Best Steps to Creating A Brilliant Blog Name
11:03 AM Creating A Brilliant Blog Name
Is creating a blog name worth spending time on? What’s even in a name?
Even if you’re not aspiring to build a blogging empire, the name you choose for your blog is a vital piece of the puzzle.
Your blog name appears on every page, and is the summarization of the ‘brand’ of your blog.
This is something I wish I’d thought more about when I began – my blog name doesn’t tick all the boxes on the list below – but it does tick some, and it’s become established and well known enough that I don’t want to change it again at this stage.
But if you’re at an earlier stage of building your blog, or haven’t started your blog yet – make sure to consider the points below when you come to creating your blog name.
For the well established blogger, this list offers some useful pointers for naming not only future blogs, but e-books, courses, or products you may create in the future…
5 Steps to Creating Your Blog Name
1. Consider the Subject of Your Blog
Creating a blog name which somehow describes the core subjects covered on your blog is important. At a glance, visitors and potential readers will have some idea what’s in store for them – and making things easy for your readers (especially new ones) is always a good thing.
Here are two good examples:
Mavis Nong’s AttractionMarketingOnline
Andrew Rondeau’s WeBuildYourBlog
It’s immediately obvious from these blog names what kind of content you’ll find if you visit them.
2. Include Keywords
It’s well worth including some simple, high impact keywords which relate to your blog subject – even if you’re not thinking about attracting search engine traffic at this point. A couple of examples:
Ana Hoffman’s TrafficGenerationCafe
Ileane Smith’s BasicBlogTips
In each case, their blog name (and URL – see point 5 below) includes a keyphrase – ‘Traffic Generation’ and ‘Blog Tips’ or ‘Basic Blog Tips’
As well as giving a clear idea of the subject matter, both of these blogs will have a better chance to rank for terms related to their principle keywords by having them included in their name.
3. Make it Stand Out!
I’ve written before about why and how to make your blog unique – and the same principle applies to your blog name. This is one of the areas where I think Blogger’s Alchemy does well – whilst it’s not as clear about the content within as some blog names, it has an intriguing and original quality which has impact and is highly memorable.
Two other examples with a unique and memorable feel to their names are
Justin Germino’s DragonBlogger
Francisco Perez’ iBlogZone
4. Sound, Rhythm, Aliteration
The sound and feel of a name helps give it impact. Simple names with a powerful ring to them, and names that somehow ‘roll off the tongue’ work well for sticking in people’s minds and being instantly recognizable.
Examples:
Keisha Easley’s WeBlogBetter
Ileane’s Basic Blog Tips (again – great name Ileane!)
These two feature the same letter at the beginning of two of their three words, making them easy to say, hear and remember. They also have a rhythmic feel which embeds them more firmly into the subconscious.
Another way to take this principle even further is with Rhyme, but I can’t think of any blogs names which have a rhyming element to them. Can you?
5. Make Your Blog Name and Domain Name the Same
I know, I know – I haven’t done this. Yet. It’s getting higher up my master to do list.
It’s a big deal to change your URL once you’re established and built up backlinks, and branded yourself. But it is possible. Jane Sheeba from ProbloggingSuccess wrote this guide to moving a WordPress blog to a new domain name after she changed her blog name from Find All Answers to Problogging Success.
Having the same blog name and URL has better brand continuity, and also supports your search rankings for the keywords contained in your name. Both Blog Title and Domain Name are very strong ranking signals (since they’re not that readily changed), so getting them aligned with principle keywords is an important step.
Your Own Name As Your Blog Name?
No. In most circumstances, don’t do it. I did, and as a result, I still to have to change domain names as I mentioned above.
If you are branding yourself as a leader in MLM or Network marketing, or as an author or speaker, then ‘yourname.com’ is a good idea. Otherwise, not.
Your target audience are not searching for your name, they’re searching for a solution to their problem (at least to begin with)
If you use your own name, the blog has far less sale-ability. I know most bloggers aren’t thinking about this, but established blogs do sometimes change hands for large sums of money. Thing is – if the brand and blog name is your own name, it doesn’t have as much value to anybody else!
You own name doesn’t mean much to a new visitor. Having it emblazoned across the top of your page tells a new arrival nothing of the content of your blog, and unless you fit examples such as those mentioned above, you’re missing an important opportunity to let people know what your blog has to offer them.
How did you Create your blog name?
What brand, product and blog names stand out and stick in your mind and why?
Is creating a blog name worth spending time on? What’s even in a name?
Even if you’re not aspiring to build a blogging empire, the name you choose for your blog is a vital piece of the puzzle.
Your blog name appears on every page, and is the summarization of the ‘brand’ of your blog.
This is something I wish I’d thought more about when I began – my blog name doesn’t tick all the boxes on the list below – but it does tick some, and it’s become established and well known enough that I don’t want to change it again at this stage.
But if you’re at an earlier stage of building your blog, or haven’t started your blog yet – make sure to consider the points below when you come to creating your blog name.
For the well established blogger, this list offers some useful pointers for naming not only future blogs, but e-books, courses, or products you may create in the future…
5 Steps to Creating Your Blog Name
1. Consider the Subject of Your Blog
Creating a blog name which somehow describes the core subjects covered on your blog is important. At a glance, visitors and potential readers will have some idea what’s in store for them – and making things easy for your readers (especially new ones) is always a good thing.
Here are two good examples:
Mavis Nong’s AttractionMarketingOnline
Andrew Rondeau’s WeBuildYourBlog
It’s immediately obvious from these blog names what kind of content you’ll find if you visit them.
2. Include Keywords
It’s well worth including some simple, high impact keywords which relate to your blog subject – even if you’re not thinking about attracting search engine traffic at this point. A couple of examples:
Ana Hoffman’s TrafficGenerationCafe
Ileane Smith’s BasicBlogTips
In each case, their blog name (and URL – see point 5 below) includes a keyphrase – ‘Traffic Generation’ and ‘Blog Tips’ or ‘Basic Blog Tips’
As well as giving a clear idea of the subject matter, both of these blogs will have a better chance to rank for terms related to their principle keywords by having them included in their name.
3. Make it Stand Out!
I’ve written before about why and how to make your blog unique – and the same principle applies to your blog name. This is one of the areas where I think Blogger’s Alchemy does well – whilst it’s not as clear about the content within as some blog names, it has an intriguing and original quality which has impact and is highly memorable.
Two other examples with a unique and memorable feel to their names are
Justin Germino’s DragonBlogger
Francisco Perez’ iBlogZone
4. Sound, Rhythm, Aliteration
The sound and feel of a name helps give it impact. Simple names with a powerful ring to them, and names that somehow ‘roll off the tongue’ work well for sticking in people’s minds and being instantly recognizable.
Examples:
Keisha Easley’s WeBlogBetter
Ileane’s Basic Blog Tips (again – great name Ileane!)
These two feature the same letter at the beginning of two of their three words, making them easy to say, hear and remember. They also have a rhythmic feel which embeds them more firmly into the subconscious.
Another way to take this principle even further is with Rhyme, but I can’t think of any blogs names which have a rhyming element to them. Can you?
5. Make Your Blog Name and Domain Name the Same
I know, I know – I haven’t done this. Yet. It’s getting higher up my master to do list.
It’s a big deal to change your URL once you’re established and built up backlinks, and branded yourself. But it is possible. Jane Sheeba from ProbloggingSuccess wrote this guide to moving a WordPress blog to a new domain name after she changed her blog name from Find All Answers to Problogging Success.
Having the same blog name and URL has better brand continuity, and also supports your search rankings for the keywords contained in your name. Both Blog Title and Domain Name are very strong ranking signals (since they’re not that readily changed), so getting them aligned with principle keywords is an important step.
Your Own Name As Your Blog Name?
No. In most circumstances, don’t do it. I did, and as a result, I still to have to change domain names as I mentioned above.
If you are branding yourself as a leader in MLM or Network marketing, or as an author or speaker, then ‘yourname.com’ is a good idea. Otherwise, not.
Your target audience are not searching for your name, they’re searching for a solution to their problem (at least to begin with)
If you use your own name, the blog has far less sale-ability. I know most bloggers aren’t thinking about this, but established blogs do sometimes change hands for large sums of money. Thing is – if the brand and blog name is your own name, it doesn’t have as much value to anybody else!
You own name doesn’t mean much to a new visitor. Having it emblazoned across the top of your page tells a new arrival nothing of the content of your blog, and unless you fit examples such as those mentioned above, you’re missing an important opportunity to let people know what your blog has to offer them.
How did you Create your blog name?
What brand, product and blog names stand out and stick in your mind and why?
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