What’s in a (blog) name? The name of your blog has the power to encourage people to check out your site and learn more about you. It could also turn them in the other direction. Naming your blog with a powerful, catchy name is one of the most crucial steps in setting your blog up for success.
Because of its importance, bloggers often find themselves struggling to come up with that perfect name that describes their blog to a T. That’s why we’ve come up with this list of simple steps to take when naming your blog.
Naming a Blog for Success
Ultimately, homing in on the blog name you want to use will take some trial and error, playing with words, and gathered inspiration from around the web.
1. Think About Its Purpose
What’s your blog’s niche? Your niche is going to be your deciding factor in your blog’s name because the name you choose should be relevant to your niche. Your audience should be able to quickly recognize what your blog is about based on its name. If you haven’t yet decided on a niche (even if that niche is something broad, like Lifestyle), now is the time to do it.
2. Think About Its Vibe
Next, consider the type of blog you’re going for. Is it going to be heavily research-based or more of a personal blog? Are you going for informative or comical?
Your blog’s overall vibe should also work its way into your name. If you’re shooting for lighthearted posts, then your name can reflect that. Pulling your blog’s personality into its name is an excellent way to grab the right audience.
3. Think About Your Audience
From the moment someone looks at your blog’s name, they should get a feel for what it’s about and if it’s a blog they want to follow. That holds true even if you decide to name your blog after yourself! Your audience will know that your blog focuses on you and whatever it is that you do or are an expert in.
Behind the Shutter, for example, is a blog with photography news and tips. Good Car Bad Car talks about automobile sales data and reviews to help people in their car searches. From the get-go, you know the general idea of who these blogs target.
4. Consider Keywords People Might Search For
Although Google won’t necessarily rank your content higher because your blog and domain names have a relevant keyword in them, it could cause people to click on your content just because it feels more relevant than others.
For example, let’s say someone searches for a tutorial on how to build a wooden bench. They look at the top result from a blog named Working with Bill. A few results down, they find a tutorial on a blog named Simply Wood DIY. Which one would probably stand out more to the browser?
5. Use a Thesaurus
A thesaurus can and should be your number one tool when naming a blog. It’s easy to get stuck on a few keywords that describe your blog well and want to incorporate them in your name somehow. But chances are the common words for your niche will be overutilized already – and you want your name to stand out.
Head to Thesaurus.com to plug in a few terms you’re considering for your blog’s name. If you’re creating a car-focused blog, you can enter “car” and get synonyms like gas-guzzler, roadster, coupe, and ride, which might help you create a more appealing name.
We also love Reverse Dictionary, which finds you words for a definition you enter if you’re stuck on coming up with the perfect word.
6. Use a Name Generator for Inspiration
There are many blog name generators on the web to help you with this process! While we don’t think you should rely completely on a generator to come up with your name, we do think that they’re excellent tools for sparking some inspiration.
Name Mesh is a good one to use to find available domain names and get a fast mix of combinations for keywords you want to use. Going back to our car blog example, let’s say you’re considering incorporating the words, “roadster” and “life” into your name. Inputting those gives suggestions like Roadster Life, Easy Roadster Life, and Roadster Economy – choices you may never have thought of on your own and can now build upon.
7. Consider How It Looks as a Domain
Some names look fine when there are spaces between the words. But as soon as you put them together as a domain name, your phrase may not read as well. Look at the words together as a domain name before making your final choice.
Does it look confusing? Is it difficult to read? Does putting the words together create an offensive word? If so, try mixing around your words or swapping one for a synonym that reads better.
8. Make Sure It’s Okay to Use
Finally, your chosen name has to pass the okay-to-use test. First, use Instant Domain Search to see if your domain name is available. If the .com is taken, the results will show you what other extensions are available.
All clear? You should still do a search for business names that may have trademarked the name you want to use. The last thing you want to do is fall in love with a name that’s already trademarked and lands you in hot water later. The Small Business Administration has some helpful tips for searching for names and registering yours.
Naming Your Blog is the First Step…
And setting up your blog is the next step! Here’s a beginner’s tutorial for starting a blog and producing content. Don’t forget to add your share buttons with a simple code and a few easy steps to let visitors share your content with their networks with just one click.
