How many times have you searched for a company online, only to find others with the same name? Even worse, companies, with the same (or almost) name in the same industry? Even though Mary Schmidt Amons is mildly annoying to me, it doesn't really hurt my business. You couldn't confuse us, even though we're both blondes. I'll never be on a reality show and I doubt anyone would ever want to hire her for her brains.

Just the other day, I was looking for a company - had met the owners, liked what they said. And, oops, hey, that doesn't look like their company. It wasn't. Yet, the company found did the EXACT same thing.

Unfortunately, this lack of research is all too common.  Start-ups think up a great name (or already have one) and start plastering it all over...investor pitches...biz cards, etc. etc.  Then, they go to check URLs for a website, and, whoops, it's taken.  So, they end up settling for something like, MarySchmidt-LLC.net instead of maryschmidt.com.  Confusing at best, loses biz at worst. 

Names matter (However, you don't need to pay some branding expert poobah a gazillion dollars.  You can do your own research.  And, a cool name alone never sold much...or at least not for long.)  People seldom go past the first page of search results. Even if you're an established company, you should periodically check to see where and how your name appears and what people are saying about you (including on Facebook and Twitter.)  

P.S. If you'd like to follow me on Twitter, it's @MarySchmidt.  I can't, however, guarantee I'll always know where I'm going...;-) (that whole "follow" thing bothers me, but that's a post for another day.)