After a number of years in the corporate world I’m going it alone next month and back to some of my old routes in Land Surveying as well as some new ones involving H&S and CDM coordinator work, project management

Lots of tings in place already but what to call myself really.

Some good old Singletrack inspiration would be really useful.

have you got an interesting surname you could use? where will you be based?

Ashton in Makerfield (nr Wigan)

rather not use my name.

what are your initials?

So Surveying, health and safety and CDM.

Something like (initials)safesurveying…Ltd etc

Safe surveying solutions?

How well do the strands of your business fit together in the clients eyes?

“Safe surveying solutions” could mean something very different to “surveying and safety solutions” when tendering for work.

The strands don’t fit together well, when asking potential clients how they saw me, before making the jump from corporate world, they replied “surveying and H&S services”. As my “clients” see me as that, and I am capable of those things I saw it as sensible to do what they thought I could do and not sell them something that I thought I wanted to do.

Maybe I should do it as 2 businesses ?

Sir Vay 4U

Val-U Services

SAS.

How about “Protect and Surv”

Acme Surveying Company

AAA Surveying

(You might find Raod Runner already has one of those)

I pass a builders business yard on my way to work most days. They are called 24 ROOFING AND BUILDING. They have it on their vans in numbers the size of a planet, and the vans are bright orange and yellow.

Seem to be doing very well, if the constant addition to the number of workies and vans is anything to go by, so I reckon make whatever you do eye-catching and easy for people to remember.

Theo Dolite Survey Solutions

Asset Survey Management is almost completely meaningless but sounds impressive. Shortens nicely to ASM as well.

Alternatively quite a few of my overseas agents who are self-employed make up names from their own – Judit and Balint in Hungary call themselves Jubachem (JUditBAlintCHEMicals)and DESwani BROthers are Desbro.

Globalhypermegacorp.

You are a service business so a business title that is descriptive of the business you are in (helpful for when people Google your business name too). I Like that one a couple of posts up ^^^

Speaking of which – don’t forget to check the URL is available and even if you don’t plan on trading as a Ltd company just yet make sure the same business name is available and register that too.

Avoid anything with solutions in the title.

Captain Fantasticos cave of hair…

or not.

Cool Land Surveying

Cool Land Luke.

What’s CDM when it’s at home?

Melvin.

Avoid anything with solutions in the title.

why?

H&S and CDM…? how about Jobsworth Inc.

If you’re going to use the web to promote the business (and who wouldn’t) then think about how your name will work for SEO, ie. what would people type in to look for you.

So ‘Wigan Survey Services’, ‘North West Site Services’ or something like that.

Even if you go for a snazzy business name think about using a domain name that helps too eg. northwest-site-surveys.co.uk or suchlike. It all helps you get found.

Carlos Fandango Safety Solutions.

Good point the purist – if business is expected to come from local clients then getting the location in the business name will help hugely.

The only problem with that is that it *can* make the business look small time (although sometimes that is a benefit).

For example – if you break a window and you Googled ‘replacement glass’ would you call ‘Everest’ or ‘(local town name) window repairs’?

Conversely, who would you be more likely to consider if you typed in ‘Conservatory design and installation’?

+1 thepurist

Try and avoid hyphens in the domain name if possible – use Google Adwords tool to find which search term gets the highest monthly search volume in the UK – sounds a bit boring but I’d go for something along the lines of North West Surveying/Surveyors etc – though double check no-one else trades with a similar name.

If you get the .co.uk domain for a particular keyword/phrase, unless the search term is v competitive, then chances are you’ll rank pretty highly if you optimise your website well.

CDM = Construction Design management Regs

How about SurvServ (as in surveying services)

To be honest the surveying elements are of more interest than the H&S side of things…

I work in this industry and often pick up some of the roles that you are looking to provide. On other projects, other organisations or individuals can be responsible for this role and in all circumstances, the role of CDM coordinator can play a significant part.

Although the name does need to convey an air of professionalism, I find that the company name can be slightly more generic and a tag-line below giving a brief description of the role?

CHL Technical
CDM Co-ordination Services

Also, if your surveying arm is a side role, don’t let that interfere with your main function. If you list this as a service on the main page of your website and have at least a one page overview, Google will do the rest.

Big Boobs Surveying – bound to get you some attention

If you get the .co.uk domain for a particular keyword/phrase, unless the search term is v competitive, then chances are you’ll rank pretty highly

Domain name no longer has any relevance on search results.

Prestige Worldwide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfHxENUIPow