When you decide to start a home business you may or may not have your own product to sell. If not you may simply become an affiliate and sell someone else's product for a commission or you can become a distributor for a network marketing company. Either way there are many reasons to have a separate and distinct name for your new home business.

Reselling product

There are many schools of thought on this. Some will ague that the product company has done all the work for you and that you should simply use their sales page, their landing page and their provided URL.

This may seem like a good idea when you join, having a ready made business with all the hard stuff done for you but using the same thing everyone else is using can be detrimental to your success. Lots of exposure is good for demand, but when you look like everyone else it's hard to compete for those highly desired prospects.

It doesn't take people long to figure out those company generated URL's. Any company who has a system that can be duplicated will have a standard looking URL. It's a perfect give away in any of your advertising. There has also been some fraudulent activity recently with people high-jacking the number and reaping the benefits of the sale.

Business entity

When starting a home based business you always want to keep your business activities separate from your personal. This shows the IRS you are operating a serious business not a hobby. It also protects your personal finances from becoming part of any law suit.

So what's in a name? McDonalds, Starbucks, Donald Trump, all very recognizable names. Why? Branding....

As your business grows you want to have a personal brand. Network Marketing companies come and go. If you're known only by the product you're selling, and then if they should go out of business so do you.

Also any SEO expert will tell you that those sales pages are not well designed for top search engine rankings and that because there are so many of them you are penalized for duplicate content.

I mentioned above the URL problem. Having your own domain name that is catchy and well optimized for the keywords of your niche can boost your ability to rank higher on Google.

So as you begin the development of your home based business you should give considerable thought to how you want to be known on the Internet. Creating a site that offers good pertinent advice in your niche gives you creditability in the eyes of your prospects. It also gives you flexibility to mix and match offers. You can offer affiliate programs, as well as selling your own products giving your buyers multiple choices.

Creating a brand image for your company is not something that happens quickly. It takes time to build relationships. But in the end you will have loyal buyers who trust your opinion and will continue to buy from you time and time again.