When deciding on a name, it’s important to consider the psychology of a business name. Among creative professionals, the vast majority use their own names within their business names in some way or another.  In this article, we’ll discuss the considerations to make when determining a business name and domain name.

Choosing Your Photography Business Name

The general formula is to either use your first and last name (or a pen-name) + the service that you perform. Here are some examples: Jennifer Reynolds Photography, David Sizemore Events, and so forth.

Boutique vs. Scalable

In general, small businesses that run off of the name of their owners run more as a boutique business. This implies that if the quality of the product and service is consistent; and they can generally demand higher prices for their services, as they are selling a specific person, the owner.

However, boutique studios based on a single person often have a tough time growing since clients came to the studio expecting the services of that one person. So, if they have an “associate” offering similar services, they might be deemed “not as good” as the owner. This issue of perceived quality is difficult to overcome if you expand.

Some photographers, on the other hand, end up going with a fictitious business name for their business. Some examples might be: Timeless Wedding Photography or 4OneOne Studios. These studio names do not imply any perceived value differences within the studio in regards to one person offering a better service over another. Therefore, they are easier to grow with associate services. However, they may have a harder time distinguishing themselves as a boutique service demanding higher prices.

Of course, these are overall generalizations and many exceptions apply, but we wanted to mention this for you to consider as you select your business name. In our case, as Lin and Jirsa Photography continues to expand and take on additional photographers, we are continually faced with the challenge of convincing our clients that the associates are equally capable of delivering a comparable style and quality as the founders. If we could rewind and reset, we would likely have chosen a name unrelated to the names of the founders.

Other Business Name Considerations

Short & Memorable – Whatever route you go, make sure your business name is short and memorable. If your name is too long, it can simply get too confusing and be difficult to remember.

Timeless – If your name is “cool” or “hip” make sure that it will stand the test of time. For example, “YOLO Design Studio” might not apply in 20 years, nor will other names based on phrases or fads. Along these same lines, if you’re currently servicing a budget crowd but see your clientele changing as your prices increase, be sure your name appeals to both current and future clientele.

Versatile – Also, make sure your business name can evolve as your business evolves. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer with an interest in fashion photography, you may want to make sure your name can apply to all potential future endeavors so you don’t have to “start over.”

Photography Business Name Ideas

While there isn’t a template for naming your photography studio, consider the following ways of generating ideas for your photography name and domain:

Choosing Your Domain Name

Your business name and your domain name will go hand-in-hand, so let’s take a look at the considerations you should take when selecting your domain name. Your domain name is going to be your digital “calling card” when it comes to clients finding your website. There are rules and best practices when it comes to selecting a domain name, and there are also some common misconceptions in regards to how domains work.

The following is the bonus section of the Photography SEO and Web Marketing Ebook by SLR Lounge.  In the three-part e-book series, we cover content creation, site structure, link building, local SEO, social media, and more.  In the bonus chapters, provide online in these articles, we explore “Creating Your Website” and “Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools.”

The previous article covered “How To Choose Your Photography Business Name.”

Domain Name Misconceptions

First, let’s talk about the misconceptions. Many people are under the belief that your domain name is overly important when it comes to SEO. For example, if you are based in San Francisco, California, and you don’t use the words “San Francisco” within your domain name, some mistakenly believe you aren’t going to rank for those keywords in search results. This is simply not true.

While the domain name is a part of the overall SEO equation, it is only a small part. It always helps to include keywords in your domain name, but if it just doesn’t fit, don’t think that you are out of luck when it comes to targeting your services within your specific locale.

Domain Name Best Practices

Short & Memorable – The ideal domain name, like your ideal business name, should be something short and memorable. For example, imagine if your website domain was something like the following:

“jenniferreynoldssanfranciscoweddingphotography.com”

It would be incredibly descriptive and include keywords for SEO, but it would also be difficult to remember, often misspelled, and a nightmare to communicate without a clickable link.

There are often going to be times when you simply tell a potential client or contact your website address without necessarily providing them a business card. If your domain name is short and easily memorable, it will be much easier to find.

Include Your Business Name – Having your name within your domain is going to be very important to ensuring that your audience doesn’t get confused.

For example, if your business name is Jennifer Reynolds Photography, your domain name should be something closely related. If you use a domain based on keywords, like sanfrancisco-portraits.com, you will cause confusion. Viewers will question whether they are on the right site. In addition, if a client knew your business name, they wouldn’t necessarily be able to find your website since it doesn’t match.

Select What Is Available – In the course of choosing your online business and domain name, you need to be taking into consideration what is actually available. Many of your first choices will already be taken by others. Our favorite tool for this is Instant Domain Search, which will give you instant results on whether or not a domain name is already taken. In addition to the results being displayed as you type, the website will also tell you other similar domain names that are available.

However, once you have selected a domain name that is indeed available, don’t go purchasing that domain quite yet. The hosting companies that we often recommend come with free domain name registrations with hosting purchases.