be ready to say it over and over and over.
- Expresses a benefit – Remember, your target audience wants things to change…hopefully for the better. If your domain name can hint at the benefit of coaching with you that is a domain to consider. For instance, my first business domain name was “Change of Focus”. I hoped to help people understand how a new perspective could make a difference in the way they experienced their ADHD.
- Tells what you do – People love it when they click on links and the page they end up at is what they expect. The less clicks it takes for someone to find the information they are looking for, the better. This is why I changed my business name six years ago to “Coaching for ADHD”.
- It’s available – Every day domain names are snatched up by new businesses, resellers and creatives that don’t want to miss out on the perfect name for their website… “Domain hoarders” we call them. I’ll admit I have bought my fair share of domain names…just in case I want to create a product, use it as a book title or it is just a good name for a future class. The good news is that with a little creativity, you can still come up with a good one. For example, since ADHDSuccessCoach.com is taken, you could try www.YourSuccessCoach.com (I think it might still be available J)
- Go for a “.com” over .net, .org, or any other extension.
Here are some examples of good domain names I think hit the spot…
www.writeabookinaweekend.com
www.LaurieDuparADHDCoaching.com
www.Getreadytobecomeanadhdcoach.com
www.InternationalADHDCoachTraningCenter.com
12.Buy it!
I strongly recommend using GoDaddy to register your domain name. I’ve used them for over 10 years. Initially I made the mistake of registering/buying possible domain names on multiple sites that created a nightmare when tracking when they were about to expire or remembering which domain names I owned. You can use GoDaddy to see what’s available and to get suggestions.
Wrapping up, try not to worry too much about the perfect name. Know that your other marketing materials will be at work helping you attract people to your website, but keep in mind the suggestions from this article.
