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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.

In terms of trademarks, the best names are those that suggest a certain product or service, but that do not describe them. If a business can create a memorable name, hopefully a proper name such as Coca Cola, Exxon, Ford, Mercedes Benz, etc., the name will be fit perfectly for creating a brand identity with 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.

Brand Names - on the Internet

What way does this show on the web where there is a custom of picking generic name brands. Is using a generic name for an online start up a good idea? No, it is not.

The thing that constitutes a great brand name offline is the same as what constitutes a great brand name online. Even though people are prone to think it’s good to choose generic names, maybe because they are mixed up about the search engine advantages that a name like this might give, generic names are actually a bad choice for an online brand name, the same as they’re a bad choice for an offline brand name. A good brand name will help you let others know exactly what your business does. Like, if your name is Books4less, folks will automatically know a little about your goals. The name Amazon might not immediately suggest value at first. But after you’ve had good experiences with Amazon, you’ll remember its distinctive name far better than a generic name like Books4Less.

Why do so many businesses on the Internet choose poor names then? Maybe due to the fact that when the Internet was new and there weren’t many sites established yet, a regular commonplace name was a bonus. You would enter “toys.com” if looking for a site where you could purchase toys. It was similar to an old grocery store. You looked for what you wanted by name. So, the easiest way to let customers know the purpose of a site was to give it a descriptive, common title. The advantages of a descriptive name, though, were no longer valid after the number of sites continued to grow.

Nevertheless, web newcomers continue to follow the same formulas that have always been there. They make an incorrect assumption that they should opt for a descriptive name, so they do so thinking that it is the right thing to do. A common name isn’t necessarily the best for your site, even though there are many sites who opt for common names. This means that the pressure to conform is felt by most Internet sellers.

Guidelines for selecting online brand names

So when you are attempting to come up with online trading names, try to do what other successful Internet businesses have done and pick a name like Amazon, Yahoo, Dell, Bebo, Facebook and Ebay. These are the businesses that have survived, succeeded and are household names, while the many businesses with generic names fizzled into oblivion even though they had lots of money backing them up. The only thing left of them are valuable domain names that may have had several owners by this time. Their main value is for search purposes. An example would be how books.com redirects to the Barnes & Noble website, bringing extra web traffic.

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.