Hi Bridget, Thanks for the feedback. I was leaning toward keeping the company name myself but was worried that maybe it was too long. Your input is appreciated. Thank you for the domain name idea too. I have had a webpage for 6 years for the inspection company as well and would like to drive more business to that I had not thought of multiple domains with a redirect.
Here's a blog post I wrote about naming your business: http://homeinventoryservice.blogspot.com/2007/07/naming-your-home-inventory-service-his.html
I would recommend adding the new service to your existing business name (All Phase Home Inspection & Inventory Service). You've already spent time and money building your existing brand -- why start over? Plus, you can answer the phone with *one* business name, and leverage your existing customers by sending them a letter noting that you've added the service as part of a comprehensive approach to providing peace of mind to homeowners (home inspection services for peace of mind when they're buying a house, and inventory service to provide peace of mind once they're settled). That even ties into the name -- "All Phase" -- peace of mind for all phases of home ownership. Because both services require attention to detail and an element of trust, they work well together. Now, if you had a pet sitting business and wanted to add home inventory services, then I'd recommend keeping them entirely separate.
Don't forget a news release announcing the new service offering too.
Behind personal referrals/networking, your website will be the number one way prospective clients find you. As I've pointed out in other posts, Yellow Pages categories for home inventory service professionals are inconsistent across the U.S., so you can't count on having a category in your local book for individuals looking for your services. That can be through search (so consider paid search as part of your strategy) as well as links to your site from other local services.
One of the biggest challenges we face is awareness of our industry. So leveraging your existing brand will be critical. While you'll want to maximize your visibility in local search (i.e., Google Local, which I've written about previously), you'll also want to create visibility for your website throughout your advertising and marketing. http://homeinventoryservice.blogspot.com/2007/07/getting-visitors-to-your-web-site.html
And, as I recommended in another post, you can also register multiple domain names (I recommend 1&1 Internet, where you can buy domains for $6.99/year, and redirect them to your existing site) if you'd like to further brand the new service offering (i.e., www.allphaseinventory.com) without having multiple sites. Because your existing business is complementary, you can have one site for the entire business, although it's fairly easy to create multiple sites with each division of the business having its own primary focus, and the other division(s) being a secondary part.
Im in the process of setting up my inventory business and have a question regarding the business name. I presently own a home inspection business All Phase Inspection Services and have thought of adding the inventory business as an added service and, after some research I'm moving forward with that plan. The easy thing to do would be modify my existing website and business name to All Phase Home Inspection & Inventory ServiceDo you think this makes sense or would it be better to go with a new name for the inventory side of the business that would be easier searched on the internet.Also, Im wondering how may of you get business from website searches.Thanks for your input
