Make it Count: Choose a Good Blog Name
A good domain name can help your blog in two ways. First: if it is easy to remember and perhaps a bit clever, visitors can remember it, and therefore are more likely to return to your website. Second: you can use keywords in your name to help it get searched.
Of course, you’re starting this blog to earn some cash, right? So you might not be able to afford your own domain. If you can’t afford to pay for one, you can set up a free blog on any of these websites:
If you are looking to include ads and sponsored reviews on your website, however, you have to be careful because some advertisers may not want to use bloggers on these sites (for example, some advertisers might request no blogspot.com blogs). Additionally, some readers might not take these blogs as seriously. However, they are still a great place to start, and if you have quality content, an attractive layout, and credibility and authority on your subject, then having a blog on one of these sites won’t be a huge issue.
If you can afford a domain, I suggest you get one. Here are a few basic tips:
Keep it Short, Straightforward and Simple
You want your readers to be able to remember it easily. Staying straightforward will help readers know what your blog is about; it will also help search engines understand what your blog is about. By straightforward, I mean something relevant to your topic. A short phrase could work too, as long as it is easy for readers to remember. Don’t go with anything too long.
Use a Keyword…
If you want to boost traffic to your site you can try to use a good keyword (this might help people find your blog through a search engine). Google has a keyword suggestion tool you can refer to if you wish.
…but don’t stuff it with a long string of keywords.
This will strain your credibility among readers and among search engines. For example: “cheap-discount-phones-cellphones-telephones.com” is a terrible domain name. It sounds spammy so the search engines will discredit it, will additionally look suspicious to readers and has no way of staying in the minds of readers. Another example of what not to do is “homemade-cooking-recipes-kitchen-blog.com”.
Never use Hyphens
They make it harder for readers to remember your URL and it looks unprofessional. There may be some exceptions to this, of course, but I would just not use them.
Make up a word
A lot of businesses create their own word as well for their websites (for example, I’m sure you’ve heard of Google, Yahoo, etc). You can do this for your blog as well. Just make sure that its pronounceable and easy to spell.
Use a .com extension
Generally people suggest “.com” as the best one; it is the most common and the one that every internet user knows (or ought to know). If you can’t get a .com, then you could also try .org and .net. Good advice that I’ve seen is to include these extensions in your logo to help users remember it better (otherwise, they might mistype your address and use a .com extension).
Regardless of whether or not you are buying a domain name or using blogspot.com, take these tips into account. If you are starting with blogspot, one day you might buy your own domain name – and by then, you’ll be known and will be stuck with your blog name. So when you name your blog, think ahead and choose something you can use as a domain name later on.
Need some inspiration? See the next post on creative domain naming ideas, or check out this list of domain generator tools.