New Name

[Vikram]

If you have had a certain website and company name for almost a year and gathered a small following, but want to change your name and website without loosing your current customers... what would be the best way of going about that?

[Lindsay]

You can set up a 301 redirect which allows you to permanently redirect anyone trying to access your old website name/URL to your new website. If you have cPanel, it's very easy to do this and the redirect takes effect immediately.

That takes care of the URL and the technical aspect. You might need to do a bit of marketing to explain the new business name.

[Allegro]

I second the advice. Actually it is what a web owner usually does after he changes his website's domain name/URL. Alternatively, you can set a webpage for the old domain name and put a link to the new domain name there.

[dylandreamer]

This underscores the importance of choosing a good name. Branding is lost when you make a change and can slow your momentum. It's good to think ahead in terms of where your business might go, new products that might be added, and so forth. Thinking in those terms can help you choose the name from the outset that you'll want to keep.

[Joshie]

I have nothing to add, as Lindsay mentioned the best thing you can do. Eventually, make a note on your new website telling users why they were redirected.

Best of luck!