If you thought coming up with an idea for your blog was hard, well, get ready to experience the second most challenging part of blogging: coming up with a name. That phrase should actually be restated to read: coming up with a name that isn’t already taken. After all, picking a name is easy, but picking one that isn’t taken is not.
Let’s start off with the basics. Suppose your name is Joe and you want to run a poker blog. The obvious choice in this case is “Joe’s Poker Blog.” While attaching your name to a generic topic will give you a unique title, it lacks a certain level of professionalism. It also fails to define your niche. Again, you’ll want a more specific name like “World Series of Poker News Blog” or “A Beginner’s Guide to 7 Card Stud.” Now, your readers will instantly know what they can expect from your blog just by reading your title.
Another thing you’ll want to watch for is abbreviations. StartBlogging.net can abbreviate to SB. It’s quick, easy, but most importantly clean. You should be apprehensive to name your blog “Steve’s House of Interesting Things.” I won’t go into details why, but I’m sure you can figure it out. Don’t make the same mistake I did. My first blog was titled SaveAndMake which when shortened, reads S&M. Needless to say, I managed to upset a lot of people clad in leather outfits.
Finally, you’ll need a matching domain name. This can be a bit tricky considering almost all of the good domain names are already taken. It’s best to have a domain name with keywords in it that will describe your blog. Immediately upon reading the name StartBlogging.net, you can gather some sort of information without ever having visited the URL.
To see if the domain you chose is available to purchase, follow this link to www.GoDaddy.com and enter the domain name with the correct extension in the box positioned in the middle of the page. The next page will tell you whether or not the domain name is available. If it’s available, great (however, don’t register is just yet) but if not, keep checking until you find one that suits you best.
You can finally rejoice as the hardest part of starting a blog is over. You should have a name, an idea, a list of the competition, and an available domain name. Next, we get to set everything up. Don’t be intimidated. It’s a lot easier than you think.