Search For Business In Alabama

Before incorporating an Alabama LLC, all firms should do an Alabama Business Name Search.

In this Alabama Secretary of State Business Search tutorial, we’ll teach you how to verify LLC name availability.

Alabama Entity Look

1. Adhere to the Alabama Naming Guidelines

Before finishing your business name search, we suggest double-checking that your company name complies with the standards.

The first and most significant step in forming your LLC is deciding on a name. Be careful to select a name that fits with Alabama naming rules and that prospective customers can readily search for.

Be careful to follow these naming guidelines:

The word “limited liability corporation” or one of its acronyms must be in your name (LLC or L.L.C.).

Your name cannot include terms that might be confused with a government entity (FBI, Treasury, State Department, etc.).

Restricted terms (e.g. Bank, Attorney, University) may need extra documentation and a licenced professional, such as a doctor or lawyer, to be part of your Alabama LLC.

Not sure what to call your company? Check out our LLC Name Maker.

2. Conduct a business name search in Alabama.

You may utilise the Alabama Business Business Search to verify the availability of your selected entity name before completing your name reservation request. To conduct the most effective search, enter the entity name you want to utilise, eliminating identifiers such as “LLC,” and leave all other items This will return any entities with names that are the same or similar. If you don’t see the name in your search, it implies it hasn’t been taken and is free to use.

If you file online, the site will urge you to do this search before completing your form. To prevent rejection if you submit by mail, undertake a thorough web search before finishing your application.

3. Look for Available Domain Names

Another crucial factor to consider when choosing a company name is if the desired web domain name is available. It is critical to have a URL that properly reflects your company name. This apparently little activity may have a significant impact on how potential clients locate your company.

4. Reserve the name of your Alabama business entity.

All LLC name inquiries and requests are handled by Alabama’s Secretary of State’s Business Entities Division. To assure that the selected name is available for use, Alabama requires all domestic and international LLCs to acquire a Certificate of Name Reservation before submitting formation forms. This certificate may be obtained either online or in the mail.

You must pay a filing fee while reserving your name. Checks should be made payable to the “Secretary of State.” Those who are not paying Alabama Interactive members must pay an extra $28 charge to make a request online. There is no extra charge for filing by mail.

Additional Considerations

While reserving your entity name is simple, there are a few more factors to consider while deciding on the right name for your company. You should do a Trademark and Social Media search for your name to check whether it is accessible for usage online. This will assist guarantee that you have complete and unlimited usage of your company name.

Trademark Lookup

Before registering your company name and related slogans or emblems, do a trademark search to avoid potential expensive lawsuits. The discovery that another entity has trademarked your company name does not immediately exclude you from utilising it.

However, it is critical to understand who is using the name, what sector they are in, and where they are situated in order to avoid unwittingly infringing on anyone’s intellectual property rights.

To finish this step:

Search Alabama’s trademark records to determine whether your company name or related slogans, logos, or others are in use by another firm in your state.

Search the digitised records of the United States Patent and Trademark Office for any federally registered trademarks linked with your company name.

Search on Social Media

Finding a domain name that matches your company is just as vital, if not more important, than ensuring that your business name is accessible To do this, search for your company’s name on each major website, using a service like Namecheckr to scan across all platforms at once.

In conclusion

Choosing a name for your company is a vital first step in forming a successful LLC, and it is a simple process. After you’ve discovered your desired name using the Alabama Secretary of State Business Entity Search, you’ll want to obtain your domain name so that your clients can locate your company online.

Using an Alabama Name Reservation Form to reserve your organisation name will help you stand out from the crowd. After you’ve obtained your entity name, you’ll be ready to take the following steps to create your Alabama LLC.