The name of your blog is more than just a name. It is part of the “brand” you are creating. Here are some things to keep in mind when selecting your new blog’s domain name.
Easy to Remember ~ Difficult to remember names are hard to promote. Visitor’s can find your posts interesting, but unless they specifically go through the effort to bookmark you in some way, they are unlikely to stop in again anytime soon. You will be the blog they vaguely remember, but just can’t think of the name.
Does It Reflect Content ~ Have you ever visited a website, and found something entirely different from what you expected? This is not what you want visitors to think about your site. Surfers are seldom fond of surprises. If you have a name that creates the expectation that your site is about kittens, it should be about kittens.
General Names ~ If you are not certain of what direction your blog might go in the future, select something more general in nature. Your children will grow, your interests will change, don’t pigeon hole yourself in a domain name that won’t fit you a few years from now. Changing down the road, can be a real hassle, resulting in loss of pagerank and traffic.
Make Sure the “.com” of your Name is Available ~ Even if you plan on going with a free blogspot blog, buy a .com domain for your blog. Yes, you can utilize the name with Google’s blogger service. This not only makes your blog more acceptable to companies who may work with you in the future, but makes switching to WordPress far easier later on. If you work hard and start to do well with your blogspot blog, there are people out there who will grab up your domain name. Protect yourself from these “traffic leeches”, and domain name resellers, by beating them to the punch. Domain name registration is less than $10 per year, from most registrars.
Short is Sweet ~ You won’t always be able to find a good match, in a short name, but try and shoot for brevity. Most top websites tend to have shorter names. They are fast to type in and often more memorable. The odds of finding a memorable 4-5 letter name are almost non-existent, but keeping your name under 12 letters is helpful. 6-7 letter names are still to be found. I grabbed SlyMom.com only a few days ago. It wouldn’t be a good name for most mommy blogs, but works for what I am doing here. Maybe your little gem is waiting for you.
Be Flexible ~ Unless you are dead-set on something in particular, brainstorm a list of names. Asking friends either online or off, what they would expect of a site with any of the names on the list, and which would be easier for them to remember, can save you the hassle of a name change down the road.
Utilize Keywords ~ Selecting a name which contains a keyword, or keyword combination that is frequently searched by people interested in your niche can be a nice kick start to your SEO efforts. The Google Keyword tool can be very helpful in this area.
Keeping these tips in mind when selecting the name for your blog can help, but in the end, the most important thing is whether you will be happy with the name. Much like a child’s name, it is something you will be seeing and hearing for many years to come.
