Don’t choose a Blog name you may regret!

So, you’ve decided that you want to start a blog, that’s brilliant. You have all your ideas, your niche (if you decide to go for one). You have a plan for getting your name out there through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram BUT you’re struggling for a name. Believe it or not, thinking of a name for your blog is one of the hardest steps to take. This will be your brand and your brand needs to tell people who you are, what you talk about and what to expect from you. That said, it can also limit you for opportunities, put people off your site and cause a whole load of problems should you need to “re-brand” yourself in the future. Here are a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to choosing your blog name.

Don’t include your child’s name in the blog name, unless you are 100% certain there won’t be another addition to your family. The last thing you want to be doing is having to rebrand a couple of years into your blog just because you’ve had another child.

Don’t include the number of children you have in your blog, see above why.

Don’t use a brand, business and another website’s name either as full or partial name for your blog. There can be a lot of legal issues that arise due to it. Better to be safe.

Don’t use swear words, you might swear in the blog but having profanity in the name is likely to put people off – including potential brands who might want to work with you.

Do be unique. Don’t try to copy other people because your name will just get lost in the ocean of blogs in your niche. There are hundreds of blogs with “mum” and “mummy” in the name – be different.

Do take your time to think about your name as changing your mind later can be costly. With a rebrand you need to think about not just your social media accounts and website URL but also business cards, graphics (images you might have your current name on) and any weight your current name carries.

Do think about your niche and the future of your blog. You might want to be a parenting blogger now but once your child is at school you might think about branching out.

Don’t try to portray an image of somebody you’re not. “Raw Vegan Mummy to Toby” is all well and good if you are a raw vegan mummy to Toby, if you’re not a raw vegan then you will be found out and discredited – even if you wish you were raw vegan.

Do think about your domain name. Having a long blog name is fine but having a long domain name will not help. People like something they can type quickly and is catchy. Take Chammy from “Chammy In Real Life” for example, a long blog name but her domain is chammyirl.co.uk – short and memorable.

Do take into account your audience when buying your domain, if you want to be known as a UK blogger and gain UK readers trust then a .co.uk is always a better option. You can always buy the .com too to stop cyber squatters (someone who sits on a domain to prevent others from using it), just have it directed at your blog.

Make sure you take a look at our Bloggers Toolkit, it gives you all the information you need from starting up a blog to creating content and monetising it.

Have you been through a blog rebrand because of your name choice?