“What’s In A Name?”
Well, some people seem to think that success itself is in a name.
Be it for your business, your website, your blog, your Etsy Shop, or your DOG…names are important.
While I don’t think a great name for your Etsy Shop will guarantee success (nor do I think a so-called “bad” name will doom you to failure), I do think that taking the time to put some thought into your shop name is time well spent.
Here are a few tips to help you pick out a new name.
A Good Name
- Should be easy to remember – something catchy
-
Is Short – try and avoid very long names more than 2 or 3 words
-
Is easy to spell – watt moore kin I saie?
- Communicates a message – who you are, what you do, your style.
- Can be trademarked
Cross Platform Branding
It’s a good idea to consider what other venues you might use to sell your lovingly handmade items, if any. If you’re going to (or already do) sell your wares at art festivals or craft shows, then you would be better served by using the same name in both places.
If you hope to have a website of your own at any point, you might want to see what domain name you can secure first. This could be important if you want your business to be free to offer some items that are not handmade, or even made by employees you hire.
If this is you, then you should start with a domain name first. The same ideas apply to selecting a web domain name.
You can check your ideas right here!
Once you find a domain name that you like and is available you can see if that name or something that works with it is available as an Etsy User Name. If you can get them both to match, then you’ll be in much better shape going forward, even if you don’t plan to build a website for some time.
We use Bluehost.com for our web-hosting and find them to be very good in pricing, service, and ease of use. You can register your domain name and set-up hosting with them very easily. Bluehost.com
Note: It’s been about five years since this post was written and we’re still very satisfied with Bluehost!.
Disclosure: When you sign-up with Bluehost you can also become an affiliate. Then when you refer people over, like we’re doing here, you get some grocery money! (thanks!)
Don’t Limit Yourself (unless you want to)
If you expect to sell the same limited range of products, such as pendants, for the entire life of your Etsy Shop, then you might want to include the word “pendants” in your name. If, on the other hand, you sell pendants now but would like to one day offer bracelets, rings, and jewelry boxes then you would want to come up with something that allows diversity.
Be Happy
At the end of the day, I think you’ll know when you’ve found a name that works for you when that name puts a smile on your face! I’ve named my share of businesses over the years and I’ve always found it to be a really enjoyable process. It’s like a birth when you come up with the name for your new business! Enjoy!
Very simple useful advice. Thanks.
Thanks for this great advice and information! How do you know if a name is trademarked?
Thank you!
Great advice. Thank you. Love the way you designed your website…
@peachie — Go to the Patent and Trademark Office website at http://www.uspto.gov. In the Trademarks box, click on the ‘Search Marks’ options and that will take you to their search engine (called TESS). You might also want to check with your state’s Secretary of State website, in the corporations or business section to see if anyone else in the state already opened a business with the name you want to use.
Very informative…I’ve actually followed these tips as I am working on my growing business. Would love to see more about names and keywords!
@peachie, you can also hire a private company to do the work for you. I’m working with LegalZoom on copyrights/trademarks, since they charge the same as if you were directly using the govt. Best of luck!
I think its my lucky day today as I visited your page. The information provided is very clear and easy to understand. Thanks for the good work. Blessings.
You are so right! I have been through several names before I found the one that is easy, personal and allows for evolution of my shop and that makes me smile when I say it (my boyfriend pointed this out to me a few days ago, he said that my face lights up when I say “Gemini Vintage”). Unfortunately this process has set me back a few times as I keep starting over. Oh well, lessons learned, right?
I’m stuck because the usernames I’ve come up with for Etsy that I like are already taken! I don’t want to end up with a name I don’t like, but I haven’t been able to come up with anything that is available. It’s been over a week of brainstorming. :/ Hmm. Not sure what else to do but to keep on trying!
Romans620
Same here and it is very frustrating, WoW!
i am going to open furniture showroom in india, what could be the best name ??
I think that what you posted was actually very logical.
But, what about this? suppose you added a little information? I ain’t
saying your content isn’t good, but what if you added a title that
makes people desire more? I mean How-To Pick a Name For Your Etsy Shop
is kinda vanilla. You ought to look at Yahoo’s front page and note
how they create article headlines to get people
interested. You might add a related video or a related pic or two to
grab people interested about what you’ve got to say.
In my opinion, it could bring your posts a little bit more interesting.