*Your Name/Logo*

Hello everyone!!!

I have been thinking about getting a website...however since Im new Ive pretty much leaving my bus. cards at party supply stores..announcing myself on craiglist..newspapers etc..very informal..and id love to "go big or go home"...and by big i mean something more serious so people know i will be around for a while.
...for now im just trying to get a website up and get my name out there so i can do some big serious events and not just bday parties.

My question for you all is How did you come up with your name and/or logo??

Right now im using "Face Painting by Abby" (im actually Abril..but i felt it sounds kind of tough? not really kids entertainment material lol) ....i know there are alot of "face painting by XYZ" out there and i have nothing against that...but id def would love to change it...though..i think sometimes i do lack of imagination! lol

-Have a great day! and im looking forward to know what inspired you

I've told this story before, but you never know, maybe it will give you some inspiration somewhere...

I am petrified of ... well... almost everything. In university, I was on an online chat thingy called a "moo" and my nickname on there was paranoia, which one of my friends shortened to 'noia.

Fast forward a few years, I have two kids and after not working for 4 or 5 years because I was taking care of babies, can't seem to get back into the workforce. I had hired a clown to come do the birthdays of both of my girls when they turned 2 and with a background in music and education, I was looking at what she was doing and thinking, "I can do that...." So, I asked her if she'd teach me to face paint with her. She said, "well, I already have a lot of face painters, but I do need balloon twisters." Ok, I'll learn whatever if it'll get me some income. I jumped into the clowning thing with both feet, researched like crazy and in the process of finding a clown character, I asked myself, "what will be the hardest thing for me to do as a clown?" The very first thing that came to mind was going into someone's house who has an enormous, horse-sized dog and I'm supposed to be ok with that..... so, if my character is supposed to be afraid of everything, then it will be expected that I'll kind of freak out about that sort of thing and I'll still be in character! So, I revived the nickname 'noia and figured I'd be 'Noia the Clown. Only someone I was talking with online pointed out that in Italian, "noia" means boring... not to mention that no one seemed to have a clue how to pronounce it. I thought then that I had better spell it out more clearly for everyone and made it Perry Noia.... some still weren't getting it.... added "the Scaredy Clown" .... and some STILL don't get it until someone else explains it to them. Oh well, I can only do so much with my name. I don't mind if the kids don't get it, I don't even really care if the parents don't get it... it's just all the weird ways people try to pronounce "Noia" and all of the strange people who have seen my website and for some reason still think that "Perry" is a man.

In any case, maybe you had a nickname or something you can revive or some imaginary "business" that you created in your youth.... you never know where inspiration will come from!

I had several ideas for names, but once a domain name has been claimed, you can't use it for your website. I went on Go Daddy and kept trying all the names I thought would be cool until I found several that weren't already taken. I chose "Cheek Chic," then bought the domain name and set up my website. And the rest is history.

oooh I like Cheek Chic very clever

My 14 year old come up with our business name. Face painting is a transformation of the face hence FaceFormers LOL.

I completely got into face painting by accident and never went into it thinking I would be doing it full time and absolutely loving it. I have a back ground in marketing (internet marketing) and it is my second passion. It is very important to have a logo and professional flair to your website. I put my logo into the hands of a professional and I liked what he came up with.

When thinking of a business name and URL, make sure you only go with the .com because it is the natural thing to type in. If it is taken think of another name. Also, don't make it too complicated or spell it in a strange way. People will most likely forget or misspell it. Here are some names ideas:

Abby Faces
Face Ability
Fabby Faces
Abby Face Painting

I could go on for days...

Good luck and let us know what you came up with.

A Brilliant Stroke Face Paint
Abril (whatever your last name is), owner and artist

I don't even know if what I call my business has been taken or not. I have a hard time knowing if something I think up is original or something I heard before.

I struggled and struggled with finding a name, but what always came up for me was the smile on the kids' faces when they see themselves in the mirror for the first time. So, at least locally, I have adopted "The Extra Smile" and I think it works for me. I have not moved as fast as some others on here at setting up their businesses. Between work and school this still seems to be pretty much a hobby that I make a little money at sometimes, but I want it to be more because I love it so much.

I call my kids my "little monsters" so I used that: "Mommys little monsters"

I got a lot of ideas by doing searches in other areas or countries and seeing what everyone had for business names. I came up with Omaha Masquerade after seeing one that had "masks" in their name. Which was ironic because the last company I helped run was a mystery shopping company with a mask logo =).

Whatever you decide, I would promptly buy the domain name "edinburgfacepainting.com" (or however you spell the town, I forget!), and any other xyzCityFacePainting.com that are close in proximity that you would travel to without fees. I have learned in my long history with SEO's that you always want whatever key word someone is going to enter to BE your web address as that will always come up first being relevant to the search. The most common search for face painting is their town and face painting. Even if your company name is "Amazing Picasso's", your web domain doesn't have to be - although I recommend getting that one as well. I think I am up to 7 or 8 domain names for our inflatables business and 3 or 4 for my face painting. They all point back to my main website (forwarding). We are very high (top 3 spots) on almost every search you can do for our business and I do not pay for ads or do anything special other than wording and links.

@ Perry Noia : i think your story is hilarious! hehe..i love the name..is fun and definitely a history behind it (thats kind of what i want..so i need to do some serious thinking haha)

*I also like "Cheek Chic" and i agree..very clever!

@ FaceFormers: What a smart kid you have then! lol ...and yes thats what im aiming for..catchy/easy to spell/ with the ".com" at the end..definitely thinking of myself as if i was the one looking for a face painter:)

@ Fluttersby : Thats exactly how im working right now...im a fulltime student..fulltime aunt too haha (my sister works and is a fulltime college student too so i do help her alot)...i dont have another job and i dont think i want one..i want to really focus on this and maybe do this as fulltime job/hobby. I never saw myself working the 8hr/5days a week kind of job (and my bf agrees haha) ..dont get my wrong i have nothing against that...i just really always saw myself as me being my own boss and work on something that i love and have fun doing. and this..i see Alot of potential!

@ Jumpers4you: Im defintiely going to take your advice on that!...i probably would have never thought of that haha but i think is a great idea!

==Thank you guys for all your input...im definitely writing everything down! haha

For my name, first and foremost, FAB stands for Face And Body.

Secondly, it's something I've said since I was a teen, "That's fab!".

And thirdly, there used to be this commercial for a Canadian lottery with the catchphrase of "Faaaaaaaantastic!" (I can hear it in my head, sorry I can't share it with you LOL), and my husband and I say that to each other all the time with the same inflection, sort of an inside joke.

So it got put together and my name was born. I had wanted something that was a single word, to make the website name simple, so I'm really happy with it.

Once I decided on it, of course I searched it and I found only one other face painter using it ... or not, I'm not sure. Someone had started a Facebook page a long time before, indicating that they were doing market research into face painting and would be registering their name eventually. But they never seemed to do anything further, so I felt it was pretty free to use.

Unfortunately the .com was taken by one of those domain holders, but I got the .ca which is good for me.

That's my story! Good luck with your name!!