Day 04: Creating business identity – Offline and Online
Business identity as we had discussed earlier is inevitable. Its the one that develop into brands and you all know that brands sell. You can establish both online and offline identities.
Offline Identity Registration (Business Registration)
After you have identified a brand, it’s important to register it legally to be able to trade with it. This ensures that no one else apart from you can be able to use your brand for commercial purposes. Registration varies from one country to another. The various common offline registrations that you can do are:
- The simplest is to register it as a business name. You just need to go to registrar of company, search the name and register it. After this, you are allowed by law to start trading with the name. This is the simplest mode of offline business identity.
- You can also register it as a limited company. The common modes are LTD, PLC, PVT or INC. The essence of registering a company is to reduce the entrepreneur’s liability in the business. This separates the entrepreneur responsibility from the business hence protecting him in case something negative happens to the business.
- You can also go to Copyright regulators and register the brand name as a trade mark. A trade mark ensures that no one else can use the same words in doing business.
- In some case, you will be required to register with authorities like local authority, government ministries, regulators and/or associations.
We are all known by identities. Identity is king. This will be what we will all know your business with.
Online Identity registration ( Domain Registration)
Online identities are called domain names. They are actually web addresses. A web address starts with a www. and ends with a domain extension like .com, .org, .net etc. A well thought identity easily shifts into a brand.
With your identity and your brand-to-be, then think of a domain name. A domain name is your web address. This is what you will market. It will be your brand. Your customers will know your business by it.
There are some terms that are often used in the domain world. Domain registration is the process of registering a new domain. Domain renewal is renewal of domain after a certain period. Most people renew domains after every year. Domain transfer is the process of moving domain name from one domain registrar to another. A domain registrar is the authorized entity with the mandate to register, renew and transfer a domain name.
Is is MANDATORY to register a domain name if you want to do online business. If you would like to register one today, visit www.adea.co
The next session will expain on how you can host your business, online.