If you are contemplating starting a new business, the name or brand that you are about to establish is one of the most critical decisions regarding your enterprise that you will ever make. Once chosen, it is difficult or impossible to change, and the eventual success or failure of all of the effort, time and money that you pour into your business will be at least partially determined by how memorable or catchy your business name is to new customers.

You have a lot more help than you used to in dreaming up interesting new names. Maybe you’ve heard of random name generators, available for free on the Internet, that arbitrarily mix words in ways that might eventually be suitable for a new business (or a new product). Sometimes you can choose the subject around which your business is built to increase the quality of the random suggestions that it gives you.

Here’s a tip that might not occur to you when you choose your business name-make sure that the name is available as a domain name (a URL) exactly how you will spell it, before you commit to the name.

Why is this so important? You have to realize that in the future people will find your business not through some physical directory like the Yellow Pages, but through search engines. Like it or not you will have to make it as easy as possible for search engine robots to find you. This means you will have to construct your online presence, i.e. your website, with at least some search engine optimization in mind.

The fact is that one of the most important things that search engines take into account when assessing your website is its URL. The reasoning behind this makes sense: for a website called “fine California wines” search engines take as a given that the site will be about that three-word phrase as much or more than anything else under the sun.

It behooves you to take advantage of this simple fact in a way that search engines view your online business, to give yourself some free SEO help. Catchy business names are one thing, but do make sure yours is search engine friendly as well.