The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
March 2008, Volume 7, Issue 3

The Right Name Can Still Take Your Business to the Top

by Josh Greenfield, Search Marketing Specialist, iProspect

The Yellow Pages have been around for well over 100 years now. And from the beginning, countless people have been “gaming” the books to get more business. How so? Think about the names that usually populate the top listing in each category. I highly doubt anyone ever yearned to name their business 123 Hardware, AAA Plumbing, or A1 Auto Sales. Instead, clever entrepreneurs choose such names for one reason -- to secure the top listing! Clearly, they understood the importance of being found amid the clutter.

What’s Old Is New Again
Today your product or service won’t nab a top spot in the search results page just because the name starts with A, 123, or A1. However, that doesn’t mean we should dismiss this old naming gimmick. Even though search engines may be smarter than those clunky yellow books, the right name can still make you more visible to the customer trying to find you with search. Given that, it’s incredibly important to consider search before naming your next product.

Why It Matters
Despite their sophistication, search engines are easily confused. If the Web page that best suits a query doesn’t contain the same content and key phrases that searchers are using to find it, that page will fall from the top results and lose the traffic associated with those top rankings. For example, Google the term “windows” and see what you come up with. In the organic listings, the companies selling glass can’t climb above the companies marketing software, and the exact opposite is true in the paid rankings. The reality is that if Microsoft wasn’t a $300 billion dollar company and their Windows product didn’t revolutionize the personal computer, they’d have a hard time competing on the term.

Choose Wisely
To stand out from the pack in the search results, you need to come up with a unique brand name for your product or service. Aim to choose one that won’t blend into a generic and highly cluttered pool of results. Doing so will help the people searching for you by name find you fast. Think Coke, BMW, Dell, and Nokia.

Breaking Into The Consideration Set
But while a unique brand name may help the consumer that knows your offering, it’s of little help to the potential customer who just became aware of their new want or need, but does not know your product or service exists. Fortunately, search engine marketing can help you break into this consumer’s consideration set. How so?

Competing in a contextual directory has its advantages. There’s no harm in adding some context to your product or service name. In fact, adding a subtitle, or a descriptive noun to your unique brand name can help put your offering in front of the people that previously didn’t know it existed. The wireless industry provides a great example. Search for the terms, “mobile,” “wireless,” or “cellular.” It’s no surprise that T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and US Cellular are all getting the traffic that Sprint would love to have.

Simple But Effective
Despite their simplicity, these naming conventions can dramatically increase your visibility across the Web. In addition, not only will the content surrounding your product come prepackaged with relevant keywords, every aspect of your online presence will inherit the keyword focused theme that you determine.

Clearly, Yellow Pages advertisers over the years understood the importance of being found amongst the clutter. They adopted names that helped them get top position and also helped customers find them. Likewise, today’s marketers need to understand the importance of factoring in search before naming their products and services.

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The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article: March 2008, Volume 7, Issue 3

The Right Name Can Still Take Your Business to the Top

The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
March 2008, Volume 7, Issue 3