By marketingcroc
Ok…so you’ve finished picking your niche and a small part of you is glad it’s done, now comes the next task of picking a name for your website.
There are many approaches you could take with this next task so in this article I will aim to help you with making that decision with a few hints and resources to help you along.
- What is going to be the topic of your blog?
At first this seems like a pointless question particularly as you should have chosen your niche at this point.
This question is more about avoiding blogging about a subject unrelated to the name, so don’t Register “all about dogs” then write about cars. - Who is your target audience and what is the tone/angle of your blog going to be?
What tone are you trying to strike with your audience, serious, funny, laid back?
The extension word you use can be viewed by your audience differently and says a lot about the tone of your website before anyone lands on it.
For example if you were to take the saving and being frugal niche and introduce the word mom to make thefrugalmom.com versus something like thesupertightwallet.com
See how when you read them it gives you a total different perspective of the website author and their potential content, so when you pick an extension consider the tone and angle you would like to strike. - Will you be building your brand around your name or blog name?
Think about the future of your project, are you the type of person who is likely to keep the site forever or do you have potential ideas for a sale down the road.
If you’re not sure at this point consider a name that doesn’t personalise the site to much, then later a potential buyer should be able to make it there own. - Check social platforms for same name availability
Use a site like namecheckr.com to verify that the name is available on the major social networks, this is important if you want continuity of branding across the major platforms. - Is the name to broad or to narrow?
What happens if you want to change or vary your blog or niche part way through?
This is a question of how broad versus narrow you make your site, when entering any niche you need to make a decision about how wide you make your site with the name.
For example if you wanted to have a website about oranges you might at first register juicyorange dot com allow you to talk about oranges, but what if in the future you wanted to talk about apples or bananas? In this case juicyfruits dot com would be better, or even wider still juicyfoods dot com.
If you’re not sure at this point you could always go for a name that’s generic and more open ended, just be sure the name you choose doesn’t back you into a corner later on. - Is it memorable? easy to say or spell?
Say the name to yourself out loud, does it sound good when you say it? Many names look good on paper until you say them.
Is your URL memorable and easy to spell on a more practical level your URL that you choose should be easy to read and be memorable, it will always help to get repeat visits as people don’t always bookmark the sites they visit. - Is the name intuitive?
Meaning is your urls message instinctive. Notice anything obvious about www.pizzarecipies dot com
Within the first few seconds of hearing it, it’s obvious what the blog is about so try the same with your site name. - Does the blog name read OK when it’s in a domain URL format?
When adding all the words together with no spaces in the url format, does this then create unintended words, rude or offensive? For example:
www.penisland.net – Pen Island
www.kidsexchange.net – Kids Exchange
Yes these are real domains, just search for embarrassing domains. - Are the words you are using the same in each country?
If you have a word in the title of your URL check that the words are the same in different countries ie diper vs nappy. Although this only becomes a real issue if you plan to target a market within a certain country. - Strive for the .com
I heard that around three quarters of all websites are registered as .com which if accurate is quite surprising considering the amount of other options there are out there .org .net etc. Regardless how cheap or easy some of the .club .tv extensions are you should always try to get a .com registered first. - Steer away from numbers or characters
I’m mainly thinking of hyphens in urls as I type this as there is nothing more old school looking than a overly hyphenated urls. Although sometimes hyphens can be used to iron out an otherwise rude or offensive url as above…..
pen-island instead of penisland
I’d consider a different name before chasing a name using hyphens. Similar story for numbers, unless your band or message has an obvious number in it then that would be ok but using text speak like using 2 instead of two or to is a bad idea. - Avoid any potential trademark issues & confusion?
You will need to avoid where possible the use of brand trademarks in your URL.
This is particularly true when doing affiliate marketing as you may only be promoting one product or service directly so you should never use the name of the product within your domain name unless you have permission
If all else fails…
Use a third party – fiver
There are a few people on fiverr and offering branding services for as little as five dollars simply visit fiverr.com and type in Branding or domain name.
Plus
Use way back machine to check domain content history
Conclusion
Although choosing a website name on paper isn’t difficult in practice there is definitely a small learning curve to master, it’s just getting the right balance between your niche, audience and product or service.