When Robert Sampson and his co-founders were thinking up the name for their New York City restaurant, they wanted something that aligned with what the establishment offered – fresh and delicious Thai food, a welcoming ambiance and excellent service. What they came up with was simple: Thai Food Near Me.

The restaurant went viral prior to opening when a passerby uploaded a picture of their papered work-in-progress restaurant to Twitter. Sampson says that the idea for the name came up in one of his brainstorms with his co-founders. "We all thought about it and it was this instant, 'This is perfect,'" he says.

Not everyone agreed. On Twitter, people debated if the restaurant's name would be effective for search engine optimization – or completely detrimental. But Sampson and others say SEO ultimately doesn't matter because the name has other key elements that have driven its virility and traffic both physical and online. "If you're around there, I guarantee you – if you type 'places near me,' we're gonna pop up," says Sampson. 

Your business's name is its first impression and above all else, it needs to authentically reflect you and your business. Here are the key strategies to follow when devising an effective business name.

Decide what you need to communicate

A name is "very personal, very important and foundational to the brand and identity of whatever it is you're doing," says Sampson. That's why a good name should feel intrinsically tied to the overall mission or essence of your business.

Sampson says that a tongue-in-cheek name like Thai Food Near Me works because it hits on what the business is in its barest form: local Thai food.

But that approach might not work for all businesses, he says: "If you're a high-end, sophisticated white glove service, you probably shouldn't take a name with comedy value, because that wouldn't make sense."

Sampson's is not the only business with a simple, direct and comedically obvious name. Consider ScanMyPhotos.com, an Orange County, California-based digital photo and film scanning company.

Prior to transitioning their business to focus on photo-scanning in 2007, co-founders Mitch Goldstone and Carl Berman's company was called 30 Minute Photos Etc., because – as one would expect – the business developed photos at an average of 27 minutes.

This name clearly conveyed what the business did and also set them apart from the numerous one-hour photo development companies.

So, when Goldstone and Berman considered what name would attract customers for their new photo-scanning business, they took a similarly straightforward approach. In their first year of business, they did 300,000 scans. Now, they do about a million scans per week, says Goldstone. 

Confirm the availability of the name

After Goldstone landed on ScanMyPhotos.com as a business name, he next ensured the domain name he wanted for its website was available. Depending on the size and purpose of your business, you might also want to confirm the availability of a trademark. 

Local mom-and-pop restaurants, for example, often don't need to file a trademark, Laurel Sutton, co-founder of Catchword, a naming and branding firm headquartered in Oakland, California, explains.

Because many restaurants have similar names and are, for the most part, local as opposed to national, they don't need a name as unique as a company with broader recognition. She says you should avoid infringing on well-known brands and always consider consulting an attorney if you're unsure. 

Trademarks are also expensive and may not be worth the investment for some businesses. But that doesn't mean they're necessarily a bad idea, especially if you're planning on expanding.

Thai Food Near Me, for instance, has filed for a trademark on its name. Sampson says this is a safeguard in case he decides to expand the business or if competitors pop up. 

Ensure your choice is accessible

Don't make your brand's name difficult to pronounce. If you can, make it easy to spell. Don't make it too cryptic or difficult to understand. Avoid words that mean something bad in English or any other language. And, most important, make it easy to find, says Sutton.

"It shouldn't be confusingly similar to other businesses of the same type locally and it shouldn't be so generic that you can't distinguish the name from a description of the business."

Search engine optimization can be a great tool for customer acquisition, she adds – but its importance varies for different kinds of businesses.

"SEO is important, but not so much for something like a local restaurant," she says. "You type in 'Thai food' and what you get is a map that shows you the places that are near you. You're not looking for rankings based on keywords. You're looking for what's closest." 

For a business like ScanMyPhotos.com, having the right keywords in a business name presents an opportunity to rank higher in Google search results – though ranking isn't an exact science, Sutton adds.

Sampson says that a business's reputation – which depends on many factors such as length of time in business, reputable customer reviews and press mentions – all factor into its ranking on Google.

The organic online chatter about Thai Food Near Me, as opposed to the keywords in its name, helped improve its reputation, pushing up its ranking. But, at the end of the day, Sampson says providing a quality product or service is the most essential aspect of your reputation. 

Stay true to your brand

Sutton says your business name should reflect what a business is at its core, whether it alludes to a founder's name, the goal of the business, or what its products or services do.  

Above all, a name needs to be reflective of a business, Sampson says: "The most important thing is finding a name that matches who you are and how you want to [accurately] present yourself." Going viral – while not his goal – is a nice bonus.

Inc