Ahhh… your company name.

Your identity. What separates you from everyone else.

I would be willing to bet that you spent a good deal of time coming up with the perfect name for your company. Am I right?

Something catchy, easy to remember, and unique. How am I doing so far?

What if I were to tell you that your company name is possibly the single biggest hindrance to your business’s success online.

Unfortunately, for many companies it is.

Choosing a name for your business online is much different than choosing a name for a brick and mortar business.

You see, in the real world, a business with a catchy, easy to remember name will get traffic simply from people driving by on the street or walking by in a shopping center even if they have never heard of you before.

Unfortunately, this is not how things work online. Online, there is no drive-by traffic, no people walking in to your business because they were next door shopping.

Online, you must be found among a pool of tens of thousands of other businesses.

Online, people don’t casually browse with friends to pass the time.

Online, people search… and unless your name is Microsoft, Wal-Mart, or another extremely well known and well branded name, people are not going to search for your company name.

Studies show that approximately 80% of Internet users find what they are looking for by way of search engines (i.e., Yahoo, AltaVista, Excite, etc.), and I guarantee you, they are not going to be searching for your wonderful catchy name, they will be searching for the topic they want.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say you own a gourmet coffee business called “The Brewmaster” that you decide to take online. Of course you love your name and create your online identity around your offline name. You reserve the domain name “http://www.brewmaster.com,” keep your company name, and title your site “The Brewmaster.”

You’ve submitted your site to Yahoo as well as all the other directories and search engines. Ahhh… life is good. Orders should start rolling in any minute now…

Guess what? Unless you have a HUGE marketing budget for banner ads, etc., you’ve just doomed your business.

Let’s look at why.

First, let’s look at the…

*Site Title*

Whether you’re dealing with a directory or a search engine, the site title is the single most important aspect of your listing. For search engines, the text found within the title tags of the page is given more weight than any other single factor on that page (i.e., keyword density, keyword frequency, heading tags, etc.). In a directory, your entire listing is comprised of two things, your title, and your description.

In both cases, if the keywords related to your business are not found in your title, your chances of coming up in a search are virtually non-existent. If your site is about “gourmet coffee” then those words, or at the very least, “coffee,” should be somewhere within your title.

*The Company Name*

Just as your site title should have your most important keywords within them, so should your company name.

Why, you ask?! The answer… directories.

In directories, when a visitor uses the search function (which is what the vast majority use) you will only be found if the search term the visitor uses is found either in your site title or your description. Unfortunately, virtually all directories require your site title to be your actual company name. Remember that directories are powered by humans, not software. A human reviews the site, and assigns the title and description that he/she decides is correct. Yes, they all let you suggest a site title, but ultimately, regardless of what you submit, your title almost always ends up as your company name.

Looking again at the above example, this would mean that your title in almost all of the directories would be “The Brewmaster.” This means the only place you would have left to put your keywords would be the description, and this again is up to the editor. This means that any site that has the search term “coffee” or “gourmet coffee” in both the title and description would come up far ahead of your site in the search results, costing you traffic and sales that could have been yours.

*The URL*

Here is another very much overlooked tool. Whenever possible, your URL should contain your most important keywords. Many engines and directories will give your site a boost if your keywords are found within your URL. Also, when you submit your site to the directories, if your URL, your company name, and your site title all match, that will virtually guarantee that you will get the title you requested.

Let’s tie the three previous areas together with an example of what you could have named your site instead of “The Brewmaster.”

Here’s one possible alternative: “Gourmet Coffee Brewmaster.”

The above alternative would give you a company name that includes your most important keywords and the perfect title for your page.

You could then reserve the domain — [http://www.gourmet-coffee-brewmaster.com] — giving you a perfect trifecta. The same company name, page title, and URL — practically insuring that you get the directory listing you want.

Of course, this is only one possibility, but I think this should illustrate the point.

To Summarize

• Unless you have a huge advertising budget or are an extremely well branded business, DO NOT name your online business something like the above example.
• Use a business name that contains your most important keywords.
• Use this business name as your site title.
• Use a URL that contains your most important keywords and whenever possible, is the same as, or as close as possible to, your keyword-laden business name.

Follow these rules and you should have no trouble developing a very steady flow of large amounts of traffic from the directories, and you will be well on your way in the search engine arena as well.

Making money from a home online business has many advantages. For a start, you won’t have to endure the daily commute to work. Your car won’t need such a workout nor will it use so much petrol. Spend on your wardrobe will decrease as working from home won’t demand that you wear a suit and office shoes every day. The internet never closes for business, so you can make money even whilst you sleep.

If you’re thinking of a setting up a home online business then you’ll be able to set your own working hours. Of course, it’s very distracting to work at home and people can always find some house or garden work that needs doing when they should be completing their tax return. This is probably really the biggest challenge of making money from home.

One of the most important fundamentals of preparing to make money at home is to set up a distinct office area. Ideally you’ll be able to work from a separate room, but if your home is not big enough to allow for this, then you could just set up a distinct office area. It should be somewhere that you can leave some of your papers out if you need to.

Depending on the type of home online business that you set up, you may well need to set up a phone line for it. You should also have the use of a high speed internet system. The frustration caused by a low quality line is not worth the lower cost. Most internet providers can supply or at the least advise you on a router so that your entire home has wireless connectivity.

Your computer should be able to handle the tasks that you need to do. There could be some marketing tasks that involve creating or editing images to promote your business, products or service. The better computers will be able to manage software that uses a lot of processor power to run.

When it comes to marketing, it’s best to take expert advice so that you can learn how to do it yourself. With just one hour or so per day spent on marketing, you’ll be able to make a lot of progress in getting your home online business in front of prospective buyers.

Having the right mind-set is essential to be successful in any business. This means that you need to commit to being successful, whatever it takes. Most entrepreneurs have to give up their social life and other hobbies to fully immerse themselves in a business. I’m not saying that you have to do this, but in the early days there can be quite a learning curve. It also depends what level of success and income you are hoping to reach.

Setting goals is very important. It’s what will carry you through to achieve incredible things. Long term goals will carry you through short term successes to somewhere of great satisfaction and achievement.

Setting up a home online business can be a lot of work and effort, but it can give you great satisfaction and financial reward.