Not so long ago, I was playing Balderdash with some family members. If you are not familiar with the Balderdash board game, the main premise is that you have a whole box of "real" words and definitions that the average person has never heard of unless of course you are a previous National Spelling B Champ! The group is presented with a word and you have to either try a come up  with the actual definition or make up a nice "bluff" defintion to draw the other players to guess your definition as the correct one. A fun game… But I thought to myself, the crazy names in Balderdash have a striking resemblance to the many Web 2.0 companies emerging on the marketplace!

Just think of a few of the web 2.0 company names like Joost.com, spurl.com, Squidoo.com, Zaaz.com…… I have often wondered where these companies are coming up with their obscure names and I have found the source….. "Balderdash":).  I actually have my balderdash box right here - let me read you a couple "real words"…..Pooter, Zubr, Garooka, Whangee, Zoopery, dhamnoo, bonga, boolie and the list goes on!!! Heck, those names are future web companies one day:)

So, what’s in a name?? Well, I have done a bit of research and there seems to be two differing camps regarding the value of a company or domain name. Camp 1 believes that you should come up with a descriptive company (domain) name that will give people some indication of what your company might do. So, web businesses like "Gotomypc.com", Date.com or Rentacoder.com have a descriptive element that could  be a good draw for the right kind of traffic.

Camp 2 believes that a name is just a name, but where the "Rubber meets the Road" is in the marketing message and strategy. So, it doesn’t matter whether you call yourself Pooter, Zubr or Bonga for that matter, if you can effectively communicate and market your "unique selling proposition" then it won’t make a difference. This camp believes that it all comes down to good market potential and a sharp marketing plan!

I would probably lean towards to Camp 2, but I certainly do see good value in coming up with a descriptive name as well. For new and emerging web companies, don’t get overly stressed with coming up with the perfect name, but focus your energies on presenting an innovative marketing message that will set you apart from your competition. Remember, people kind of thought Google was a wierd name for a company 9 years ago:) Now, you can find them in the New Webster Dictionary!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!