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We are about to launch a product similar to Basecamp, Asana and Podio (hopefully not too similar).

It is a team collaboration web-based software targetting small and medium businesses.

We have been having an hard time choosing between two shortlisted names coming from a few sessions of brainstorming.

Without disclosing the real names, I am going to say the alternatives are:
a) a totally made up name, like Asana
b) a name that recalls the main function of the software, let's say EasyTasks

Which one would you go for and why?

Thanks a lot for your help with this!

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3 Answers

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I prefer A. I think a name like EasyTasks will never feel special. With a made up name you can really make it yours.

It's also easiest to win your own name in Google if you have no competition for it (ie. a made up name).

The only other advice I can give you is that you will know when you have the right name. I have tried all sorts of logical approaches to naming but that's when I have come up with the worst names. It's only when I stumble onto something by complete chance that I have found something I liked, and I knew right away when I did.

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It does not matter. We are also working on something similar as you are and we also had a hard time to figure out the name. Eventually it came up. It's short made up mane easy to type and easy to pronounce. Please let me know when you go live so we can share the experience (even if we are competitors :) )

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+1 for sharing the experience. We get better much faster when we "positively" compete. Good luck. Cheers! – Mario Awad Nov 17 '12 at 12:56
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I recommend you choose a name that has good SEO potential.

Ask yourself what terms are people going to be typing in to find your website. If you think they'll type in "team collaboration" then I think you should consider putting those terms in your name and in the URL of your website. And then, you can add some sort of abstract or concrete word to go along; RamboTeamCollaboration or MatrixTeamCollaboration if you want to paint action or may be SunshineTeamCollaboration or RainbowTeamCollaboration for some other kind of branding. You could even try removing Team and that could lead to something like MatrixCollaboration or something else.

Look into SEO and find a name is going to get you on top of rankings; that's my recommendation.

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I would recommend against this. You can't control what Google does with it's ranking algorithm, I wouldn't base my product name off it (it can change any time). Also SEO is just one part of getting customers, it does no good to come up high in search results but then lose them because your product sounds cheesy/tacky. Sure this could give you short term gains, but if you look long term, you can win in SEO without resorting to this and have a good name too. – Joel Friedlaender Nov 12 '12 at 4:03

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