New website for holding a Name Contest

A new website  helps  everyone host a name contest. Simply go to www.namecontests.com , enter the requirements and publish the contest.

Contest participants can enter name ideas, chat in the discussion forum and cast their votes to select the best names. You control the contest process using the Contest Management Dashboard.  To get better engagement, add photos, videos, logos, use social media integration with Facebook and Twitter. You can also add custom Contest Terms, offer prizes etc.

With NameContests.com, anyone can host a contest for finding personal names for pets or babies or brand names for businesses, services or products. Go to www.namecontests.com and try it out today. It’s completely free!

Need a Domain Name? Start a Name Contest

Hold a Simple Domain Name Contest – click here

Finding good available domain names is becoming increasingly difficult. Each day, over 100K new .com domain names are purchased and as of today, nearly 200 million domains have been registered. If you have an online business, there is a good chance you must have experienced the frustration of endless domain checking, only to find out that all the good ones are taken. Don’t give up though, there are still good available domains out there! Finding them just requires a bit of creative thinking and a bit of time.

Save time using a domain name generator

You could save a lot of time with the help of a good domain research tool. Choosing a suitable, relevant and memorable name is naturally a creative process, but there are a lot of technical tasks that can be automated by specialized domain search software.  This domain name search tool helps you generate an almost infinite combinations of words, create random pronounceable names, search for dictionary words, alliterations, overlapping words and so on. You can generate 1000-s of relevant, available domain name ideas in a few minutes. Mastering those research tools fully may take some learning time, but it will still be totally worth it – on average, people tend to spend days coming up with that perfect name.

If you don’t have the time to learn how the name generators work, there is an even simpler alternative.

Holding a Domain Name Contest

No time to search for domains? Starting a domain name contest at NameStation is the easiest way to get great name suggestions.

Simply describe what you need, enter a couple of names you like as examples and publish your Contest. You can hold a private Name Contest with your friends, or a crowdsourced Contest to get help from NameStation’s community. These are experienced naming specialists who are using advanced domain research techniques daily. NameStation has a built-in Talent Points and rewards system which keeps the contestants motivated. You can also share your contest on Facebook or Twitter to get more participants.

When you have received enough entries, you can rate them and invite your friends to vote. You can also give feedback to keep the contest going in the right direction. If there is an idea you’d like to develop further, you can ask the contestants to suggest alternative name variations.

NameStation instantly checks the availability of domain names, when entries are posted to Contests. If a domain is not available, it suggests a number of alternatives to choose from. You can even hear the pronunciation of the names created, check trademark availability and check the name background.

Start a Domain Name Contest 

Good luck with your domain search!

Hold Naming Contests to Find Company Names

Click here to Start a Name Contest

Whenever starting a new business, one of the main aspects to consider besides the idea itself is what it should be called. The power of a good name should not be underestimated. Choosing the right name can enhance the success of your company; on the other hand, making the wrong choice may sometimes be costly or doom the venture to failure. For example, Chevy Nova by General Motors’ was unsuccessful in Latin America because the company failed to notice the fact that “Nova” in Spanish stands for “it doesn’t go”.

In general, it is not hard to come up with a name for your business; however, when taking into account a number of characteristics that a good name needs, the name-search could become rather excruciating. To make matters worse, there is no consensus on the features of a good name. Some believe that the best names are informative so that the customers immediately know what your business is about. Others favour newly coined names (like Kodak, Intel, Nike) over already existing words, claiming that the former are more memorable. Finally there are those who for attention-grabbing purposes insist on a name beginning with a plosive letter (like B, C, D, G, K, P and T).

When looking for a name, one of the most important aspects to consider is checking whether there are any available and relevant domain names in accordance with the name you chose for your business. Moreover, since there are already about 200 million registered domain names, the process of finding a good name could potentially turn out to be more time-consuming than initially thought.

Creating Name Ideas

The website name generator NameStation helps to make this process easier for you. It offers a great number of opportunities to coin and combine words, so that you will never feel that your creativity has reached a dead end. Within seconds, you can generate hundreds of domain name suggestions. In addition there are several applications to help you with that, such as creating compound words with preset wordlists or words that you prefer to feature in the name of your future business. Among other possibilities, the system also offers word-substitutions, alliterative word combinations and translations to and from English. Furthermore, when creating new names the system automatically checks domain name availability.

Social Naming Contests

NameStation is a social naming service, allowing you to create public naming contests to find a name for your business. Holding a name contest with NameStation enables you to benefit from a global brainstorming event in essence, since the contests are open to suggestions from participants from all over the world. Everyone is free to contribute ideas to their own liking, with or without using the help of the system. You may choose to hide the responses from the participants to avoid distraction. Furthermore, you can easily interact with the participants through comments asking them for reasons behind their name suggestions if they have not added those from the start. It is also possible to connect with Facebook and ask your friends to contribute their ideas to the name-search.

Available Domain Names

In general, it is advisable that the .com extension of a domain name is available. With an urge to reach the market fast, some entrepreneurs often opt for the .net version if the .com is not available anymore, later regretting the decision. Consequently, when searching for the website, potential customers accidentally flock to the .com version, possibly never reaching their actual desired destination – that is your website.

After finding a suitable name, test it on a sample of potential customers to avoid mishaps like the Chevy Nova case and to find out whether the name is relevant, memorable and likeable. A good domain name is the corner stone of your online brand and when searching for it, remember to consider the long-term perspective. Contemplate future options for your business in order not to discover after a year that you are trapped in your domain name. When you feel it is a looming possibility, you can always start a new name contest at NameStation.

New Domain Name Search Features at NameStation.com Help Find Available Domains

NameStation.com, an advanced domain search engine, launched several search methods that help save time and resources when looking for available domain names.

(PRWEB) March 22, 2010 — NameStation.com, an advanced domain name search website, launched several search methods that help save time and resources when looking for available domains. With just a few clicks users can easily generate hundreds of random name suggestions, search for niche keywords or combine their business-specific terms with preset wordlists.

“Finding a suitable domain name is crucial for everyone who is about to start developin an online identity. The quest for good available domains is not easy, it may take significant time and effort,” said Tauno Novek, CEO or NameStation. “The goal of NameStation is to minimize that effort by suggesting hundreds of ideas for available domain names. Since each product or brand has to be unique and memorable, we have recently added several innovative search methods for finding names with custom keywords, wordlists and semantic analysis.”

Want to create unique random names that are based on different languages and have available .com or .net domain names? Prefer to digg deeper and take advantage of the more sophisticated research tools like wordlist searches, dictionary domains search; or use the bulk search tools to check up to 100 domain names at a time? With the newly added capabilities, NameStation.com is one of the most versatile free domain search engines on the Internet today.

Some of the key features of NameStation are:

• Random Domain Name Generator that creates phonetic names based on various language rules. Besides names that are pronounceable in English, users can choose from over 30 other languages – Italian, Spanish, Latin, German, Russian and fictional languages like Klingon and Sindarin.
• Domain suggestions with word lists – preset keyword themes can be used to produce relevant names. Themes like Technology, Search, Social, Banking & Finance, Business and Services, Sports & Shopping contain lists of words that people would otherwise have to create and check manually.
• Dictionary domains search finds synonyms and contextual relations for the entered keyword. Since most dictionary domains in the .com and .net Top Level Domains are taken, we have added a simple way of appending a prefix of suffix to the search criteria by just clicking on the recommended words.
• The domain name brainstorming tool is perhaps one of the most useful of the advanced search features. Enter a list of keywords that are then combined with random affixes to produce new unique name ideas.
• Bulk domain search can be used to look up the availability of up to 100 words or phrases simultaneously. Words can be imported from other keyword research tools like Google Keyword tool or Wordtracker.
• Search multiple Top Level Domains (TLD-s) simultaneously. Besides .com and .net NameStation supports searching for over 30 domain extensions, including .mobi, .tv. .info, .eu, .co.uk and so on.

NameStation.com domain search is free to use. Users who register gain the additional benefits of saving name ideas to their Favorites list and securely maintain their custom wordlists that can be accessed anywhere. Feedback to the new features is most welcome at our blog (http://blog.NameStation.com).

Create Pet Name Ideas

Create Pet Name Ideas

The Pet Name Ideas generator at NameStation.com uses a random generator to come up with hundreds of unique pet name ideas. Each search produces 100 suggestions that sometimes are quite unconventional, but if you spend a while filtering out the good ones, then eventually that perfect name can be found.

Sample results:

Abraldon, Alexa, Arley, Basil, Biron, Brigher, Brookson, Bryankee, Calviney, Chanus, Cobbie, Cyrich, Dethon, Doritz, Ezerield, Gelory, Horacio, Jaeon, Jonardie, Kenda, Konson, Korey, Leftyba, Levon, Lonna, Marti, Morie, Morry, Nialle, Nobiero, Obidi, Orvil, Osbern, Osbond, Padrick, Pardenos, Phonid, Porty, Quint, Rethin, Rolari, Rudolfo, Stericio, Thade, Tiandr, Tituson, Tobin, Wilber

NameStation.com pet names

New domain name search engine

Randomainer.com domain search

Randomainer.com is a  random domain name generator that combines several search methods to come up with new unused domains. Just enter the keyword that interests you, Randomainer will find its semantic relations and use the parts of those words to create new names. Advanced domain search lets you specify the keywords that should be contained in the names that are generated.

The domain search engine can be used to search for available domain names for startup businesses, personal and private domains, professionals and corporatsions etc. Domain name availability can be verified with GoDaddy.

Visit www.randomainer.com to find out more.

New Business Names: Naming For The Ear

It’s surely happened to you, too: You call someone back from a telephone message, not sure who they are or what they want, and what the receptionist recites upon answering comes off as a complete blur. It doesn’t even separate into words.

In many cases this has nothing to do with the diction of the receptionist. Out of context, the company name simply makes no sense to the ear.

Years ago I had an extreme version of this experience when a gardening columnist I was interviewing said something interesting about “squash vine borers.” Listening, I could not form words out of those sounds. I had to ask her to repeat the phrase three times. I still wasn’t sure I’d gotten it right and emailed her to check, only to learn that what I’d finally heard as “bores” should have been “borers.”

Two names submitted in our first Named At Last naming contest, for a web design/search engine optimization company, exemplify this problem. Each contains the kernel of an appealing visual image, but out loud they don’t work:

Ducks Tech Web
Agile Impala

In the first name, the consonants smudge into one another, and in the second example, the vowels blend together when they shouldn’t. Corral a colleague who hasn’t read this newsletter, and test this by saying each name naturally, without exaggerating the space between the words. Ask them to spell what you just said. Most of the time, the colleague will look stunned, unable to echo the sounds, much less spell words.

Use “the receptionist test” on any name you’re considering for a company or product. Even if you primarily sell through the written word, there will be times when you need to call a business partner and have the name create understanding rather than confusion.

Brandable and memorable business names that are pronounceable in the English language and have an available website domain can be found with www.makewords.com name suggestions tool.

Tips for Creating Brilliant Business Names

Imagine if Yahoo! had been named TheInternetDirectoy. Or StarBucks was christened “Premier Coffees”.

The names would be far more descriptive than their current ones. But they wouldn’t embody the essence or spirit of the companies they represent. Even if they offered the exact same goods and services, it’s unlikely Yahoo! or StarBucks would enjoy the same market share they now possess if given the more descriptive, and arguably accurate, names.

Now why is that?

In short, great brand names leverage our emotions. They resonate with the experiential right side of the brain vs. the logical left lobe. And emotions carry more motivational “charge” than logic. People buy emotionally and then justify rationally. And because great brand names create mental “pictures” they equate to a proverbial thousand descriptive words. They are the zipped files, the condensed soup, the computer macros, that all expand and unfold in our minds every time they are seen or heard.

Creating emotionally charged names requires knowledge, expertise and a knack for wording. The first place to find positively charged names is in the words themselves. Words have equity and that equity can be transferred into a company or product name. For example, a company that wanted their customers to see their products and services as fresh, new and exciting borrowed the emotional charge associated with the word “virgin”. That’s how we have Virgin Airlines and Virgin Records. A computer company demonstrated its fresh, friendly approach to the industry with the consumable name Apple. A campy clothing company exuded adventure with its name Banana Republic. An online job board wanted to impress employers and job seekers with its massive listings… hence Monster. And need I mention Amazon? Borrowing on the attributes intrinsic to a word or phrase is a natural way to instantly instill emotion in a brand name.

But with more and more dictionary words being used, hoarded and trademarked, what’s a company to do? Another way is to simply put familiar positive words into unique combinations. Witness our previous example of StarBucks. What’s brighter than a star or has more mass appeal than money? Does it say coffee? No, but it sounds more appealing than “The Coffee Corral”. And more importantly, company names rarely exist in a vacuum. They are on a sign above the store, or on a proposal or on a business card being handed over by a salesperson. There is contextual support that helps fill in the blank so the name doesn’t have to do all the literal, descriptive explaining. That’s where a lot of companies err. They make the name explain their category rather than evoke their benefits.

Yet another way of accomplishing this task is by creating a word that sounds “ish”. When I say “ish” I mean it sounds like it matches the company or product- even if it doesn’t make sense. An example you ask? But of course. My favorite is Viagra. It has the “V” of vigor and vitality, plus the “iagra” of Niagra. While not an existing word, it plays on existing, familiar parts and patterns of speech that create a natural flow to the name. Hence the name Viagra is, in my book, “ish”. It fits the product and the category. Cialis doesn’t. Which means Cialis will have to buy the emotional bond with lots of emotion-rich (and expensive) advertising. It can be done, but it will cost. A whole lot.

Borrowing existing word equity, creating unique combinations and inventing “ish” words. Just three of the ways to develop a great brand name. Try each of these techniques and if you can’t come up with a name, ask a really good Scrabble player!

Random Fantasy Name Generators in Different Languages

Generate random names in any language using an extensive database of hand-selected names.

This is a useful tool for coming up with cool unique name ideas for anything – business names, roleplay names, pet names, baby names, you name it:) 

Simply select a template from the following list to create 100 names in a blink of an eye:

African Names
Croatian Names
Czech Names
Danish Names
Dutch Names
English Names
English (female names)
English (male names)
English (places)
English (tech)
Estonian Names
Finnish Names
French Names
German Names
Gothic Names
Hindu Names
Hungarian Names
Italian Names
Japanese Names
Klingon Names
Latin Names
Latvian Names
Norwegian Names
Polish Names
Portuguese Names
Russian (places) Names
Sindarin Names
Spanish Names
Swahili Names
Swedish Names
Turkish Names

How To Choose A Domain Name For Your Business

Choosing an appropriate domain name is the first step in the process of building online credibility. Remember to choose carefully because this online address may be where your business resides for the rest of its operating life. Now, some important tips to consider before choosing your domain name:

Choosing Your Domain Extension

A domain extension or top level domain is simply the suffix of your website address: (.com, .net, .org, .ca, etc.) Most Internet users are familiar with the “.com” extension, and will generally use this extension by default when typing an address into their browser. Choosing a “.com” extension should be your fist choice in case your potential customers forget that your address is “www.mybusiness.NET”, and visit your competitor at “www.mybusiness.COM” by mistake. Choosing the “.com” extension gives your website the most credibility in the eyes of your customers.

If your business only caters to the local community, then it makes sense to get a country specific domain name, such as the “.ca” extension. A country specific domain benefits you in two ways: both your customers and search engines such as Google will know that your website is registered to a Canadian and operates in Canada. Potential customers will feel more comfortable knowing that they are dealing with a Canadian company, and not a U.S. based business pretending to be a Canadian company. Also, search engines will give your website higher placement in the search results when a user is performing a Canadian specific search.

I personally recommend that my clients, if possible, register both the “.com” AND “.ca” extension. This way, your Canadian based website will benefit from using the “.ca” extension, while at the same time ensuring that they reach your website if they accidentally type the “.com” extension into their browser.

Using Your Business Name

The first choice for any domain name would be your business’ name. This ensures that your customers will remember your website’s address. You can’t expect your potential customers to remember a phrase that just relates to your business.

Choosing Choice Keywords

Including specific keywords in your website’s address will help your rankings in popular search engines such as Google or Yahoo. It is best to choose a keyword that you think your potential customers will use to search for your business. A search engine optimization (SEO) professional such as Cost Effective Design can assist you in choosing your keyword(s). These type of domain names are used in instances where the client does not want to use the business name because it is either already registered by another company, or the company name is simply too long. Any company that is serious about generating traffic through search engines should acquire a domain name with a keyword in addition to your business name.

Don’t Confuse Your Customers

If possible, try not to use domain names that include: “2” for “To” or “4” for “For” or “u” for “You”. These may make your domain look “cool” or “hip”, but in reality they are not very practical. These domain names create a problem when directing your clients to your website verbally or over the phone. For example, if you owned http://www.UsedCars4U.com, every time you verbally directed someone to your website, you would have to specify that the URL uses the actual number 4, and letter U.

To Use, Or Not to Use Hyphens

Given that more and more businesses are registering domain names every day, getting the website address you want is becoming increasingly difficult. One or two word domain names are usually already registered, forcing new registrants to choose URLs containing three or four words. To some people, these URLs can look like a big mess of words. Using hyphens in between the words can make them visually more appealing. For example, “www.used-cars-for-you.com, looks better than “www.usedcarsforyou.com. The jury is still out on hyphenated domain names. The advantages are that they look better and search engines can easily distinguish the separate keywords for better search placements, but the disadvantages are that they are difficult to verbally communicate and type.

The best solution would be to register both the hyphenated, and the un-hyphenated version of the domain name to ensure that there is no confusion.

Domain Name Length

Even though you are allowed to use 67 characters for a domain name, the general rule of thumb is: shorter is better. Although, in some instances, the website address may be more memorable if it is more descriptive. For example a domain consisting of initials only, such as “www.waa.com”, may not create a lasting impression compared to the domain name “www.windsorautoassociation.com”. Therefore, it is best to choose a name that, while short, contains enough description for your customers to easily remember.