How to Come Up With the Perfect Blog Name

Trying to come up with a new blog name can be very frustrating.  It seems that all the good names you come up with are taken right.

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably pulling your hair out trying to come up with a blog name that you like and is still available. 

The whole process was so frustrating for me and I am here to tell you that it doesn’t need to be.  Are you ready to get started?

PIN IT TO READ LATER!

How Important Is a Blog Name?

Who really wants a bad blog name, but the problem is that they’re pretty much all taken.  Let me ask you this, what does “YELP” even mean.  And yet, it has become such a common verb, “let me yelp this place”.

Yes, having a good blog name is important, BUT don’t stress yourself out too much trying to come up with a perfect blog name.  Whatever name you can come up with is most likely taken.

I always recommend .com because that’s what people are used to.  But I recently purchased a domain name with .co because I really liked the name and the .com one would set me back $20K.

Things to Avoid When Picking a Blog Name

• Long names – they’re hard to remember and a higher chance of people misspelling it.  Look at all the famous websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, WordPress, Amazon, Uber.  They’re all very short and easy to remember.
• Intentional spelling mistakes – You want the name to be clever, but don’t intentionally mistake it with a common word.  For example: CookWithKate is taken and you think since Kate starts with a K, let’s do KookWithKate. JUST.DON’T.DO.IT.  Bad idea.
• Hyphens – easy for people to misspell and hard to remember.
• Numbers – another big no-no.
• Offensive or offputting – if you want to monetize your blog, you don’t want your blog name to be offensive.  Brands will not want to work with you.  Try to keep it clean and professional.
• Don’t pick something too narrow – Let’s say your blog is about cooking and you love to bake, so you name it BakeWithKate.  What happens if later on, you want to fry or make pasta.

Examples of Good Blog Names

• Oh She Blogs – A blog about blogging tips and how to make money blogging
• The Blonde Abroad – Female solo travel & lifestyle blog
• Nomadic Matt – He has been blogging for a very long time and now helps others travel
• Making Sense of Cents – A blog about personal finance (my personal favorite)
• Cooking with Dog – A Japanese YouTube cooking channel where the dog is a host of the show

How to Come Up With a Blog Name

1. Brainstorm

Use a piece of paper and write down all the words you can come up with that are related to your blog.  I prefer writing them down over using excel or word document. I want to be able to see and cross them off as I go through them.

If I want to have a cooking blog, some of the words that are on top of my head right now are:

Bake. Cook. Cooking. Eat. Eating. Kitchen. Yummy. Delicious. Recipes.

2. Check Thesaurus

Run these words through Thesaurus to get a list of additional words and ideas for your blog name.

For example, when I type in food, I get the following words:

3. Mix and Match

Now that you have a list of words to play with, mix and match them until you find one that you love. But don’t fall in love with it too quickly because it might be taken. Try to come up with as many as you can, at least 10 to start out with.

e.g. ChowDownWithKate, KatesKitchen, KatesRecipes

I would try to avoid adding “the” or “a” before your blog name as people are not used to typing into “the” or “a” before a name. Sometimes it does make the name sound better, but I would try to avoid it if I can.

4. Check if your domain is available

Check all the possible domains that you can come up with to see what is available using SiteGround.

If you’re happy with the name, then proceed with the next step.

Word of caution: I would avoid using GoDaddy to check if the domain is available. A few years ago, I came up with what I thought was a perfect company name and used GoDaddy to check for it. It was available, but we didn’t purchase it right away.

Came back to purchase it a few hours later and it wasn’t “available” anymore, but it was available for $2000. Fishy right? GoDaddy made it unavailable so they can charge a ridiculous amount for it.

I don’t know if other web hosts do it, but I would not use GoDaddy to check for name availability. Just for fun, I just checked to see if the name would be available now for the low price and it still is!

5. Check for trademarks

You don’t want to land in hot water for having a similar sounding name or if it’s a trademark.

Type your potential domain names into Google and if nothing pops up, you’re good to go.

6. Say it out loud

You need to say it out loud and ask someone what they think of it. You know how Amazon became Amazon? Founder Jeff Bezos wanted to name it “Cadabra”, short for abracadabra. But when he called his lawyer and his lawyer misheard it as “cadaver”, he quickly changed it.

It might sound good in your head, but it might not sound right or it can be easily misheard or misspelled by someone else.

7. Time to purchase your domain

You’re almost done! Now is time to make it official. I use SiteGround for hosting and I cannot recommend it enough. I started out using Bluehost and my site was so slow. I signed up for a 60-month plan with Bluehost and had to switch only after 2 months. Trust me when I tell you this…go with SiteGround.

SiteGround has the best customer service and they will help you every step of the way.

If you’re ready to start a blog, then click here to learn how to start a blog with Siteground step by step instruction.

Note: I purchased my domain name using NameCheap and have my domain point to SiteGround’s server.  If it’s too complicated for you, then you can just use SiteGround for everything.

FINAL NOTES

Picking a blog name can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be.  Having the perfect blog name is important, but what is more important is your content. People do not come to your site for your blog name, they come for the content. Write good articles and you will get readers.

Just remember that you can always change it later. The famous Melyssa Griffin changed her blog name from TheNectarCollective.com to MelyssaGriffin.com.

What do you think of the name Nasty Gal? It started out with just a jacket bought from a thrift store to resell on eBay and went on to become a multi-million dollar company.

Now is your turn to start that blog of yours!