What's in a (seller) name?
Choosing your business name can be lots of fun. New online sellers devote more thought and creativity to this than perhaps any other issue. And for good reason -- most buyers get their first impression of you by seeing your seller name. So a memorable name is like free advertising.
A seller name can be serious or lighthearted (like "Bent Pages", "Odd Banana," or "Chapter 11 Bookstore"). It can make you sound like a big company, or a part-time hobbyist. The words in your seller name might be real -- like your actual name -- or a word dreamed up from thin air, like Verizon.
When I started selling in 2001, it seemed many sellers were trying to make themselves sound like big companies, with names like "National Book Retailers" or "Super USA Deals." Perhaps they thought buyers would be more comfortable with a name that sounded big and established.
But I took a different tack in naming my store, deciding on "Steve Delivers." I wanted to keep it simple, suggesting not a big company, but just a guy who filled your order. The idea came from my own experiences dealing with companies, large and small. Whenever I'd send e-mail to a big company, for example, it seemed I hardly ever got a response. I found smaller companies and individuals were usually more responsive, so I decided on a seller name suggesting a "real person" was behind it.
Recently I asked my friend Katy Paturzo, a regular reader of this blog, for her ideas on picking a store name. She said:
Some good advice, thanks Katy.
For her own seller name, Katy decided on bookworm_literature. She found a simple logo for her store, a worm with eyeglasses perched atop a book. Cute, but not so cute that buyers will worry it's not a dependable service.
How did you pick your seller name? Add a comment to the end of this post to add your own thoughts.
This topic is debated endlessly on Amazon's seller message board. Here are some "greatest hits:
Getting the inspiration for your seller name
"Professional" versus "unprofessional" names
How to think up a great seller name
Unusually long seller names
More ideas for seller names
Worst-ever seller names
A seller name can be serious or lighthearted (like "Bent Pages", "Odd Banana," or "Chapter 11 Bookstore"). It can make you sound like a big company, or a part-time hobbyist. The words in your seller name might be real -- like your actual name -- or a word dreamed up from thin air, like Verizon.
When I started selling in 2001, it seemed many sellers were trying to make themselves sound like big companies, with names like "National Book Retailers" or "Super USA Deals." Perhaps they thought buyers would be more comfortable with a name that sounded big and established.
But I took a different tack in naming my store, deciding on "Steve Delivers." I wanted to keep it simple, suggesting not a big company, but just a guy who filled your order. The idea came from my own experiences dealing with companies, large and small. Whenever I'd send e-mail to a big company, for example, it seemed I hardly ever got a response. I found smaller companies and individuals were usually more responsive, so I decided on a seller name suggesting a "real person" was behind it.
Recently I asked my friend Katy Paturzo, a regular reader of this blog, for her ideas on picking a store name. She said:
... It's important that it's something simple. You want to select an easily memorable name, such as 'booksarefun.com' as opposed to something like 'books132/product/...'.
Also I think it's good that, if you specialize in a particular genre of literature, to possibly incorporate that into your name (like - 'mysterybooks.com'). However, if you carry mostly mystery books, but also other genres, you don't want to deter possible customers who might be interested in browsing those alternate genres.
You want to think of all your possible target populations and keep in mind what they would regard as a legitimate, trustworthy sort of name.
The seriousness of the name is debatable. Again, you have to take into consideration your target population. If your bookstore has a catchy name, that's one thing but, if it's over-the-top, people might not be able to take you seriously as far as a business goes. I think this issue is a more subjective one.
Some good advice, thanks Katy.
For her own seller name, Katy decided on bookworm_literature. She found a simple logo for her store, a worm with eyeglasses perched atop a book. Cute, but not so cute that buyers will worry it's not a dependable service.
How did you pick your seller name? Add a comment to the end of this post to add your own thoughts.
This topic is debated endlessly on Amazon's seller message board. Here are some "greatest hits:
Getting the inspiration for your seller name
"Professional" versus "unprofessional" names
How to think up a great seller name
Unusually long seller names
More ideas for seller names
Worst-ever seller names
posted by Steve Weber at 3/29/2006
1 Comments:
I picked "Uncertainty Publishing" as my bookseller name because it's the same name I'm using with my new publishing company. The basic idea is that I figured I could sell quality used books along with some new titles that I would be writing myself.
I did have some concerns about using the word "uncertainty" for online book sales, such as customers thinking that it would be "uncertain" if they received their books or not! I picked this name because I felt it was unique and original for a publishing company, but for selling used books I may decide to use something else. So far I've been getting a pretty steady stream of customers as a neophyte book dealer, but it would interesting to see if a different name would have an affect on sales.
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