Is it important that a name starts with a letter at the beginning of the alphabet?

[Dymphna]

Hi there,
My choices are:
1. Beauty at Oaklands
2. Oaklands Beauty

Advice from Business Link is to choose a name near the beginning of the alphabet.

I'm wondering whether the first one is likely to have more response via phone book/internet searches or if it matters one way or another.
Thank you

 

[Princess*laura]

I believe that when you are advertising in the phone books you can add a tiny a at the top of your ad so it goes in first.
Have a look in the yellow pages, you will see the adverts have a or aaaaa etc in tiny writing.

 

[number1kitty]

God thats sooooo old school!

Years ago companies named themselves abacus or aadvark or 1st something just to get listed first in a phone book.

Nobody looks in there anymore anyway and Yell.com does not list alphabetically.

My old shop was called Urban Spirit and it was 2nd page on the phone book out of 12 pages of salons and I didnt use the .......... or aaaaaaa thing before my name.

Call your self what you like, be proud of your name and market it well!

Kate

 

[Apex73]

well, from a consumer point of view,
whatever i'm looking for in the YP, I generally dont get past 'B',
so imo, an A at the beginning somewhere would be a great idea.

 

[mercedes69]

Unless you are like me...and do everything backwards.... ooooh I say lol...

what I mean is...I never go from A - Z...I go from Z - A....

I read magazines from the last page first....

I will read a list from the bottom up...

So you could always call it Zebra Beauty and hope their are nutters like me out there :lol:

Seriously though...I don't think it matters so much these days...and I like the name Oaklands Beauty xxxxx

 

[The Pink Orange]

God thats sooooo old school!

Years ago companies named themselves abacus or aadvark or 1st something just to get listed first in a phone book.

Nobody looks in there anymore anyway and Yell.com does not list alphabetically.

My old shop was called Urban Spirit and it was 2nd page on the phone book out of 12 pages of salons and I didnt use the .......... or aaaaaaa thing before my name.

Call your self what you like, be proud of your name and market it well!

Kate

I agree! I think that having a catchy name is much more important than having it at the beggining of the phone book! As we all know 'word of mouth' is how we gain a large % of our clients!

I would start a facebook group and start getting the name heard! and spoken about in your area.

If you are expecting to get a large number of 'cold' clients simple from them finding you in a phone book I would invest in a larger well designed advert instead!

In my opinion AAAAA Name looks cheap and desperate! so I wouldn't use them anyway...

I like both of the names you have chosen, however people do tend to shorten the name if they can... so I guess Oaklands beauty would be better?

Good luck...Sara

 

[Dymphna]

Hi all,
Thank you for your input.
I have gone for
Oaklands Beauty

 

[Martin Duffy]

Glad you went for a good name rather than one that might get you at the top of the printed phonebooks.

I think the image the name conjures is far more important than being near the top of the entries. I certainly wouldn't go to a business called "aaa111aaadvarkbeauty" for example!

Also, as number1kitty pointed out, most business doesn't come from phonebooks anymore, people are more likely to come from the internet, and the online Thompson etc have a different system. You pay to be at the top or if you have a free entry they are listed in a random order that is constantly re-arranged so one day you'll be at the top & the next you'll be further down.