Aug 04 2005

How Do You Spell That?

The name of my company used to be Accelerate Business Group. I liked the name and thought it accurately described our purpose and offering. Many people liked the name too. But there was a problem with the name I hadn't expected – a problem that made it necessary to change our e-mail addresses.

Our e-mail addresses were myname@teamaccelerate.com. Therein was the problem. We found too many people couldn't spell accelerate. We lost a few important e-mails because of incorrect e-mail addresses.

Technology companies in particular seem to love odd and offbeat names. These phonic hijinks may be fun, but are they worth the confusion of many that can't figure out the "s" is really a "z" or the "y" is an "i"?

If you have a web presence, make is easy to spell. Remove the temptation to get cute with the spelling. Make it easy for people to reach you.

Have you ever had trouble reaching a website or email address because you couldn't figure out how a company spells their name?


1 Comment

  • By Brad Harmon, October 21, 2009 @ 8:45 pm

    Jim,

    I used to work for an entrepreneneur who named his healthcare staffing company liquidagents. Our recruiters spent more time explaining what the company did because of the name than they did recruiting. The owner was a former IT guy so I guess you’re right about them.

    Brad

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