The Monday of August 10th was marked by the name change of Google company. The change is a matter of restructure. Google Company is now Alphabet, but the name of the search engine remains the same, so the phrase “Google it” is going to stay legit. However, the case with the name change of Google is an interesting one because it gives a few good “don’t do that” lessons.
Lesson #1
Always work on your brand naming alongside with the domain naming. The best case scenario is if both match. If not – then you’d better think of domain name that will reward the difference it has with the company name. The New York Times recently reported that Alphabet.com is a domain owned by BMW. The German company already declared that they won’t be selling the domain to google, because it’s a large part of their business. Did Google/Alphabet set it off with their domain? Let’s see.
Lesson #2
Always think of an alternative domain that would be tightly related to your brand’s name even if it different from it. Google did it by buying the domain abc.xyz. The move is smart because the domain name illustrates the meaning of the company name and is easy to be remembered because everyone who has ever been to school knows the beginning and the end of the alphabet.
Lesson #3
Don’t share a name with big company. Trademark infringement is something that huge companies investigate constantly and if their name is used by another business that has no rights to use it, legal actions might be followed. This is the example we’re having now with BMW and Google – big companies which now share a name. BMW is investigating if there is a trademark infringement. If there is such, they will probably start legal actions. It’s just in the sense of probabilities, but probabilities should be taken serious in the process of business naming.
By a simple check on twitter we found that the twitter profile @alphabet is also taken and in the last few days suffers from higher interest than usual.
Well, that was an interesting way to end a Monday…
— ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴄᴀʟʟ ᴍᴇ ᴄʜʀɪs (@alphabet) August 10, 2015
It is probably comforting for the small businesses to see that Google suffers the same issues as theirs in the sense of naming and purchasing a domain. A way to spare yourself the drama is by trusting a reliable naming service company. If you have questions, you can ask in the comments or write us at info@highnames.com ;)
Do you think Google build one service by letter ?
Finding the right name for your company can be difficult especially since you may not have an original name come to mind. I guess it is a good thing that we don’t have companies with the same name, but it makes it more difficult to find a name for your business. I like what you said about not sharing a name with a big company. I certainly would not like to have problems with the trademark.
This is a really good guide, thanks for sharing… next time I am in market to register a new domain, know what to do now :)