When it comes time to choose a name for your blog, you are probably going to run into a few issues and frustrations — the main one being that the name you want to use for your site or domain is likely already taken. This is nothing out of the ordinary and something site owners and bloggers deal with on a daily basis. Fortunately, when it comes to blogging or making money on the internet, you can get quite creative and some of the most successful sites in the world have some unique names… ie: ebay, google, yahoo, buzzfeed, reddit etc.
First Steps to Choosing a Name for Your Blog
So what is the first thing you need to do when it comes to choosing a name for your blog? All too often we find ourselves getting way too excited about launching a new web site or blog and we quickly register a domain name, throw WordPress up and start writing content. Unfortunately many of us struggle with this problem and have a whole portfolio of domain and sites we no longer wish we had.
To help all of us avoid these same mistakes, I made a quick bullet point list for you to walk through before getting started.
- Think of why you want to make a blog in the first place
- What are you going to be blogging about and do you have enough writing ideas
- Come up with a few keywords that you might want to use in your domain
- How are you going to monetize your site or blog once you have content and traffic
- Visit GoDaddy.com or NameCheap.com and see if your domain name is available
Unless you get creative with your domain name, it’s probably already taken.
Securing Your Personal Domain Name for a Blog
There are likely already a few hundred or even a few thousand people in the world with your same exact name, but there is only one exact match domain name in .com, .net or .org form for your name. Owning the .com version of your name is priceless, even if you aren’t trying to brand your blog around yourself — and it truly is “one in a million” (if not 7 billion)
I was fortunate enough to register ZacJohnson.com back in the day and just held it in my portfolio for many years before I actually did anything with it, which was launching this blog back in 2007.
If someone already does have yourname.com, then you can do a few things:
- See if the domain name is registered (if so, by who)
- Contact the owner of the site to see if they are willing to sell
- Use a domain name expiration service to capture the domain name if they forget to renew
- If you must have the domain name and none of these methods work, you can hire a domain broker to help
* The domain expiration service tip is huge! I’ve been using it for years now and have not only secured multiple variations of my name, but also some other amazing domain names in the process.
Buying a Great Domain Name
If you aren’t looking to use your personal name as your blog/domain name and are looking for something unique and generic at the same time, your next best option may be to purchase a premium domain name or established site.
I have two examples for you:
- BloggingTips.com – I had the opportunity to purchase this site several sites ago through Flippa. It’s a very attractive and keyword rich domain name. It’s also made up of two highly sought after words and it being a “.com” makes it even more valuable. At the time of the purchase it came along with a full site and content, but the domain name in itself is worth a decent amount.
- Blogging.org – I was also fortunate enough to purchase this amazing one-word domain name after it had expired and went into auction. I was the winner of the auction and decided to launch my own blogging service through the site. This initial purchase was solely for the domain name.
It Really Doesn’t Matter What You Name Your Site
I’ll know throw a wrench into your thinking process and simply remind you that whatever you end up naming your domain, blog, brand or business — it really doesn’t matter!
I mentioned a bunch of successful sites with weird names and words that the average person would have no idea what they meant 10-20 years ago, and now they are household names.
Having an exact match or one-to-two word domain is awesome and it can definitely help with brand, but at the end of the day it comes down the service, product and value that your site or business offers. Focus on the end goal for your blogging concept of business model and you will find success no matter the name you end up going with.
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