Naming

This post highlights my naming strategy and select research along the way.

I knew that deciding on a name was going to be tricky; I didn't want to waste time, so I wanted to be as objective as possible. I needed this out of the way as soon as possible so that I had stable grounds on which to develop; folder naming, domain buying, social media registering, you name it.

Giving a name to your application is one of the most important decisions you will make in the process of development. It should clearly convey the message you want and illustrate the use and features of the app. Also, it needs to promote the image you want.

Source: http://blog.smashapp.com/2011/04/14/the-value-of-a-name-for-app-store-success/

Keyword Weighting


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The most important aspect of this name, for me, was ensuring it was going to be semantic; I wanted my application to be found in a common search. Part of my process was to run searches so that I could find out which keywords competitors were levering - to see how popular services are being found is one of the best ways of measuring keyword weight.

Crucial Restraint

Inherently, when building an app, if you want your name to be readable on screen and not 'chopped-off' it should be less-than or equal to 11 characters. This was pointed out by a fantastic article I came across.

6. Stick to under 11 characters

Short and concise is the way to go. Long names are arduous to read and won't look right in someone’s collection of apps. Lauren Sutton explores this topic in her article "11 Characters or Less".

Source: http://www.netmagazine.com/features/top-10-tips-naming-your-app

The '11 Characters or Less' article can be found here: http://catchwordbranding.com/catchthis/fun-stuff/11-characters-or-less-naming-apps-for-the-iphone/.

App Store Research

At this point in time, I had a few ideas written down; using the the word 'reference' (which had a high weighting in search results) in it was my main aim. I decided to run checks on Apple's iOS App Store to see what other reference apps were calling themselves. See below figure.


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Conclusion

Ultimately, my decision came down to these two:

• SnapReference
• SnapRef

I liked the fact that Snap was associated with cameras and speed, tied to my app it just seemed to make sense. However, the word Reference was causing name-length issues. SnapRef was the other option, but I know I'd lose some semantic value by not keeping with a full search optimised keyword.

Thankfully, a friend saved the day when he suggested using the word Go. Combining it with Reference came to exactly 11 characters, my limit. I ran a quick name-check using http://namecheck.com/ (see below figure) to see whether it was taken; company registrations, social media and everything but the dot-com domain (which seems to have a problem loading, anyway) was free!



I shall be sticking with GoReference.