Words or LLL for Company Name?

[Adam]

I've asked a few people lately whether they prefer word-based names for companies or LLL names. The general consensus is that they prefer LLL but I am unsure as to whether that is a domainer thing or something that the general public would agree with.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Edwin]

Words, but that's just me.

 

[Adam]

Would you say Words as a domainer Edwin or also thinking from the perspective of the average John Smith out in the wild...

 

[Pred]

depends, for our sort of area, and web based, always name/words
LLL are DULL

look 2 rows down, that company called 'red oblong'
i've never forgotten that name. as you place a red oblong in your mind when you say it

if they were called LFS, tomorrow i wouldn't remember whther LSF, LFS or DFS

LLL is okay for corporates or solicitors etc

so, yes, a brandable/words. again, what line of work are you thinking?

 

[Adam]

Ive got a number of different investments spread across a number of different companies. I've been advised to bring them all under one company, and that includes the main company that will own my domains/sites... but obviously the only place it'll be visible on those sites is the bottom corner (perhaps a contact-us link) and on business cards that i'd give out when I meet them.

 

[Edwin]

I know there's decent money to be made, but I've never gone down the 3-letter domain route, so I'm pretty focused on "words".

For a new company, they have 4 basic choices (perhaps more?)
A) Use a "brandable but real" word, and give it a different meaning through marketing and advertising. For example, "Amazon". An extension of this is to put a couple of real words together (Red Oblong) and do likewise
B) Use a descriptive generic name (hard to trademark/defend but "it does what it says on the tin") - and it's easy to know what the matching domain should be!
C) Use a 3-letter acronym (or for the deeper pocketed, a 4-letter acronym... after all, you're going to need to do a LOT of marketing)
D) Use a completely made up word (eBay, Woot, Froogle etc.)

A) is going to be easier to advertise than C) or D) in many cases. B) will be easiest, but won't suit those with 7-to-9 figure marketing budgets as they're not "creating a brand"

Note that if you NEVER intend to go down the "branding" route but are simply using the name as an "umbrella" so that when you talk about your company, that is what you tell people as you hand over your namecard or marketing materials, then it doesn't really matter what you use since you don't particularly care if people remember the company name or not.

 

[rob]

What about three letter words?

 

[Adam]

Rob, its a possibility but very expensive! And Edwin you're very right however I'm considering my usage for it I wouldn't know where to go. I go back and forth everyday changing my mind and I just need to settle, so what better way than to gauge all your opinions here!

Some good points so far, lets keep it going... consider it like... Big Web Company owns the next big thing Facespace and BingTube... their sites do the talking and nede to be advertised, but as the holding company for those brands (essentially the investors behind that idea) they dont need to market themselves, only those dealing direct with corporate would have to be in touch and in that respect, is it better to be BWC.co.uk of BigWebCompany.co.uk?

 

[Adam]

Re: Edwins edit - i agree - however you still want to maintain an image of professionalism hence my query -

 

[anthony]

What about three letter words?

Agreed, words like cad, tea, pet, etc, etc are on the money, surely.

 

[Adam]

Agreed, words like cad, tea, pet, etc, etc are on the money, surely.

I dont think TEA, CAD and PET would be good names for a business unrelated to those words purely because they are in themselves words. Not disputing their value but that isn't the nature of what I'm asking in the thread.

 

[Pred]

Agreed, words like cad, tea, pet, etc, etc are on the money, surely.

definitely
but they're strictly not acronyms, they're words

i say strictly as obviously some businesses have a 3 word name and use an acronym word as the shortened brand

others just shorten the name to a 3 letter acronym word ie; cat.com

we could go on

i would still rather call the company 'big web company' just make sure you have the co.uk and com for name, and in ideal world buy bwc.co.uk or bwc.com, or both (IF possible) beforehand as the shortcut url to advise them of & make main site

redirect 'bigwebcompany'.com etc

 

[timbo85]

I know where you're at - I've been struggling with my brand name for over 5 months now and have only just found one that I like, where the domain is available and there are no TM issues.

I would tend to go for a word but seeing as you won't be building a brand per se with the new name (as it's just really working as a 'holding company') and won't be customer facing, then I would be inclined to go for a LLL and focus on building brands with your 'trading names'.

 

[Adam]

Thanks guys, some really great and useful information in this thread!