Best name to use for your business

The name of your business is found in what you do best. Starting a lawn service? So are a bunch of other folks. Who cares? The best name you should use for your business has nothing to do with the other folks doing the same thing as you, that is to say, if you consider them the same as you. 

If this is true you might consider joining the other folks... take your ideas and your goals that way! If you consider that your brand is not like the other folks and you do something that you know people need but you have a twist. Read on. 

The best name you can use for your business can be really easy to find, but just because you like it, the people who read it may not. Take for example the word Oy Vey, /oi ˌvā/ is a Yiddish word used now by actors, celebrities, and most anyone who knows what the word means, and it may in fact be a part of your heritage... you use the word to replace "oh my goodness!" or "Oh no!" in general. You really wouldn't name your company that. Not unless it was the core of what you do best! Oy Vey - the word is the name of my marketing firm because our creative is just that. The word, when said describes what our clients like best about my firm. The clients say that they are overcome with our imagination and creativity... were even sometimes over-the-top and could use a chill pill. All in all the clients either really like our work or say "Oh no."

Oevae Marketing Consultants - which is pronounced like "Oy Vey Marketing Consultants" is a fun name that peeks at imagination, creativity, seriousness, and heritage (everything you want from a solid marketing firm). It is not an offensive name. It means as much as Apple is to iPod. This is the core relationship your business name should mimic in structure. Think of the movie IRON MAN. Why not GOLD MAN?  Gold is what you want to have and it has great value, right? It is if you are starting a Cash For Gold business, but not if you need protection. Then you want iron. Right?  Who would win the fight? IRON MAN or GOLD MAN and which is easier to replace. 

"When I began to talk to folks about Oevae ten years ago, I knew most of my conversations would not belong so, I had to get right to the punch line and make sure it brought them a pinch of joy." – Gibrón Williams

I'm thinking by now you are starting to understand how to name your business. And, if I'm correct, you understand that you understand why you need to think about your clients and how you will communicate how or why your brand is the best choice for them and not that of your competitors.

"Oevae" was a word that described me.  I am the core of my business.  I make the creative. Even my business card has my title as "Head Honcho."  So I call the shots.  Some are great and some are not so great. 

Whenever you need more insight or you want help marketing your business you can send your marketing questions to answers@oevae.com or please follow me @oevae on Twitter. You could also follow this blog and stop trying to be a Super Hero. I'm here because sometimes all you need is a little help. Gibron T. Williams is the Head Honcho at Oevae Marketing Consultants – Best marketing consultants in the USA - ask Google

Hosting, Email, and Domain Names Unite

Everybody likes convenience. No brainer, right? Well, this is something you’ve got to remember when managing your business on the Internet. 

Like mobile phone carriers that offer you Text Messaging Plans, Data Packages, and more. The company you choose to host your company website should also be the company that provides your domain name and email accounts. I haven't run into anyone yet who would use T-Mobile as their cell phone carrier and then buy a Text Messaging plan from Apple. So why would you register your domain at GoDaddy and host your website at Wix? Internet service providers, unlike cell phone carriers, actually allow you to mix Internet domain registrars and web hosting with different providers. What you don’t know is that there are 3 very good reasons why you should start thinking ahead about how you manage your business online. 

Why bundle your Internet domain registrar and web hosting

I know the answer to this based on 20+ years of experience in helping clients do everything from creating, registering, and retrieving domain names to hosting and managing multiple email accounts. My findings will give you good reasons to pick one safe, reliable, and affordable Internet domain registrar and web hosting provider that helps you manage your online presence more efficiently –  solid reasoning to integrate Hosting, Email, and Domain, which will enable you to make webmaster-like decisions when managing your business online. It's not only smart for your business, it could help you from tainting your brand experience.

Let’s start with passwords 

These little jumbled letters, capital letters, lower-case letters, special symbols, limited characters, and sticky phrases are sometimes remembered and most often forgotten.  Passwords can be a stinker to keep up with, to say the least. Don’t be in a hurry or have a typo when entering your password, this will most likely get you locked out of your account for a few hours, or have you dialing technical support and listening to elevator music and artificial intelligence for several of your valuable minutes. So what do you do? Create fewer passwords. Simply put: fewer passwords equal fewer headaches.

The same goes for managing your Internet domain registrar and web hosting. With multiple Internet solution providers, you can bet your last dollar that each will have its own uniquely safe password scheme that you must use to create. This means having your hosting, email, email marketing, and domain name divided among different Internet domain registrars and web hosting providers (GoDaddy, Wix, Squarespace, etc.). You will also have an equal number of passwords to retain. That’s bad news. So remember to use one Internet service provider that with everything you need. 

Now let’s talk about Email

You should be using business email to do just that – business. And when it comes to keeping commitments and communicating with your prospects and clients, you better make sure your email and website are properly aligned. If you don’t already know, email is one of the easiest ways for outsiders to interfere with your business operations. So you might choose to separate your hosting provider and email because you think one company offers more safety than the next which might be true? If and when you have a technical problem with your email, hosting, or domain; having the same technical support for all three keeps you from dialing three different numbers searching for the answer that fixes your problem.

If you have hosting at provider A and email accounts at provider B, each will have limited ability to track activity from beginning to end. So you are left with trying to balance who’s right and who’s almost right with who doesn’t have a clue which is normally you at The End. The thing here to remember is the benefits of learning the habits, abilities, and response time of one Internet Services provider Technical Support Team rather than spending half your day stitching together the suggestions of multiple representatives. 

Last but not least is domain names 

Your URL aka Domain Name, aka Website Address is the single most important part of your business online that keeps you in the know. No domain name. No online business. If you fail to keep up with renewal dates, some other business becomes the new you. 

When you’ve registered your domain name with a different company than your hosting provider or email provider, you have more email notifications to monitor. You have or will most likely acquire your domain name, hosting account, and email provider on different dates. Rest assured that your renewal notifications will respect these dates. This means you could miss an important email and kiss a great domain name goodbye if you miss the renewal date. Limiting your domain registrar and web hosting to one provider means you get one consistent billing system, using one credit card with a company you trust. 

My clients have come from all walks of life and made the best decisions based on the information provided to them during their startup phase. Oevae.com integrates your domain registration, web hosting, and email, making it easier for them to manage their online business.

Make a brand difference.™

Avoid Web Design Disasters

The information you send to the person designing your website is your first step toward learning more about creating your company's brand. Your designer will need you to answer questions so that they can fine-tune a cost and action plan for the website design and development; you can start your website design with a single page.

Web design companies you may have asked about website design and development, generally say it's the number of pages that determines the cost of a website. This is really a novice way of looking at the Internet. Not long ago technology was different and the learning curve for those hesitant to learn has enabled this way of thinking to linger. It's changing as I type this article, to be honest. 

Creating high-quality website content is paramount

Today's technology allows users to have incredible control over website content, thus allowing for interactivity and personalization - ownership of brands they believe in and trust with minimal investment.  If your product was an apple, you would use various avenues to get customers to buy.  Your apples must be worth the bite – this could include affordable, tasty/appealing, nearby, fresh, and offer consumers a great experience for the bite. With this in mind, a web designer can usually design and develop your website using a combination of the most desired features that express your vision of excellence and show you ways of drawing/pushing traffic to your website on one page or many pages. 

We all know despite the size of a restaurant, it's the food, the service, and the price – experience that determines who returns.  Rarely do we return to a disorganized business with lousy communication, and concerns about safety.  The same is true for your website. Your website design/development should include discussions about hosting, email, branding, photography, copy, alignment with search engine protocols, and analytics features that tell you details about website visitors and their interactivity, and the website traffic flow.  A basic website often includes a homepage aka landing page, contact page/form, photography/videos, an about us page, information about services or products, and FAQs. 

Website production time could be 2 weeks for a small micro website or 45-60 days for a high-end website with advanced user experience or eCommerce.  The web design firm should allow time for you to share the layout and website design concept with your business partners or peers.  Often the more bells and whistles or third-party integrations (widgets, plugins, e-commerce, etc.), and overall dynamics will determine your ultimate cost.  At Oevae.com you can scale your website dynamics over time with a custom marketing membership which allows you a low startup expense with a monthly payment. 

Using Website Templates

Think about Disney.com vs. Google.com, both have incredible depth and entirely different packaging. In the same way, try to avoid template websites if possible.  How do feel when you walk into a business and see someone wearing the same thing you are wearing?  The outfit that took you nearly an hour to decide to put together because you wanted to wear something unique to your personality?  Not good.  Who's wearing it best?  Template websites are the same way.  What makes your website unique if the last website your prospect visited looks just like yours?  There are online DIY website builders that are easy to use and allow you to use your own creativity if you have the time and patience.

If you have defined the number of topics you feel your website should cover and how you want visitors to communicate with you from the website, please explain this in detail to your web designer. In fact, this is really the person you want to convey your deepest aspirations and visions for your website. Sometimes with too many people involved details get lost or skewed.

Knowing your target date for completion will help the web design firm define its production timeline which should include benchmarks. Make certain you receive proofs prior to the programming so the development phase of your website sets sail in the right direction.  One of my strategic marketing friends Vincent Jackson with whom I've partnered on several projects calls this a "Brief" outline of your website goal and descriptions of necessary content. 

If you need any questions answered or information explained in greater detail, please call Oevae or comment on this article. It's normal that you allow a design agency or marketing firms like Oevae.com one or two days to produce your Web Development Agreement which should be easy to understand and in a language you truly understand on a single page. Keep a signed copy with your design company's signature to help secure your investment and avoid web design disasters.

Make a brand difference.™