One of the most challenging aspects of starting a blog is finding a unique name that you love.
My recommendation is to spend some time researching and working on this. That way you won’t wan to change it later.
Follow this step by step process and you’ll have a winning blog name that you and your readers love!
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#1-What will you be writing about and who is your target audience?
I highly recommend picking a topic that you are passionate about and I mean really, really, really passionate about. Something that you can lose hours spending time on and never get bored or feel like it’s a chore. The last thing you want to do is spend time on building a blog only to find that you’ve gotten bored and can’t stand writing about it anymore. As an example, my mom started a blog years ago about being heart healthy. Now, you’d think that perhaps she’s actually had heart problems and is writing from experience but no, her heart is perfectly fine. However, being from Europe she enjoys really enjoys wine so her liver would have been a much better organ to write about! Anyways, once the initial excitement of building and having the blog wore off, it soon became a chore for her.
Some examples include: fashion, photography, children, food, cars, cigars, refinishing furniture, etc.
#2-To niche or not to niche?
By being as specific as possible it can help to drive the right people to read your content while keeping it more broad will allow you to test what topics are bringing the most readers to your site and overtime can narrow down to a specific niche if you so choose. For me, I wanted to be able to talk about my life experiences and test to see what topics brought the most readers to my site. But, in all honesty, the more you can narrow down your topic the easier it is to create your blog name (called a domain) and the easier it is to target your ideal audience.
For example a food blog could be narrowed down to: recipes for singles, vegan eating, local restaurant reviews, feeding a family on a budget, Asian cuisine, plating food for photography, eating plans, quick and easy meals, recipes for crockpots etc.
#3-Make a keyword list
Now that you know what you will be writing about and who your target audience is, start writing any and all keywords that relates to your topic and your ideal readers. Let’s say I want to blog about feeding a family on a budget. Keywords would include: family, meals, budget, breakfast, lunch, dinner, recipes, eating plans, foodie etc
#4-Use an online thesaurus to expand on your keywords
As an example, when I look up family, I get clan, tribe, household. For meals: fare, feasts, chow, eats, grub, din-din. And for budget: cheap, low-cost, economical, bargain, steal, discount.
Thesaurus
Merriam-Webster Thesaurus
#5-Create a short and catchy name
Now all you have to do is combine these words together to create a unique and winning blog name:
Lowcostgrub
Bargainfare
Cheapchowclan
Tribefeasts
Householdfareforasteal
Discountfoodie
If you are having a hard time or want some more alternatives, you can use a name generator here and here. Just plug in your keywords and they will give you a list of names that may or may not be available.
#6-Check that the domain is available
Now that you have a list of a few domain names you like. You want to check that it’s available. The fastest way is to do a domain name search. Sometimes .com may not be available but .ca or .net is available. Personally, I would opt for a .com over any others but it’s completely up to you. FYI: hosting comes with a free domain for a year so YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY A DOMAIN SEPARATELY. For more info about this check out my post: Start A Blog For Less Than $5 A Month
#7-Check social media names
Sometimes, you may have a the perfect domain name but when you plug it into Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest someone might already be using that handle. If that’s the case, you can either scrap it completely or see if you can shorten it to make it work. For example, cheapchowclan may already be taken, so you can try #cheapchow or #cheapchowsite or #cheapchowcln etc. It just depends on how much you like your domain name and then finding a social media name that mimics it.
I hope this process helps you to come up with a long list of options to choose your ideal domain name that you and your readers can’t get enough of!
Interested in starting your own blog? It’s so much easier than you think. Check out my post: how to start a blog for less than $5 a month