When It Comes to Business Names, Acronyms Are FUBAR

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Marcia Yudkin


Maybe you'll read the following sentence as it was intended, but I sure didn't. It was the lead sentence in an article in my local business journal:

"CA is a fundamentally different company than it was when I arrived two years ago."

To me, "CA" means California, and that's how I read it. But when I reached the end of that sentence, that obviously did not make sense. Then I thought, "Must be a misprint - they left a letter out - but what?" Only in the fourth paragraph of the article did my bafflement clear up. "We simplified 'Computer Associates' to 'CA' and brought the 'C' and 'A' on our brand mark closer together."

"Oh my gosh, 'CA' is a company name?!" Too bad you couldn't see the expression on my face.

This illustrates one of the problems in creating a company name out of letters. With just about any combination of letters you choose, the acronym is probably already in use somewhere. Indeed, CA is also in use for Cocaine Anonymous, as well as an abbreviation for Canada. On the web, a new company name consisting of an acronym will be impossible for the average person to get useful results for from a search engine.

According to the Web Directory All Acronyms, the letters NSA stand for more than 100 different entities, including No Such Agency. Incorporating an acronym as part of a longer name doesn't resolve the issue of multiple meanings. For example, if you named your company SME Services, thinking of "Small and Medium-sized Enterprises," SME could still call up more than 60 other meanings in common usage, including Subject Matter Expertise and Solid Metal Embrittlement.

Second, because acronyms have no self-evident meaning, they require a very heavy investment of resources to become recognizable and memorable as a company name. True, the now-global fast-food company KFC has done well with its initials by trading on its previous incarnation as Kentucky Fried Chicken. But unless you're also serving more than a billion customers a year with a marketing budget to match, that shouldn't encourage you to follow their example.

And third, acronyms invite ridicule. There are scores of jokes purporting to explain what the letters in IBM really mean:

I've Been Moved (because of the company's relocation policy)

I've Been Misled

It's a Broken Machine

Immoral Brand and Management

I Blame Mathematics

Idiots Became Managers

Imbecilic Bad Micros

Invented By Murphy

and on and on.

Perhaps because we dislike how we tend to be treated by governmental and technical acronym-named organizations, many of us find acronyms geeky and off-putting rather than cuddly and comforting. "Acronyms tend to keep non-experts at arm's length," wrote language critic Amy Gahran in 2003. For example, "the original full name for RSS [which most people believe stands for Really Simple Syndication] is 'RDF Site Summary' - a nested acronym that requires two levels of decoding, and it gets geekier at the second level," Gahran noted.

Most of the time, keeping people at arm's length is not a desirable state of affairs or a goal for a new company name. So ditch the acronyms.

By the way, in case you're wondering what "FUBAR" means, since before World War Two it's been an American military expression for the more vulgar version of "Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition."


About the Author:
Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, a company that brainstorms creative business names, product names and tag lines for clients. For a systematic process of coming up with an appealing and effective name or tag line, download a free copy of "19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name, Product Name or Tag Line" at http://www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm


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The Hidden Costs of Freeware

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Anne Sych


You are tasked with looking for software and in your research you stumble upon 'free' software. Can this be? It sounds too good to be true! How can they do that? It is very tempting - most of us at least take a peak. After all, why would we buy something we can get for free?

Or perhaps you start out looking for a good solid solution that will meet all of your needs, but your budget is tight and you begin looking at trimmed down or free solutions that may be available. You think that it may be good enough to get you by for now, and you can just purchase something better at a later date when things improve.

While this is tempting, one must consider the hidden costs of 'free' software. In the end, you could be spending more for a 'free' version, than a reputable, well built affordable solution.

Here are a few considerations when considering free software:

1. Many 'free' software solutions are not actually free. Essential components needed to use the software are additional - sometimes the components are minutely priced, but when you plug in your volume needs the prices really add up.

2. Does it really fit your needs? - With 'freeware' there is no product specialist to guide you with your selection, so you are forced to figure out on your own if it will meet your needs. Often once implemented you may learn that it does not meet needs after all or that certain parts do not work the way you need them to. Time lost in business is money lost.

3. You are on your own - typically freeware does not include any implementation assistance, training or support. At best you may get a 'guide', but no one to answer questions or help you with your system environment.

4. No training is provided - how will your employees learn how to use the new software? There are no best practices to follow, and you are left to learn on your own. In addition to time lost, often mistakes are made along the way that are hard to correct because you have done so much already "the wrong way". Again, time lost.

5. Is it cross user friendly? - Some companies may have an employee smart enough to 'rig' a freeware to meet their needs. Once this employee leaves or moves on new folks can't figure out how to make it work the same way.

6. Will it grow with you? - What will you do when you outgrow your application or your needs change. Will you force your business tasks around the app, or be forced to start over? Many hours, weeks, months are spent implementing a "free" system, processes are built around it, training is conducted - much man hours and internal costs. Starting over can be very costly. All of the time spent and resources used are now wasted as you look for a solution to replace this "free one".

So be on guard not to get caught up in the "free" hype, which in the end can cost much more. Take the time to do the due diligence now and select what you need for both now and for the future. Choose a provider that has a quality reputation, offers assistance, provides support, and a solutions that is scalable and can grow to meet your needs long term.




About the Author:
Written by: Anne Sych, Marketing Manager for Novo Solutions, Inc. Novo Solutions, Inc., is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) in Virginia Beach, Virginia specializing in Customer Support Software. Free trial versions of the Novo Help Desk Software, Knowledge Base Software and suite of web based Customer Support Solutions. Contact: sales@novosolutions.com for more information. http://www.novosolutions.com/


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Money Making Tips with Your Expired Domains - Domain Parking

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 John Khu


Newbie expired domain traders keep searching for newer and innovative ways of making money out of their expired domain names. Expired domain trading is a vast industry, where almost every domain trader will be competing with others to sell their stock of domain names. What happens when an expired domain trader sits on a big pile of domain names without using them for any commercial purpose? The result could disastrous for the business, because the cost of retention and maintenance is always recurring and it can cut a big hole in the pocket.

Sitting on a big inventory of expired domains is a fruitless exercise that consume too much of your precious time as well as money. You must focus in deriving handsome income from your domain names so that you can cover the cost of retaining them with you. One of the simplest ways to earn money with your expired domains is to park them on specially designed and marketed domain parking web sites.

Domain parking offers you several advantages and benefits of not only earning money, but also maintain your expired domains in the most profitable manner. Some of these benefits are:

Enough revenues: Almost all domain-parking companies share a generous share of income with their clients. This income is enough to cover the expenses involved in maintaining your expired domains.

Very simple set up process: All domain-parking companies offer you a very simple set up process that does not take even five minutes. Signing up and running the account is also very simple.

Contractual obligations: You need not sign any agreements or contracts to stay with these firms. You can move away to another domain-parking company without any penalties or fines.

Global reach: Language and regions are no barriers to you. Most of the well-known domain-parking services provide the services in all major international languages. You can even use highly accomplished geo or regional targeting to drive visitors to your web site.

Efficient sales conversion: Domain parking is an efficient way to turn your domain into a cash machine. It also enhances the chances of domain auction or sales by over 100% because of the wide exposure and virtual advertisement.

Domain parking uses an advanced method of search. It takes the advantage of using type-in type of traffic that is when a web surfer simply types an address on to the search bar of the search engine in a hope that he or she will get the desired information from the search. Domain parking can add real-time value to your expired domain. When you see that your expired domain is increasing in its online value, then you can sell off your domain to the highest bidder.

With all its wonderful benefits and advantages, domain parking still has some pitfalls. Most of the time, some of your domains may never receive any traffic. In addition, the income generated by parking your expired domains may not be substantial. However, domain parking is a lucrative way to park your otherwise dead and expired domain; domain parking can resurrect your dead domain back in to life.


About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.


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