need help with naming my son's Etsy Store

[ProudGrandma]

My 16 year old is setting up an Etsy Store for his hand forged items.  He has named his company "Phoenix Fire Forge".  So we naturally thought we would use that as his store name.  Well, when I went to use it, we were told it's not available.  (which surprised us).....but the store is not currently active.  But we still can't use the name...we checked.

Anyway, his store name can only be 20 characters long (no spaces or symbols).  If he uses "PhoenixFireForge"....he only has 4 more spaces left.  We thought about adding the word "shop" to his name, but that is also taken.  

any other ideas?? please help us.  thanks. 

[KathyBC]

State initials at the end?

[prairiewindmomma]

If I google Phoenix Fire Forge, several store names pop up.  Can he pick something more unique? If this is a serious business venture, then branding is super important....

Rising Phoenix Forge would be a similar but unique name, I think....

[mommyoffive]

Can he just do 2 words?  The 3 worded name sounds long to me.  I would remember a 2 word store better.

[Kebo]

Phoenix Hammerworks?  

Or try a new name on for size ...

Emberlight Forge

Emberworks Forge

Lampblack Forge

Fireflight Forge

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm wondering if the Phoenix names aren't tied to the city in Arizona? 

I like Rising Phoenix Forge as Prairie suggested.

 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Forged by Fire

[Ausmumof3]

Phoenixfireartisanforge?

I like the rising Phoenix idea 

this all makes me think of Phoenix and the carpet 

[Kareni]

BestPhoenixFireForge

PhoenixFireForgeInc

Regards,

Kareni

[Junie]

ThePhoenixFireForge 

 

 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Forged In Pheonix Fire

Pheonix Feather Forge

Pheonix Smithy

The Blacksmith's Pehonix

Pheonix Metalworks

Iron Pheonix

 

[ProudGrandma]

you guys are good!  thanks for the ideas.....I will run them by my son.  

[Moonhawk]

So, I think "Hand forged" is what he's selling. The branding is important, but if he is looking for cold traffic (more accurately warm traffic, ie, people who haven't heard of him before) I think getting either Hand Forged or at least Forged is really important (or other industry term). If I see something like "Red Phoenix Shop" I probably won't choose it over "Ye Olde Blacksmith".

IDK how Etsy names work with Google search results or even Etsy Search results. IDK if the subtitle or only the store name (or neither?) are used when creating valid search results; maybe it only relies on the product title. I would look that up before making any final decision.

I'm from AZ so idk how many other people automatically know Phx for the abbrv, or if its specific to the city to much. (double check my letter count, I keep getting distracted, lol)

BurningPhoenixForge

BurningPhxHandForge

BurningPhoenixSmithy

BurningPhoenixAnvil

Or you can go a different direction with something like

HandForgedForYou

But I do prefer the more store-front name in the title, I think it will do better long term. 

I loved the suggestion but I would probably avoid "Forged in Fire" because apparently there's a TV show for that and it's eating up all the search results if he ever wants to go the Google route.

Overdoing the answer now: "Forged in Fire" is actually eating up the entire "Forge" search term. "Hand forge" does much better for clarity but has the problem of, well, not being as popular as the TV show lol. I know this is a really tertiary concern right now, but just trying to build for longevity, just in case he wants it later. Having "Forge" in the name is probably enough so long as he also makes sure hand forge appears in other parts of a website. 

(Blue = hand forged, red = forged. sorry, I have a cap on how much I can post as an attachment so this is tiny. Here's the link)

Edited January 23, 2021 by Moonhawk

[ProudGrandma]

that is interesting.   I will make sure he includes "hand forged' in his description.....you are right, that is important. 

Do you think he should or shouldn't include his age....will that impress people or scare people.....like "wow that was made by a 16 year old...he's talented"...or 'oh, that was made by a 16 year old, he probably doesn't know what he is doing".   What do you guys think?

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

1 hour ago, kfeusse said:

that is interesting.   I will make sure he includes "hand forged' in his description.....you are right, that is important. 

Do you think he should or shouldn't include his age....will that impress people or scare people.....like "wow that was made by a 16 year old...he's talented"...or 'oh, that was made by a 16 year old, he probably doesn't know what he is doing".   What do you guys think?

I would leave it off, but you might put something a bit more hidden, like "Shop Owner has been hand forging xyz since age 12" (or whatever).  No need to add that this only makes 4 years. 😂

[katilac]

21 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

 Rising Phoenix Forge  

I love this!

4 hours ago, kfeusse said:

Do you think he should or shouldn't include his age....will that impress people or scare people.....like "wow that was made by a 16 year old...he's talented"...or 'oh, that was made by a 16 year old, he probably doesn't know what he is doing".   What do you guys think?

I think it's irrelevant to the product. I wouldn't think they didn't know what they were doing, but I might think that a teen might not have their business practices down pat, or that someone pushing the age angle for the sale might also push it if we had a dispute about a mistake they made (long delay, sent the wrong item, whatever). Mostly I wouldn't include it because it has nothing to do with the product. 

[ProudGrandma]

10 minutes ago, katilac said:

I love this!

I think it's irrelevant to the product. I wouldn't think they didn't know what they were doing, but I might think that a teen might not have their business practices down pat, or that someone pushing the age angle for the sale might also push it if we had a dispute about a mistake they made (long delay, sent the wrong item, whatever). Mostly I wouldn't include it because it has nothing to do with the product. 

thanks.  Good point. The product is very good....he is very meticulous and pays close attention to detail.  He won't sell anything he knows is not very well made.  But your point is VERY well taken.  I appreciate it. 

[prairiewindmomma]

If he is going to sell on Etsy, he needs to pick a name that will can easily carry over in theme to his website design and packaging. The little things really matter. So, maybe he uses standard cardboard boxes and bubble wrap, but his inner sheet invoice is in a brilliant red, and there is a Phoenix sticker on the outside of the box. Whatever. But when I was talking about unique name and branding....he needs to consider the entire thematic incorporation of it all. 
 

Has he done his business case and research? Quality, pricing, uniqueness of product, product demand, and shipping & overhead?
 

Edited January 23, 2021 by prairiewindmomma

[ProudGrandma]

2 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Has he done his business case and research? Quality, pricing, uniqueness of product, product demand, and shipping & overhead?
 

not yet....can you give us some tips?  i LOVE the idea of red paper and a sticker.  He has a LOGO....we can make stickers with that on it, maybe.   He also has business cards...with the logo, his name and contact information.  The Sticker could just be the circle symbol part of the Logo. 

[TravelingChris]

We'll be looking to see him on Forged and Fired,.

[ProudGrandma]

1 minute ago, TravelingChris said:

We'll be looking to see him on Forged and Fired,.

he was actually sort of wishing there was a Forged In Fire Jr....like they have other "Jr" shows....probably way too dangerous...but he would love it. He LOVES that show and we watch it often.  I can't count the number of times where my husband will say, "Hey, Nate, do you know how to do_______ (whatever just was happening)"  and his response has always been "yeah...."  ( like duh, dad...I have been doing that for years kind of tone :) ).  Or when they make a mistake, Nathan will tell us what they should have done instead...or something.  

I NEVER dreamt I would have a blacksmith for a son....kind of crazy.....but super cool all at once. 

[TravelingChris]

Yeah, we love to watch it too/

[prairiewindmomma]

Etsy has a lot of beginner guides that I would work through as a starter checklist of things to address before opening up shop, but I would also really figure out the Social media and marketing angle.

To profitably sell hand forged items, you need to be selling with emotion as well as quality to generate the high prices you need to garner. If you don’t have an amazing back story (apprenticed under a Japanese knife maker in Japan, etc.) then you have to have slick marketing. 
 

Seriously spend the time building the business—too often people just focus on the product they have to sell and then wonder why they aren’t making money off of their art/craft.

Does he belong to the local guild?

[ProudGrandma]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Etsy has a lot of beginner guides that I would work through as a starter checklist of things to address before opening up shop, but I would also really figure out the Social media and marketing angle.

To profitably sell hand forged items, you need to be selling with emotion as well as quality to generate the high prices you need to garner. If you don’t have an amazing back story (apprenticed under a Japanese knife maker in Japan, etc.) then you have to have slick marketing. 
 

Seriously spend the time building the business—too often people just focus on the product they have to sell and then wonder why they aren’t making money off of their art/craft.

Does he belong to the local guild?

yeah...we will check out the guides and come up with a back story.....he did start out playing with fire in our backyard fire pit and when he asked his dad for a forge....his dad about fell over backward...we had no idea he even knew what a forge was....and to our surprise he had been spending hours watching you tube videos on the subject and knew more than we even imagined.  Not working under a Japanese knife maker...but....

We will take our time and figure out what we want to say...

he doesn't belong to local guild because, well....they aren't local....they are all hours away from us....but we have been researching this more. 

When you say "social media and marketing" angle, do you mean like Facebook? or something else.

Thanks for your help!

[prairiewindmomma]

Instagram, actually, for starters.

Go to Instagram and in the search bar search for #forged

Look at what different businesses are doing. Figure out the hashtags and search optimization. 

Secure your Instagram handle before you do your Etsy store name and business incorporation. Like, all of those pieces need to come together and then you rework your logo and cards and stuff.

Marketing...that is more than I can put into one post.  Google will get you started. Focus on branding, search optimization, and connecting Etsy with social media. 
 

I get that this seems like a lot...but it’s easier to launch well than to try to correct course.

[ProudGrandma]

he does have a instagram account already and has quite a few followers.