Tony Sarno20 February 2007, 8:44 PM
The right name for a business can contribute significantly to its success. Geek Gear was easy, actually.
Once the basic business plan was in place, we had to settle on the name of the online business so that we could start talking to the banks to put the payments infrastructure in place.
The name of the store had to explain at once what was being sold and also fit in with the values of our APC brand. Luke suggested Geek Gear, which we liked instantly because it clearly spelt out the nature of the business. There wasn’t much debate on the name. It was a natural one which worked well from the start, and we liked it even better when we found it wasn’t taken either as a domain or business name.
After checking it was free on a domain names list, we checked with IP Australia that it wasn’t trademarked. IP Australia is the agency that grants rights in patents, trademarks or designs.
A search through its ATMOSS system showed Geek Gear was clean. We registered the trademark for $240. We also secured the domain name from NetRegistry for $55.
In addition, we also registered Geek Gear as a trading name, to make sure no one else could use it as a business name. Luke went to the Department of Fair Trading in Parramatta, Sydney, to register the business name, at a cost of $137.
Once we had the trading name, trademark and domain name we could get on with building the store. At this point, anyone building a site would need to decide on what shopping cart to use and the nature of the payments system of the store.
The shopping cart question is a big one – one of the biggest you’ll make for your online store. It’s covered in more detail here. We went with NetMerchant’s own cart, which commercially, is a package that involves the cart, payments system and consulting.
NEXT: What kind of shopping cart?