You’ve decided to create a new blog and are ready to give it a name. Hold on, there. Not so fast. The first thing you should know about naming your new blog is this:
You only have one first shot at it.
Once you name your blog, choose your domain name, and launch your website, you’re off and running. You start creating content. Your blog begins attracting traffic. People subscribe. They link to your pages. After all that is happening — you don’t want to say “whoops, I don’t like my blog name” and go back and start over. Doing so upends much of the momentum and name recognition you had going for you.
So, while choosing the name of your blog is just one piece of getting started, it’s one of the most important ones because of its foundational permanence.
And that’s one reason why choosing a blog and domain name isn’t easy. It’s not something you can do as an afterthought. It’s not something you can multitask. Choosing a blog name requires focused attention, due diligence, reflection, brainstorming, and time.
For guidance and direction on choosing a catchy, effective, attractive blog domain name, you’ve come to the right place. By the end of this article, you’ll have a solid plan for finding a great name for your blog.
Blog Names vs Domain Names — What’s the Difference?
Just reading up to this point, you probably started wondering this. Is a blog name different from a domain name? And what is a domain name anyway?
A domain is also referred to as your URL. It’s your web address, the text that you type into the top of your browser to go to a website. Most URLs begin with www and end with .com, but others replace .com with things like .net, .org, or more niche-based endings like .vegas.
To get a domain name, you have to purchase it through a domain name registrar. We’ll cover that a bit later. But once you get a domain, you have to associate it with a host, such as WordPress.com. That’s where the actual files containing your website’s content will be kept.
As for blog names, this may or may not be the same as your domain name. The name of the blog is just that — it’s what you tell people the name of your blog is. It’s like the title of your blog, or the name of your business.
For example, suppose you want to write a blog about antiques. Your blog’s name could be The Antique Hobbyist. But your domain name might be antiquehobbyist.com.
Why are both the blog name and the domain name important?
There are several reasons:
- They give visitors an idea of what to expect from your blog and if it’s what they’re looking for
- They include keywords that help attract people more likely to read your content
- They give you a brand identity because no two URLs can be exactly the same
- They function like a headline — a favorable reaction to a name is the first step to a good impression
Let’s look at how to create your blog and domain names.
How to Choose a Blog Name
We’re starting with the blog name, but you really need to work on your domain and blog names at the same time, and you’ll see why when we get to domain names.
To name your blog, use the following strategies and considerations. And bear in mind that your blog name may not necessarily incorporate all of these. But it sure can try, and this is the goal. These are the guideposts to creating your best possible blog and domain name.
1. Ask Yourself Important Questions
What is your blog about? What is its industry, topic, niche, or area of expertise? The name of the blog should attempt to communicate that.
What makes your blog unique? Can you find an angle that differentiates yours from others in your niche?
What vibe or personality do you want to convey? Are you aiming for playful, professional, expert, methodical, enthusiastic? You might be able to inject some idea of the tone of your blog into the name.
2. Research Some Related Blogs
Go see what’s out there already.
In the blogosphere, sites in the same niche can function both as competitors as well as allies. You might find yourself linking to other sites in your niche, which helps their sites as well as yours. But they may do the same with yours as you produce more content. Later on, you might write guest posts for each other, or show up on each other’s podcasts.
Plus, many people who have hobbies and interests tend to visit and subscribe to multiple channels within their niche. So you and your competitors can share the same subscribers, and that’s okay.
Nevertheless, you don’t want your blog’s name to be too similar to one that already exists. That hurts both of you, because it’s harder to build a unique brand identity. Plus, it may confuse the search engines.
3. Good Ol’ Brainstorming
At some point in this process, sit down and just pour out any ideas you come up with on paper. Disregard quality, viability, and originality. Just get them out of your head and onto the paper or screen. This gets your brain excited about the creative process, and you’ll come up with many more ideas than you expected.
You may want to do this more than once. Later on, you can narrow it down.
4. Short and Sweet
The name of your blog cannot be a long sentence. Look around at company names. About the longest names you can find have just four or five words, and even that’s rare. Opt for shorter names over longer ones. Your blog name should be short enough to easily fit on a business card.
5. Easy to Say, Spell, and Remember
Imagine talking to someone and telling them the name of your blog, verbally. Will their idea of how to spell your blog’s name be correct?
Your blog’s name needs to be easy to say and easy to spell so that most people will know what you mean just by hearing the name. This is why it can be risky to include your own name in your blog’s name. For example, suppose a blog’s name was Gardening Guru Christina.
There are probably twenty ways to spell Christina, so that’s not a good name to use for the blog. However, Gardening Guru is a pretty good blog and domain name on its own (though it’s probably taken). It has alliteration, which makes it even easier to say and remember. It’s short and sweet. It clearly communicates the niche.
This is also why you should avoid using numbers and symbols like hyphens.
When you say the name of your blog, people won’t think of a hyphen. And it’s very clumsy and awkward to try to spell out the name of your blog if it has a hyphen. Numbers are problematic for the same reason. Is the number spelled out with letters, or is it the actual number?
6. Be creative
Creativity can come in many forms. The important thing is that your creativity needs to align with the vibe of your blog. If you’re going for a serious tone, don’t use a playful name. But creative, clever, and catchy blog names can score big wins with visitors.
7. Include a Keyword
It’s best if your blog’s name has at least one industry keyword. This has a huge benefit when it comes to attracting online traffic.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an entire industry built around the effort to attract traffic to your website. The URL of your site plays a big role in this because it makes it clear to search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and Google what your site is about.
The keyword piece relates more to the domain name than the blog name, but as you’ve seen, these go hand in hand.
8. Use a Test Audience
Once you’ve taken your brainstorm list and narrowed it down using the other criteria and tools in this guide, hopefully, you will have settled on just a handful of possible blog names.
At that point, it’s not a bad idea to grab a group of friends and poll them. Give them 2-4 names for your blog, and ask for their reactions.
Even better than that, and less biased since your friends won’t want to hurt your feelings, you can use a service like Pickfu. This service enables you to poll larger groups of random strangers. You submit your blog name ideas, and Pickfu will ask a sample of people which one they like best, and why.
Then, you’ll get a report featuring poll results, comments, and feedback.
If the poll reveals a clear winner, you can feel pretty good about the blog name. If the poll ends up closer to an even split, you have a little more work to do.
9. Use a Business Name Generator
Lastly, if you’re not happy with your list of ideas at any point, use our free Business Name Generator and see what it spits out.
One advantage of this tool is that it screens out blog names already taken, so you won’t spend tons of time narrowing down your list, selecting your favorite blog name, rejoicing and telling everyone how much you love it, and then discovering you can’t use it.
How to Choose a Domain Name
As mentioned earlier, choosing a domain name dovetails with your blog name. They may not be identical, but they should be really close.
You have a few factors in play when choosing a domain name:
- The URL must be available
- Cost — URL prices vary widely from under ten dollars to thousands
- Endings
WordPress offers a free domain lookup tool. This easy-to-use tool confirms that your domain of choice is available, gives you the cost, and shows you the availability and costs with various endings.
For example, maybe you just absolutely love your blog name idea, but there’s already a website with that name, ending in .com.
Well, if the owner of that site is using that URL for very different purposes than you are, then you might be able to use .net, .blog, .shop, or some other ending.
This is not ideal, of course, but sometimes it can work out okay.
Later on, you may decide to buy up your domain with other endings and then redirect them all to your site. And even if the .com ending is available, you might prefer a more specialized one like .shop.
What about costs?
Some companies buy up domains they think people or businesses might want, and then raise the price to buy them. That’s why you can’t get domains for common words like cars.com, or computers.com, or plants.com.
Even if a domain like that were available, it would likely cost a lot of money because its simplicity and SEO value make it highly desirable for someone in that industry.
You’ll keep your URL costs low if you can come up with a name that’s unique and original.
Pro Tip: After you create your brainstorm list, run your ideas through the domain lookup tool before you invest loads of time narrowing down your list. That way, you can remove all the unavailable domain names before you get emotionally attached to them.
How to Set Your Blog Name and Domain Name
Once you’ve chosen your blog and domain name and verified its availability and affordability, here’s what to do:
- Create a WordPress.com account and use this as your web host
- Buy your domain using the domain lookup tool from inside your WordPress.com account
- Log in to your blog’s dashboard and start producing content!
Your Checklist for Creating a Great Blog and Domain Name
Here’s a quick rundown of the tips and strategies you’ve just learned for creating a blog and domain name that attracts readers and defines your brand.
Blog Name Ideas Checklist
▢ Identify your blog topic
▢ Find what makes your blog unique
▢ Decide on the vibe and tone of your blog
▢ Research related blogs
▢ Brainstorm ideas for at least 10 minutes
▢ Check if your blog and domain name ideas are available and affordable
▢ Keep it short and sweet
▢ Make it easy to say, spell, and remember
▢ Be creative
▢ Include a keyword
▢ Use a test audience
▢ Use a business name generator
▢ Set up the blog and domain URL with WordPress.com
If you already know your topic, open your free WordPress.com account today and then start brainstorming blog names!
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