How to Choose a Name for Your Home Staging Business

You’re ready to start your home staging business and you are so excited and impatient to get going. Then you get tripped up on the very first thing – your staging business name.

You are not alone. We get a ton of questions in our Facebook group, Staging Studio Society, on this very thing… and with good reason.

Your home staging business name is important. It has meaning. It will become a valuable asset in your business.

If you are a parent (or pet-parent!) you probably spent a good bit of time pondering the names of your children. We had a blackboard with all of the possibilities scrawled in endless columns, and then struck through until we found the one that felt right.

Your staging and redesign business is your baby, too. A lot of love and labor are going into birthing it. You are hopeful that it will have a long and healthy life. It needs to have a significant and worthy name, one that you are not going to regret in 5 years.

Here are some tips for choosing the best name for your home staging business.

1. Consider the pros and cons of using your personal name.

Pro: One big advantage to using your own name (such as Jane Smith Home Staging) is that people like doing business with people they know, and using your name makes it more personal. That may work especially well if you want to be a solopreneur and have no plans to ever grow a team. Another reason to use your name is if you are a bit of a local celebrity and your name already holds value to your clients.

Con: The downside is that if and when you do expand your staging business, your clients are still always going to want to work with you – the “Name,” the boss, the expert, the best. They don’t want the person who they consider to be your assistant.

Another negative to using your personal name for your business is that it is much harder to sell a business when it is personally branded. We know–right now you can't imagine selling your 'baby,' but you might not always feel that way. You are building something super valuable and your business name is an asset.

Consider: When your business name is less personal, it conveys the idea that you are a company, and there is an expectation that there is a team that can be called on.

2. Make sure that the name for your staging business is easy to spell.

Aside from the fact that it is super annoying to spell it out 47 times a day if your business name is too difficult, people will make mistakes typing it. This means clients may not be able to find your staging website, or emails they try to send to you could get stranded in cyberspace.

3. Is the name available and not too similar to others?

Check to see if the name you want to use for your staging business is available for use in your state. Most states offer the ability to search the name prior to issuing your DBA or business name. U.S. residents can check to make sure it doesn’t violate another business’ trademark at http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks and www.sba.gov.

Even if the name is technically available, you should check if there are any other businesses with similar names. You do not want a prospective client to try to contact you, but accidentally reach out to one of your competitors instead.

4. Is the website domain name you want available?

This is probably the biggest test for your staging business name and there are a few ways to check. First, just Google the website URL you want and see what pops up. Even if your exact preferred URL doesn’t pop up, you need to be aware of other websites that have names similar to yours.

WHOIS.com houses a database of domain names that you can check. You will use GoDaddy or another registrar to purchase your domain, so that is the natural place to check availability.

If the home staging website name you want is taken, you might consider altering it slightly, but be aware that this can cause confusion for potential customers.

Pro Tip: GoDaddy may offer you the URL you want with a “.net” or “.org” instead of a “.com.” But, since most folks will automatically type in “.com,” they are likely to get lost and frustrated.

We highly recommend finding a URL with “.com” available. This part of the URL implies certain things about the organization: “.org” usually means nonprofit and “.net” is for databases and web hosting services.

Without a “.com,” your business will have a harder time being seen as a serious or luxury brand.

5. Check for social media usernames.

Preferably, your username will be the same across all social channels. This consistency elevates your branding and makes marketing your staging business on social media much easier.

6. Choose a name that will age well.

Your business name should survive fickle trends. The same applies to your home staging business’s logo.

Examples of trendy words might include “farmhouse” or “hygge.” These are great names for a staging business in 2022, as they are terms that are likely to be searched and they feel very of-the-moment.

Right now, they convey a sense that the furniture used for staging will be updated and fresh. But, as those words fall out of popularity, the meaning may change and may connote something other than “on-trend.”

Also, avoid names that would limit your business to one lane if you want to expand later. For example, maybe you plan to start with staging and then add Airbnb styling services later. Will your name still work then?

7. Avoid names that are overly cute.

Your business name should at least hint at what you do – home staging or design.

Just because something has great meaning to you, doesn’t mean that your clients will relate to it. Maybe you have always loved rhubarb pie. You think that “Rhubarb Pie Co.” would be a cute name, and your logo could be a pie with steam rising out of it.

First, people won’t know how to spell rhubarb, and second, it has nothing to do with home staging or design. You are not helping them make and keep a connection in their brain. Potential clients will think you are a bakery.

8. Use searchable keywords.

People will search online for local home stagers. You want to help Google make the connection and put your company in the search results.

Let’s say you are a stager in Providence, Rhode Island. Prospective clients are likely to Google “Providence home stagers.” If it’s available, why not keep things simple and call yourself “Providence Home Staging?”

Even if you are in a saturated market and cannot claim a location-based name like that example, you should still consider search engine optimization (SEO). If your name is too generic, such as “The Home Staging Company,” clients will have trouble finding your company on Google. Other businesses from around the country and world will show up first, simply because they have more website traffic and use those words on their website. Your name needs to be uniquely searchable.

Spend some time brainstorming, using these eight principles as your framework. Narrow it down to your top three names, and then start putting those names to the test before making a final commitment.

Seek input from outside sources. Try your business name ideas out on several trusted friends, or post your names in Staging Studio Society for professional feedback from other newbies and experienced stagers.

Ask them to be brutally honest, and then analyze how others respond. They may see or hear a problem that you did not recognize.

Think of digital assistants on your devices, such as Alexa and Siri, as your friends as well. It can be very enlightening to have them try to pronounce your name.

Ultimately, the goal of your company name is to help clients build a relationship with you and your brand. Your name should embody your staging business’s overall branding message, conveying value and luxury to your clients.