We have recently started a new venture, registered as an LLC. For the sake of the post, let's call it Testcompany, LLC. How would I use the name publically? Specifically, I'm thinking about what to have the business name as in Paypal, Linked-in, etc.. Would it be "Testcompany" or "Testcompany, LLC". I've seen it done both ways and am just wondering what's best.
Either would work but the LLC shows your legitimacy and adds and extra air of professionalism. I use Inc. without fail for all business transactions.
For anything that requires you to validate your company as an entity, you'll have to use the "full name". This includes PayPal, Skype, etc. In terms of general advertising, that's up to you. It's a bit like your legal name versus a nickname. I own Bitcove LLC, and we advertise as "Bitcove IT Consulting". We make sure to include the full name when claiming copyright, on our invoices, and so on.
Thanks for the feedback. It seems like I might be better off including ", LLC" on the paypal business name. What are you guys doing in terms of linkedin and less "official" types of places? I feel like that's where nicknames get used more. For example, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, LLC becomes PWC on linkedin.
I would agree that the LLC is a must for the PayPal business name. For LinkedIn, being a business social network, we are using the LLC version. For our FaceBook page (with a less professional purpose), we are dropping the LLC. The same goes for our Twitter account and all informal services.