Name is the top most recognizing and branding factor for anything. There are many factors to choose a name for your blog. To make your blog professional you must be carefully to choose the name of your blog.
Why do you would like your own Domain Name for your blog?
Many bloggers wishes to have their own domain name for various reasons. An appropriate domain name can help to build the credibility and a sense of professionalism for branding your blog. Likewise a good domain name has the power to increase the branding of your blog. A selected domain name can enhance your blog for the Search Engine Ranking.
Factors should be considered to choose a Domain Name-
You can choose a domain name easily but should follow some factors to have an appropriate one. let’s have a look at a few areas to consider:
Goals and Objectives – First you should fix your goal and what is the purpose of your blog. Your blog should reflect the goal. Is is so important to think of the long term vision that you have for a blog when you’re making decisions like those about domain names.
Memorability – One of the frustrations I have
with ProBlogger.net is simply that people assume that it can be found at
ProBlogger.com. Of course when I came to register this domain I tried to get
the .com but it was unavailable so I decided that .net would serve my purposes
(which it has). The only cost is that .com is so ‘normal’ that many people make
the assumption that yourblog’sname.com will always be your address.
Source of Traffic – I’ve seen many articles on how to choose
a domain name written but in very few of them (if any) have I see a discussion
on the type of traffic that you will be wanting to build your website/blog
around. To me this is a crucial question (that emerges out of your overall
strategy) and one that will help you answer some of the important questions
that we’ll discuss below. Let me flesh this out a little:
Traffic to a blog generally comes from three main sources:
Loyal Readers
Search Engines
Referral Traffic
(from other sites)
I’ve talked a little about each of these types of traffic in
this previous post – they each have their own distinct advantages and
disadvantages and can be the result of different strategies. One of the many
things that can impact the source of your traffic is your domain name. I’ll
explain this more below but think it’s worth naming what type of blog and
traffic you’re after up front. If you want a blog that is high on SE traffic
you might well end up selecting a name that is different to a blog with traffic
based upon repeat readers. As I say – I’ll expand on this below.
Keywords and Branding – Many discussions on domain name
decisions talk about a choice between choosing a domain name with keywords in
them to domain names that are more brandable or generic. It’s worth stating up
front that it is possible to achieve both (I guess anything is brandable to
some extent) – but that this type of choice often comes into play. In my
opinion comes at least partly back to the type of traffic you’re hoping to
attract to your blog. Let’s look at each in turn:
Keyword Based
Domains - these domains, as the name suggests, incorporate keywords that your
blog is about in them. This is good for a number of reasons. Firstly it
communicates something to your readers very quickly with regards to what your
blog is about. The other positive is that Search Engines take a good look at
the words in your domain name when deciding what your blog is about and how to
rank it. As a result if you’re after SE traffic then these types of names can
be worth looking at. Examples of blogs with keyword based domains are
Cellphone9, the Movie Blog, Sims Gamer and Digital Photography School.
Brandable Domains -
these domains might often have some relation to their topic in terms of their
feel or sound but are much more about creating something memorable that can
become an identity in and of itself. In terms of traffic strategy – these blogs
would be suited ideally to developing a blog that is aiming to build a
community of loyal readers. Of course these blogs can also do very well in
search engines but this is usually for other reasons (keywords in URLs are just
one of many factors). Blogs that have these types of domains include Boing
Boing, Gizmodo and Dooce. In fact if you look at Technorati’s Top 100 blogs –
you’ll see that most of them have brandable names and not Keyword based ones.
Like I have mentioned above, these two options are no
mutually exclusive. One example that comes to mind is Engadget which has become
a memorable and well branded name that incorporates ‘gadget’ into it.
There are good arguments for and against both types of domain
name which we could talk about for some time and it’s quite common to feel torn
when making this type of decision between the two options.
Thinking of the Future – another factor to consider that is
related to my first point of goals and objectives is to consider what your blog
might look like in the future. I’ve seen a number of bloggers start up blogs
with domains that fit with the topic of the blog initially but which outgrow
the domain down the track. In one instance the problem was that the blog
started on a fairly narrow topic (a sub-niche) and on a domain that reflected
this but that in time it expanded it’s topic as the industry changed. In the
end the topic and name just didn’t fit.
Another ‘future factor’ to consider is how many blogs you’re
thinking of starting on your domain. Take a look at About.com for an example of
how it’s possible to have one domain with many blogs running off it. They blog
(yes they are blogs – run by MovableType) ‘about’ hundreds of topics and have a
domain name that suits this perfectly. I myself have fallen into the trap of
not thinking ahead in this way with my livingroom.org.au domain where I
currently have a blog on Digital Cameras. I guess this is an example of how
ultimately it doesn’t matter what domain you start blogs on as it’s a blog that
does pretty well – however I often wonder how much better if could have done if
I’d just thought ahead a little more!
Lastly on the ‘future front’ – don’t pick a name that you
suspect might date quickly. Picking a name that is time specific in any way
might find you searching for a new domain when it is no longer relevant at some
future time.
Name Length – there are a range of opinions on what the ideal
length of a domain name is. Technically you can have one with up to 67
characters in it but it is generally accepted that short ones are better for a
number of reasons including that they are easier to remember, that they leave
less room for making mistakes when typing them in, they are good for word of
mouth (online or offline) marketing, that they are more visually pleasing (eg
on your business card) etc.
The other argument is that if you are looking for SE traffic
that you might like to consider a longer domain name with a number of the
keywords that you’re looking for traffic on.
My personal preference these days is for shorter domains if
possible, but not just for the sake of being short. Plus short names are very popular
and hard to find these days so you might be forced to consider something a
little longer anyway.
Dot What? – Along with the debates over domain name length
comes many different opinions over what is the best to have at the end of your
domain after the ‘dot’. These letters (ie .com, .net, .org etc) are technically
called the Top Level Domain (TLD) and are divided into two types. Firstly there
are country code TLD’s and secondly there are ‘generic’ TLDs which signify
different types of organizations (in theory at least).
As I say there are a variety of approaches to selecting which
TLD to go for:
Legalities – The
first consideration is the legalities of your choice as different countries and
generic TLDs have different requirements but the
SEO – This is where
many of the arguements over TLD’s come in. I’m not going to get into it in much
depth except to say that most people believe .com to be most powerful and that
.net and .org are also good. Also if you are starting a blog with a localized
focus it is well worth considering a country code on your TLD as it will help
you get indexed in local search engines (I get a lot of traffic on my .au
domains from Google Australia). If you’re going for a more global audience try
for .com or .net.
Hyphens? – Another eternal debate with domain names is over
the value of hyphenated names. For example a hyphenated version of this blog
might be Pro-Blogger.net. There are a two main reasons that some people prefer
hyphenated names:
Availability - one
of the main reasons for going with hyphens is that ‘all the good names are
taken’ (or at least it can seem this way). Adding hyphens to names definitely
gives more options.
SEO – hyphens are
said to identify keywords to search engines more clearly (once again there is
some debate over this).
Of course for every positive there is a negative and the
arguments against keywords include:
Memorability –
adding hyphens can make it tricky for readers to remember your name
Difficult to
Communicate – have you ever tried to tell someone a domain name with a hyphen
between each word? It can be quite an annoying process
Increased Margin
for Error – the more characters in your domain the more chance of a mistaken
keystroke
Cheap and Nasty
Factor – there is a perception among many web-masters that domains with lots of
keywords and hyphens are spammy. I personally don’t mind a domain with one
(maybe two) hyphens in them but
domains-that-have-lots-of-them-frustrate-me-and-turn-me-off.
Numbers? – Another option to consider when choosing a domain
on a topic that is quite crowded is to include a number at the beginning or end
of it. Once again this increases your chances of finding a domain with your
keyword in it but could ‘cheapen’ the sound of your domain (a matter of
personal opinion of course).
‘Easy’ Names – Most ‘experts’ in this area argue that a
domain name should be easy to spell, pronounce, remember and type. Web users
are notoriously lazy and if your site is not easy to find then they might just
quickly give up trying to find it. As a result the easier you can make your
domain to remember and access the more chance you have of traffic to it from
repeat readers.
Keeping it Legal – it is highly recommendable to think
seriously about the legal implications of the words you use in your domain
name. Avoid trademarked names especially. I know of a couple of instances where
bloggers were forced into making changes months into new blogs because of legal
threats. Whether these laws vary from country to country I’m unsure – but it’s
worth considering if you’re picking a domain that might clash in this way.
The ‘Blog’ Word – One temptations for many bloggers is to use
the word ‘blog’ in the name and URL of their blog. This has the advantage of
opening up new options for domain names but can also have some costs. For
starters it could see the possibilities for expanding your site down the track
limited. If one day you don’t want to run your site in a blog format you might
feel a bit trapped. The other reason is that if you are wanting to use AdSense
as an income stream for your blog down the track, it has a problem of serving
ads about blogging when the word ‘blog’ appears too prominently on a site. This
is ok when your blog is about blogging – but isn’t too conducive to high ad
relevancy if you’re writing on a different topic.
Secure Multiple Domains - One piece of advice that many
experienced web-masters recommend is making sure that you secure other similar
domain names to the one you eventually choose. For example, if you choose a
.com domain name it might be worth getting the .net and .org ones if you can,
or perhaps even getting plurals or other logical similar ones. This is not
essential but might help you protect your niche in some circumstances.
Opinions of Others – Before you buy that domain you’ve been
eyeing off – it might be worthwhile running it by one or two other trusted
friends (who won’t run off and buy it themselves). It’s amazing how focused you
can become on finding the right name and how that can cloud your judgement.
It’s also interesting to see how a name might sound to a person of a different
culture to your own. Words mean different things in different part of the world
and it could help you avoid an embarrassing mistake or just a dorky blog name.
Previously used Domain Names – It’s worth checking to see if
a domain has been previously registered. Spammers often buy up domain names and
then abandon them later once they’ve used them up. This can leave these domains
banned by Google which gets you off to a pretty poor start.
Of course the above points are not hard and fast rules. As
I’ve mentioned many times before – some of the worse domain names on sites have
ended up being quite successful. I have blogs trapped on domains that were not
thought through very well (largely because I didn’t know any better and thats
the way things evolved) – some of them do poorly and others do very well.
There’s more to a blog’s success or failure than it’s name or
URL – all I’m arguing is that a wise choice in this can better your chances in the
long term.
Some tools you might like to use in selecting a domain name
include:
NameBoy
DomainsBot
Whois Source
Feel free to add your own tips, suggestions and experiences
in comments.
For more instruction on registering domains, setting up
hosting and setting up WordPress you might also find Jon Symon’s video series
on the topic worthwhile.
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