Naming Force Review: Make Money Naming Start Ups
Naming Force is a website that runs naming contests for up and coming companies/start-ups looking to generate a creative name for their company. I’ve been testing this website for the last month to see what it’s about, so here is my Naming Force Review.
What is Name Force?
NamingForce.com solves a problem. When a company doesn’t know what to call themselves, they’ll run a naming contest. A new company will post a description of what they do and some keywords they feel describe their company. They do this by setting a reward, typically $100 – $200 for a winning name. Then the Name Force community will submit various names based on company descriptions.
At the end of the naming contest (usually lasts a week). The company is required to select one winner and the you’ll receive the $100 – $200 reward. Simple.
My Experience
Setting up an account was easy and they offered videos on how to navigate the various contests but I skipped those. However in hindsight, I recommend them. They would have been very beneficial as I was confused starting off.
Keep in mind, after registering, you’ll have a 3 day waiting period before they let you start submitting to contest and you’ll only be allowed to 2-3 entries per contest. You start off as a “Private” (yes, they follow military terms for seniority). The longer you’re on the platform, you’ll move up and gain access to more contests with more entry opportunities.
Once in themarketplaceace you’ll see a list of contests with the cash prize on the left and the amount of submitted names on the right:
Naming Force Review – Contest Menu
Select a contest and check out a paragraph description of a company. That’s all you get. You’ll be given a small description of what they do and what makes them unique. Then you’re asked to create a name.
Keep in mind, they usually want a name that isn’t trademarked and has an available .com domain. So what I did, was come up with names that have an available domain. Usually, these names aren’t copyrighted since no one has bought their website domain.
To check if a name has a “.com” website domain, I used GoDaddy to see available website domains.
Contests:
I did about 5 contests total. Here is one example:
Contest Description “We are a brick/mortar organization that helps companies create reviews for their company and/or products” They mentioned they were a tech company but that was the general gist.
I hopped on GoDaddy and spent 20 min finding some great names for this company with that slim description. I narrowed down the choices to two and submitted them on the form at the bottom of the contest page, which looks like this.
Naming Force Review – Name Submission Form
Naming Force Review Pros:
It’s easy to sign up and anyone can enter a contest, potentially earning $100 – $300 if your name is selected.
Plus it allows you to be creative on your own time. Each contest last about a week or two, so you have some time to think about your names.
Naming Force Review Cons:
It’s really hard to win. In the marketplace, it shows you how many other names have been submitted. At a minimum, it was around 600 names per contest. So you’re competing with many other great names for a prize, and there can only be one winner. I personally don’t like 600 to 1 odds. If that’s the case, I’ll go back to playing lottery tickets.
Conclusion:
A month later, I never won. Not one contest. I feel I had some awesome names but they must not have struck a chord with the reviewers and that’s what matters. So in total, I did 5 contests at an average of 20 min each. I spent 1 hour and 40 min for nothing. It was slightly exhausting because I put a lot of thought into each name and none of them won.
I do not recommend this site as a way to earn money. My Naming Force Review revealed that it’s just not a consistent return for your time. You could easily continue to submit names for a year and still never win.
On the other hand, if you’re a start-pp, this is a great opportunity to get some awesome name ideas. This is a marketplace full of creative people with a history of naming companies. They’re willing to do the research to find creative names with available domains and trademark free brand names. You will pay $100 and get an average of 600 name submissions. You’re essentially paying around $0.17 per name within a 1-2 week turn around. The companies getting the names are the real winners in this deal.
Have you tried this, did you win? I would love to hear from someone who won because it’s a cool idea but sadistically frustrating to creative people who lose.
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
Hey Andrew, great blog, it really has got me motivated. I came across this somehow while Googling about a $2,000 emergency fund, because ironically, that is what mine is sitting at right now.
I really like what you’re doing and how you track everything. I would like to publish something like this at one point. I would definitely be interested in talking to you about investing, etc. If you’re interested, please contact me via email, because I think we have a few things in common at least.
Thanks Hayes! That really means a lot!
That’s too cool about ranking high enough in Google you found me. It seems we’re at a similar level for a financial safety net. Hopefully the post was helpful and made sense.
I’ll shoot you an email with some of the things that helped me starting off. Thanks for visiting!
So many different ways to make some cash online. I never heard of this before and probably won’t give it a shot. As you mentioned, the competition is fierce and with so many entrants and only one winner your odds of consistently making any type of cash is minimal at best. Better ways to use your time. Thanks for sharing.
ha ha ha I’m all about sacrificing my Netflix time to dabble with naming random start-up companies for cash, to try it out. With 600 to 1 odds. You’re better doing nearly anything for a better ROI.
Thanks for stopping by DivHut!
Never heard about this before. Interesting concept. With 600 entries though the chances are pretty small. But it does seem kinda fun too
It’s something I’d consider doing as I’m waiting in line to use the porta-potty at a concert. It’s really fun coming up with creative names, but when you have to cross check them with available domains, it’s getting close to doing work for free.
Just because I never won, doesn’t mean you won’t. lol
I have won $3000 on this site I love it I’m hooked
Dang Amy! That’s the best I ever heard from anyone on this site. There aren’t any “contest” for $3,000 so I’m assuming you’ve won multiple times. Any tips for us newbies?
PS. You listed your website as NamingForce, do you work for them? lol
-Andrew
Hi, Wallet Squirrel! I had tried Naming Force a few years ago and never won anything there, either. This was over a period of months, not weeks. It can be difficult and the entries were evaluated by other contestants. The more you voted, the more entries you could submit.
Though I don’t have anything bad to say about NF, I started on another naming site that begins with an S about the same time. The other site is openly being gamed and refuses to admit it. It was started by someone from India and a lot of the winners are also from India and sometimes don’t follow the rules but win anyway. I think the other site writes a lot of their own contests just to look busy and then pays them to staff. It’s tricky to call them out because with winning and losing, gaming is a hard thing to prove.
Thanks for the “InSite” =)
I’m glad I’m not the only one having a hard time winning anything on Naming Force. What is this “S” naming site? Is it SquadHelp? If they are gaming the system, you’re totally right, it’s hard to prove as an outsider.
The best thing we can do is try DIFFERENT forms of side hustling to make money. I like these ideas, but they just don’t seem to pay off.
Thanks for sharing!
Andrew
Thanks Andrew….um….maybe. It will catch up with the site eventually. “Contestants” win with names in the brief (against the rules) and more than once with the same name. (also against the rules.) It’s the same group that started about the same time and win all the time. I don’t care if it’s hard to win on a site as long as the site operates honestly. It’s hard to know how and where to report this kind of activity.
Me too actually I’m kind of bummed out because when I found it not too many people knew about it and I was winning contest left and right now that everybody knows about it it seems like it’s really hard 2 in 2015 was my year for sure I haven’t want to contest the last couple of months but it’s always nice to get consolation prize really just one win plus it’s totally fun
speak to text not cooperating, lol. I haven’t won in a few months, but it’s tons of fun.
Not true, I’ve won over 3500 since 2015. And it’s just fun if you have a knack for naming things its pretty easy…. Give it a shot before you doubt it.
One more thing: I read Jen’s comments.It really is possible to win on these naming sites. I’ve won over 5 figures and as of late, I’ve been especially gratified/pleased with Crowdspring. However, on the “S” site, I’ve seen my work repeatedly and suddenly downgraded, sometimes in several contests at about the same time, which makes me believe it’s being done by the same person and the motive is to make sure wins are paid to the “appropriate” contestants. They could be doing work for the site, “talking up” the site, etc. One contestant who repeatedly talks up the site on the contestant forum mentioned that she “sets goals.” You get the idea.
That’s really impressive. I definitely tried it and didn’t have the same luck on NamingForce. Maybe I just really suck at naming things too lol, but those odds of 1 in 600 are hard to argue.
Thanks for sharing Jen,
Andrew
I haven’t tried Crowdspring, but maybe I’ll give it a shot. =)
Thanks InSite!
-Andrew
Great post. However, some errors, viz (1)…struck a chord (NOT cord) & (2)gist (NOT jist). Keyboards with auto-correct would have amended “jist” to “just”. Best regards.
Great suggestions, I just corrected these and some other errors I found.
It’s funny how much I’ve grown as a writer over the last year and how I now see things I used to completely miss. I’m sure a lot of my old stuff is riddled with grammar mistakes.
Thanks for commenting and helping out!
-Andrew
Never knew anyone could make money helping companies develop a corporate name. Boy ol boy I tell you…the many ways to make money online! 🙂
What is Crowdspring? Is that an online fundraising site or some sort?
Naming Force is an outstanding service. We have posted contests twice with great success.
Curt
https://falconerelectronics.com/
Agreed, InSite and Andrew, on the site you refer to as being gamed. After naively pointing out what I thought were some bugs my account is indefinitely suspended. Too bad, as being a namer there was totally fun and I was winning sometimes. At Naming Force I just won a first contest, too; I am hooked.
Yes I want to join it will be good for me if I join that and there will be no problem for me to do that and I have also heard that this app is awesome and if it is there any problem I will surely ask and thanks.
Find name