One of the key components that makes your blog stand out is your blog name.
Your blog name has the potential to give you more traffic, better conversions, and even affiliate sales.
Hence, it is essential that we choose a blog name that pays in the long run.
In this post, I will share some of the tips on how to come up with the perfect blog name.
If you are starting a new blog or just want to rebrand your dying blog, follow the steps below.
Blog Names Can Be Classified Into Two Broad Categories, They Are:
Generic Names
These are blog names that are related to the blog topic or the niche as a whole. They are intended to be search engine optimized and may consist of your main keyword.
These type of blog names are very apt for targeted traffic as your audience knows what to expect from your blog.
For example, my blog focusing on Blogging is named androidcentury.com
Branded Blog Names
These are blog names that are fancier than the generic blog names. They do not depict anything about the blog topic.
Most branded blog names come from the direct names of the corresponding authors like
But, there can be names that come out of nowhere and still ooze brand juice.
Example, androidcentury.com a blog on content marketing and entrepreneurship.
There is a very fine line between generic blog names and brand names.
When a generic blog gets viral or popular, its name automatically becomes a brand. Example Backlinko.com
Things To Consider Before Coming Up With A Blog Name:
A blog name is a permanent action that will define your future blogging strategies, so we must consider a few aspects before brainstorming a name for the blog.
#1. Check Out The Topic Your Blog is About:
This is the first step you need to consider before selecting a blog name. Find out what your blog is going to talk about. Your niche (subject around your blog articles) matters a lot if you want targeted readers.
Suppose you run a food blog, coming up with a name like FoodBasket.com is a good name to start. However, if you are thinking to get a funky name, your readers might not find your blog.
For example, one of the most popular news site “The Onion” has nothing to do with food or onions, it's a news site. When I first came across the site, I did not click on it thinking the article is spam. So make sure to have a title that goes inline with your blog subject.
#2. Brandability:
While generating blog names make sure those can be branded. If you are creating a niche site, consider choosing a domain name that is easy to remember or recall.
For example, androidcentury.com (my WordPress niche blog). It is a brandable name. People can remember it the very first time they hear.
#3. Give Your Blog Name Some Search Engine Love:
Your blog name, in a course of time, becomes your keyword that your site ranks for. Every query related to your blog name will get your blog ranked in the SERPs.
So, why not use this blog name as a keyword or a part of your primary keyword? Having a keyword gives your blog an advantage in the SERPs.
Try to optimize your blog name for search engines by either using your main keywords or combining your keyword with any adjectives. Here is a huge list of adjectives for you.
TIP: Having keywords in blog name is good but not compulsory. If you have quality content, you can rank for any keyword.
#4. Select A Blog Name That Passes The Phone Test:
Don’t get carried away with fancy blog names. Make sure your blog name is easily audible and understandable.
By phone test I mean when you say your blog name to someone via phone, the other person should be able to type it and reach the correct blog easily.
This is so essential in the day to day life where you have to name your blog in conferences, meetings, and podcasts.
Even more, when your blog starts attracting word of mouth people should be able to reach the correct website they heard.
2 Tips to Pass the Phone Test:
1
Get A Short Domain Instead of A Long One
For example, Backlinko.com is easily typable and understandable than something like buildbacklinks2017.com
This type of names make your blog appear spammy in front of both the readers and search engines.
2
Do Not Use Hyphens and Numbers
Using hyphens are not a healthy sign in SEO. They are not easy to tell too.
Blogger Harleena Singh from Aha-Now.com has always accepted that if she had the proper knowledge she wouldn't have gone for the hyphenated domain name.
Domains with numbers confuse your readers, and they might never return to your site. Most people will get confused if your blog name has the number as a numerical or as a word.
For example, Techblog4geeks can be perceived as techblogfourgeeks and Techblogforgeeks.
#5. Choose Only The .com Version of Your Domain:
A domain name is as crucial as your business. Unless you want a short-termed and country specific blog, choose the domain name with the .com extension.
Most readers take .com version of a blog for granted. Another reason to use .com domains is search engines always prefer them.
If people type your URL with .com (while you don’t have a .com domain), then they will either be funneled by someone else’s website or land on a broken page. This will surely cost you, valuable readers.
Example, even the legendary blogger Darren Rowse decided to buy the .com version of his website ProBlogger.net for around 5000 USD (source).
He did it because many of his valuable readers were simply landing on an alien blog because it had the .com TLD.
Having a funky extension like www.thegirls.party might be confusing to readers and they might type thegirlsparty.com and miss your site.
#6. Lock All Related TLDs To Your Blog Name:
If you are a bit concerned about branding, copyright infringement or even losing readers, I suggest you buy and lock all the TLDs related to your blog name.
Even if you decide to blog on a .net domain, still try to buy and lock the .com, .org etc.
For example, Grammarly.com (online Grammar checker) has locked the domain grammar.ly that redirects to their original homepage. Had someone else bought it, there would have been a serious loss of sales for them.
Precautions To Take While Selecting Blog Name:
Setting up a blog name is a permanent process. One simple mistake and it can ruin your whole branding and audience or readership. So, it is advisable to take certain precautions while finalizing a blog name.
Check For Copyright Infringement:
Sometimes, a blog name might be a part of an already existing brand or product.
These mistakes happen either when you are unaware of the brand. Some do it to leverage the brand power of the preexisting service to increase the traffic (or sales).
Whatever be the reason you wouldn’t want to mess with the law and lose your site, hence make sure to search for your blog name in copyright.gov to stay on the safe side.
Recheck Your Affiliate Blog Name:
Many times we keep our affiliate or niche site’s name closely related to our main product. But, some companies don’t allow you to qualify for commissions that come from a site that has their product name in the URL.
Recently, I contacted Grammarly if I could have a blog dedicated to Grammarly users with “Grammarly” as a part of the URL, and they bluntly denied.
So make sure to check this before you lose all your sale commission just due to this one mistake.
Scope of Keyword:
If you are using a specific keyword for your blog, make sure your content strategy is aligned with it. Writing something that is contrary to your blog name might destroy your audience.
For example, if you have a blog named SEOStrategy.com you can’t write fashion trends there. Hence, make sure your keyword and the scope it gives for your content to span.
Some Domain Name Generator Tools to Help You Come up with the Perfect Blog Name Ideas:
If you still need assistance to discover your dream blog name here are some tools to assist you.
Theasaurus.com
Thesaurus can help you come up with synonyms or alternate keywords for your blog name. It can be very handy in case your desired name is already taken.
Panabee.com
Panabee is your one stop solution for the research of a great blog name. Just type in your keyword and it brings you an ensemble of:
- various modified domain names
- Synonyms of your keyword
- availability of usernames for major social media channels
- Top Google sites ranking for your desired blog name
- Top apps in the Apple app store having any relation to your domain name.
Namechk.com
If you want to build a brandable blog, you should lock your blog name as usernames for all major social media channels or all of the social media platforms.
Namechk checks almost 102 social media platforms and forums to see if your desired username is free or not. In case you miss your desired username for at least the bigger social media platforms, consider choosing a different blog name.
Nameboy.com
This is a great tool to auto generate new domain names for your blog. You just have to enter your primary and secondary keywords and it is ready to go.
Picky Domains
This is a platform where you crowdsource your domain names. You can ask for domain names and the members will brainstorm some of the coolest domain names for you. If you pick a suggestion, you pay $50 or else nothing.
TIP: If you have some creativity, you can make some good income suggesting domain names to others.
Dot-o-mator
Looking for some cool web 2.0 style domain names? Dot-o-mator will help you in coming up with trendy web 2.0 domain names like Tumblr.com. Other similar tools include NameStation.com
Wrapping Up: What Should Your Perfect Blog Name Look Like?
A perfect blog name should aim at being short yet indicative of the type of blog. It should steer away of numbers, hyphens, and other esoteric words.
Make sure it doesn’t mess with any copyright laws and is brandable.
These tips will surely help you to brainstorm a perfect blog name.
What are your experiences in coming up with a creative blog name?
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