• A brand name should be meaningful and memorable. Your customers should associate your brand with your business and your quality.
• Choose your brand name carefully. Try testing possible brand names with target customers to see what the market thinks, rather than relying only on your family and friends.
• As a general rule, you can be safer using a generic word or phrase to brand your business.
• Websites - which by their nature are accessible globally - lead to additional complications in protecting your brand, or in avoiding breaching somebody else's brand rights.
• It takes many years to build trust and reputation, so making frequent changes to your business name is not recommended, and in some cases even making a single change can produce surprising issues. If you must change a brand name, you should plan and communicate so your customers and your wider target market are aware of the change and understand.
• Beware of creative agencies giving you advice that's more in their interests than in yours and your customers. Brands and advertising are communications with customers, they are not works of art or a designer's personal view. Make sure you have a very clear brief and examples of brands you like. Even then it's easy for things to go a little astray unless you are very clear and concise.
• The creative aspect of a brand (usually the logo) must be good quality, but the creative side is not an end in itself. Often the best solution is the simplest, perhaps just using your name in a creative way or elegant typeface, as your customers and the market will readily understand it. Take ASB for example, and IBM. Even Google!

When developing your brand (and your logo) always ask yourself - will my customers understand this, is it clear to my traget market, is it easily understood and clear, does it really fit my business?