In the physical society a generic logo is not a quality name brand. Even if you are able to register them (which we may be able to help you with if a logo is included), names such as these do not have much potential as trademarks. Anyway, people pick generic names since this name instantly displays the kind of product or services the company offers.
Is that different on the Internet? Would brands such as the following be good ones: Books.com, Books4Less.com, Business.com, Pets.com, and PersonalInjuryLawyer.com?
First, we should discuss the meaning of “generic” as it applies to branding and trademarks. A generic name is a name that is actually a description of the product a business is trying to sell. Deciding if a name is generic is conditional. Instances of domain names which have allegedly garnered big amounts of money on reselling as domain names are Wines.com and Mortgage.com. These are generic brand names for, respectively, wine and mortgage companies. Here is a silly example: If the wine merchant took on the name Mortgage.com, or the mortgage provider utilized the brand name Wines.com, for trademark purposes the names would be distinctive instead of descriptive (although as a brand name it would still be less preferable than a proper name, but this is a peripheral issue that we will not cover in this article).
So a name may be trademarked as long as it does not “consist exclusively of signs or indications which may serve to designate the kind, value, quantity or purpose of goods or services”. A unique and universal name offers you the individuality that represents a name that will be remembered.
When it comes to trademark terms, the best names are those that are made up and hint at the product or services that are being offered, but do not describe them. If a company can come up with a unique name — something along the lines of Pepsi, Toyota, Honda, Burger King, etc. — the name will be perfect for building a brand identity around it.
Why shouldn’t you use a descriptive name?
Descriptive names might seem like a good idea, but they are easily confused with competitors’ sites. Descriptive words are ones which the competition might want to use to promote their products or services. For instance, a wine merchant will have to be able to utilize the term ‘wine merchant’, or he will be unable to carry out his business activity. If the first person who utilized the term ‘wine merchant’ were able to prevent others from utilizing the terms, he would enjoy such a monopoly that all other competition would be stifled. This is not what trademarks are intended to bring about.
So since it is impossible to prevent competitors from utilizing the same descriptive words in their names, selecting a descriptive brand name ultimately results in the loss of some potential customers because those who are trying to find you, may come across your competition instead. This is why descriptive names aren’t the best choices to create a brand value or goodwill. You will have much more luck over time with a unique brand name rather than a descriptive one. When your unique name becomes recognized, trademark ensures that competitors won’t be able to leech off your success with copycat names. That’s what trademarks are for, after all: to ensure that consumers don’t get your business mixed up with another.
Names and Brands on the Internet
What does all this mean to the Internet where there is a tradition of selecting generic brand names? Is it wise to utilize a generic name for an online start up? Not really.
The characteristics of a good brand name are the same whether it is used offline or online. Although many people believe it is wise to choose generic names — perhaps because they think that it will confer search engine advantages by using a generic brand name — in reality, generic names are not a good choice for online brand names nor for offline brands. They might help to let people know what your business is about at the onset. For instance, if your company is named Books4Less, right off the bat people will have an idea about your business. However, if your name is Amazon, they will not know right away that you will provide them with a good price. However, once you have had a good experience with Amazon, you will remember its unique name much better than a nondescript name like Books4Less.
Then why are there so many Internet businesses with subpar names? Maybe due to the fact that when the internet first started, there weren’t many sites to choose from, and an identifiable, generic name was a bonus. If you needed to find a site that sold toys, you would type in “toys.com”. Think of it like a department store from years past. You sought out businesses based on their name. Simple descriptive names, therefore, were the best way to get your site’s purpose across to audiences. However, as more and more websites cropped up, these descriptive names became less and less distinctive.
Still, people new to the web keep on copying what has happened in the past. They believe that using a descriptive name is the best thing to do, and take on such names in the mistaken belief that it is the proper way to approach the matter. Even though a number of sites utilize common names does not indicate that using a common name is the right thing for you. It merely suggests that a lot of internet operators are being pressured to conform.
Guidelines for selecting online brand names
So, when you are selecting an online trading name, try to come up with a unique name just as some of the more successful Internet businesses have done, such as Yahoo, Amazon, Dell, Facebook and eBay. These are the businesses that have done well and that we remember, while the vast majority of businesses with generic names have disappeared in a cloud of smoke, even though they had serious venture capital backing. All that is left to remind us of them is their domain names, which may have had several owners in the meantime, with their value mostly lying in their search value. For instance, books.com now redirects to Barnes & Noble, thus bringing additional traffic to that site.
Something else to remember when selecting names is that online there are no store signs or geographic regions to attract passers-by. If there’s a store called ‘Books’ offline, a person driving by might check out the bookstore for reasons besides what it is called. For instance, the shop may draw attention due to its beautiful window dressing, or because of where it is located, or perhaps just because it occupies a space that was previously occupied by a print shop. On the Internet, the only way that people locate you is via your brand name. Therefore, the one thing you don’t need is to be misplaced amid a lot of names which are alike.
Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a Staff Writer for InfoServe Media, a small business web designer company that provides custom web design. Visit today, or call 1 (800) 838-2203 for a free quote.