28 October, 2022 - Haloo partners with Shoplazza to deliver a quick-and-easy online solution to protect your brand and business. This strategic partnership allows you to run a dropshipping trademark and dropshipping logo check in minutes to protect the brand identity of your online store. Find this new function by clicking on Trademark Tool under "Resource" in the footer of the Shoplazza home page. In less than a minute, Haloo will tell you whether your domain, trademark, and logo are eligible for legal protection; you can also find out if your social media handles are available at the same time!
It may not be immediately clear to all of our readers why it's important to have a branded domain, trademark, and logo for a dropshipping business. In this article, we'll look at the importance of all three for eCommerce branding and dropshipping success!
Let's start with logos!
Why is it important to have a logo for my dropshipping business?
If you're in the dropshipping business or thinking about getting into this incredibly lucrative and competitive space, then you may be aware of how difficult it is to increase brand awareness and foster brand loyalty within your target audience. It's not easy to make your dropshipping store stand out from the millions of other dropshipping stores out there. Investing time into designing your dropshipping logo can be an effective way to carve out a brand identity, and it can also be an excellent way to connect with your customers. Your logo is a positive representation of your brand value. When you create a logo, you're potentially making history.
For example, take the Coca-Cola logo. Its name, spelled out in white on a cherry red background, has evolved into a placeholder for social connections, good times, and a general mood of celebration or relaxation, depending on the context. While dropshipping is a business model that brings together, rather than builds from scratch, different products that can be found in a given online marketplace, brand recognition is still an essential part of dropshipping success. It goes without saying that having a catchy business name and a great logo with an innovative logo design can mean more sales, as the visual elements of online stores are integral parts of any good branding strategy, which contributes to the growth of customer loyalty.
Can you use a dropshipping logo from other stores?
Nope. Technically, you can use any logo you want, and there's no shortage of people who simply copy and paste existing logos, but you shouldn't be doing so! We strongly advise against building your brand identity on the back of another, especially because you'll be landing yourself in hot water by directly infringing on the intellectual property of another online store. You'll likely be in for a world of trouble if the sellers you're taking the logo design from decide to pursue legal action. This is a similar reason for avoiding the dropshipping of copyrighted goods.
How do I create a dropshipping logo?
You can create a logo from scratch using logo generators or hiring a professional logo generator, and, of course, you could also create a custom design. There are plenty of logo options on the market, and you should take the opportunity to create a brand identity that really speaks to the value your business offers to potential customers. Let's take a look at some of the services available for inspiration!
Looka
Looka is one of our favorite logo generators on the market. With tons of logo options, this logo maker is the one you want if you're wary of paying high prices for your dropshipping logo. Looka offers logo templates with rich color palettes; you'll be able to find the right graphics regardless of your niche. With so many great options to choose from, you're probably wondering about the price for Looka graphics, and that's the best part because Looka is free to use!
You do need to purchase the generated graphics, however, if you want to download the logo and copyright it.
Hear us out before you skip to the next option. While free logo generators can be a great option for those looking for a run-of-the-mill dropshipping logo, you get what you pay with everything in life, and it's no different with logo templates. The quality of a logo you get from a logo maker like Looka is noticeably different from those offered on a website where you can get an automatically generated dropshipping logo. With free logo designs, the risk is that you may later find it being used by another brand to represent their business in their online store and all over their official website. With that said, Looka packages are available for as low as $20. See for yourself.
Fiverr
Fiverr is a great place to look if you're willing to outsource your logo design to outside contractors. Dropshipping logos are highly sought after in the eCommerce space, and you are likely to find a professional designer who can satisfy your requirements on Fiverr, as they have no shortage of freelancers looking to put their skills to the test for that specific purpose. Fiverr-listed designers understand the importance of visual communication for successful companies, and most of them can be counted on to create your logo. If you'd like to see it for yourself, browse their dropshipping logo listings for yourself - prices can range from a couple of dollars to hundreds and even thousands of dollars.
Once again, remember that your logo is one of the most important ways in which your brand can connect with your customers. Aside from being a major part of your branding, a cool business logo can also help you with sales by making your services feel like they are worth paying for. And that's just the undeniable power of psychology at play in good branding.
Canva
If you're still reading, then you're waiting for us to share a free logo maker option. Am I right? In that case, Canva is the best way to design a logo for your business completely free of charge. You can create, customize, and download logo designs for your dropshipping store on Canva, without paying for anything. While certain templates for logo design are only accessible on the premium version of Canva, you can still find plenty of quality designs for free. While not as diverse in offerings as the previous options, Canva was made for people who want to make quality graphics without the help of a dedicated designer. Even if you can't access premium templates, you can use logos that catch your eye as an example when you're creating your own brand logo. If you're still not sure whether you should pay someone for your dropshipping logo or design it yourself, then we recommend that you browse Canva for inspiration.
Why do I need a branded domain for my dropshipping business?
Just like your brand logo is a calling card for your business, your online store's domain is crucial to your ability to attract customers to your dropshipping store. Whether you're selling products or services, if you want people to remember and talk about your brand, then you need to put some thought into acquiring a memorable domain name that's easy to repeat to friends and family so that you can benefit from word-of-mouth marketing which, despite being free, is probably the most powerful example of organic marketing. To find an effective domain name for impactful branding, head over to GoDaddy for a virtually complete list of available domain names. If you are unsure about the whole thing, brush up on domain-related terminology first before you make the jump.
Why do I need to trademark my dropshipping store?
If you're in the process of building or managing your own dropshipping business, you have probably put a significant amount of effort into the project. Dropshipping is one of the more accessible ways of starting an eCommerce business, so there is a significant amount of competition. Just like any other industry, you need to protect your position in the market once you've made a name for yourself, and the best way to do that is by trademarking your logo, business name, and branded domain. While Haloo has made that process incredibly easy, you'll first need to have a cool business name before you can protect it from the competition by trademarking your brand.
How do I create a business name?
To save you from wasting time needlessly on coming up with a business name, we are going to point you in the right direction. Even serial entrepreneurs tend to stress over business names, so don't feel frustrated if you find yourself back at the drawing board over and over again.
With that said, the best business names should satisfy at least three important criteria:
(1) Clearly identify the type(s) of products you'll be selling.
Many businesses chase trends by having a single, non-sensical term (usually derived from a Scandinavian language) as their brand name and expect customers to fawn over their creativity. While that may work for influencer entrepreneurs who are banking on the goodwill of their followers and their willingness to put up with pretty much anything, it simply won't do for a dropshipping store that's just starting to build its clientele. So instead of calling your dropshipping store Tikonblik, try something more sensible like Tim's Products for Men.
(2) Identify and associate with keywords that you want to rank your brand for.
If you want your potential customers to think of extreme sports when they see your business name or logo, then find out the world that people typically use to search for related content by using tools like Answer the Public. This great word association tool uses AI powered by big data to identify connections between the questions people look up in online search engines and the words they use to do it. Answer the Public is a great place to dig deeper into your niche, but be sure to have a direction in mind before you use up your 3 free searches per day!
(3) Make your business name easy to repeat in casual conversation.
When creating a name for your business to stand out from other brands, it's important to be bold and customize the conventional words used to represent your brand. It's similarly important to create a brand name that people can actually tell their friends without sounding goofy when these friends demand to know the name of the website that carries the awesome products you are selling in your dropshipping store. So before you name your own dropshipping business selling cat products the Purrky Purrvert, remember that your goal is to build customer loyalty, not to make them embarrassed to tell other customers about your store in public.
So what should I name my dropshipping store?
You didn't think that we were going to make you create a name for your dropshipping store all by yourself, did you?
Having gone through the three cardinal rules of naming your brand, you can now help yourself to the large selection of names for imaginary brands on AI-powered business name generators like Namelix. It's not difficult to look up alternative services on Google, so we won't bore you with a list of other business name generators because we really like this one. Our team enjoys the product so much that we browse its branding suggestions for fun. In fact, it's how we came up with the name Shoplazza (just kidding!).
All jokes aside, Namelix is our favorite because it's not only free to use, it actually delivers good quality business name ideas by asking for your input and, then, giving you the power to control the outcome through "Randomness" filters that determine the outlandishness of your potential brand names.
For example, if you set Randomness to "High" and enter "Haloo" as your root word, you'll get results like "Jugus" and "Koocho".
If you were to set Randomness to "Low", you'd see "Halogen" and "Halofoto".
And if that's not enough, you can also play around with "Name Style" options by choosing between "Non-English words", "Alternate spellings", and "Compound words", as well as five other options.
And all of these features are absolutely free!
Takeaways
If you're thinking of starting your own online store to get into dropshipping, then you'll need to spend some time working on your branding. The current level of competition in the dropshipping space is not for the faint of heart. The battle for customers is bloodless but cutthroat in every other sense of the word. The chase for profit means that brands are constantly looking for new ways to get an advantage over stores offering similar products or services, and quite a few sellers will resort to underhanded tactics like putting your logo on their website, and in their store, to boost their sales and profit margins.
Step 1
Every customer counts as dropshipping enters its branded era. Entrepreneurs with a talent for branding and distinguishing their products and services from other dropshipping sellers in the same industry would do well to protect all elements of their brand by legal means. This includes business and product names, branded domains, as well as dropshipping logos.
Step 2
Once you've picked out a business name on AI-powered business name generators like Namelix by following the three rules mentioned above, you can head over to domain registers like GoDaddy and see whether your domain is available.
Step 3
Then, you can design your own logo with Canva, hire someone else to do it for you on Fiverr, or use Looka templates to find the right dropshipping logo for your business. Branding doesn't have to be difficult if you follow these simple tips. Whether you're selling products or services, dropshipping growth is within grasp when you make it easy for your customer to remember your store with the help of an eye-catching logo.
Step 4
Shoplazza's Trademark Tool, powered by Haloo, can help you determine whether you can protect your branding efforts by registering with intellectual property protection authorities in North America. You can run a search for free, with no obligation to sign up.
Start dropshipping today with Shoplazza!
