How to choose a blog name and register your domain


Coming up with a name for your blog is the fun part! Or the challenging part… It could be easy, or you could think about it for days (or weeks). 

But the thing is, you should not worry about the name too much! 

Every blog needs a name, but does it need to be good? Not really. There are successful blogs with great names, but also very random names that are not related to anything on the site.

Any name will work as long as your content is excellent and valuable to your readers. So overthinking the name is not wort hit.

The name will be visible in many places, but most importantly, it will be part of your brand and acts as your domain name.

Come up with a fantastic name is the process you’ll need to do only once.

Therefore it’s crucial that you are happy with the name, as it will be part of your own brand. And changing it afterward is never advisable.

In this post, you’ll learn the 3 things that you definitely should consider before choosing a name for your blog. Also, I’ll show you step by step how you can register a domain for your site. 

What to consider when choosing a blog name

Relevancy

You probably have come across websites and blogs that seem to have really random names. 

Although some of these are incredibly successful, I suggest you choose a name that has something to do with your content. So you should use a name that is related to your niche

On the other hand, if you have a brand, you definitely should use that as the name for your website too.

Another good option is to use your own name, especially if you want to brand yourself. 

Easy-to-remember

Your website and blog need to be a brand or at least part of it. Therefore having a Recognizable and easy-to-remember name is super important. 

Aim for a shorter easy-to-remember name rather than the long name with long words.

 It is not, however, the end of the world if you can’t come up with a short name. As long as there is something that makes it easy to remember: it could be alliteration, a wordplay, etc.

 Don’t choose anything that is even remotely close to another blog in the same niche. If people confuse your blog with another blog, you risk losing a lot of traffic to your competitor. 

Domain availability

Before making the final decision on the blog name, you need to check if a domain is available for that name. 

If the name is not available (someone has already registered it), try to see if there’s something similar available.

  • Add an extra word (e.g., “the” or “a” in front of the name) or 
  • Try another domain extension (e.g. .co instead of .com). 
  • Or in the worst case, come up with another name.

.com – domains look, in my opinion, most professional. So if it’s available, choose that. But other domain extensions are not necessarily bad either.

How to register a domain

Anyone can buy a domain. To do that, you have two options to choose from. You can either register the domain when purchasing hosting for your site or use a separate domain registrar

1. Register your domain with your web host

The first option is to register your domain at the same place as you buy hosting. For instance, when you buy a hosting plan on Siteground (my recommended hosting), you can include a domain in the order.

When purchasing hosting at Siteground, you can quickly register a domain at the same time.

[elementor-template id=”2249″]

This is probably the easiest way to register your domain, especially if you’re a beginner. With this alternative, you have to worry less about the tech side, like updating your DNS settings. 

However, there are some risks when having your hosting and domain registration in the same place. 

  • A potential security risk. If your hosting account gets hacked, you could end up losing your domain too. It’s unlikely, but definitely possible. 
  • Extra work: if you ever want to transfer your site to a new web host, you’ll need to transfer your domain too. 

Anyway, it is the easiest and fastest way to get started. Later on, you can choose to transfer it to a different domain registrar, like Namecheap, to have full control of your domain. Usually, a domain registrar offers areas for a lower price, too, so you could save a few bucks per year. 

2. Use a domain registrar

Another option is to use a separate domain registrar.

In this case, you need to head over to a domain name registrar, such as Namecheap or GoDaddy. I personally use Namecheap, but there are several alternatives you can choose from. With a quick google search, you’ll find reviews of registrars. You’ll be fine as long as the registrar is a reputable company.

  1. Head over to Namecheap (or any other domain registrar)
  2. Use the search bar and type your preferred domain name
Head over to Namecheap.com and use the search bar to see if the domain is available
  1. Wait a few seconds, and available domains will be suggested
  2. If the exact domain is available, choose it by adding it to cart. If it is not available, you can choose another extension (like .net) or search again with another domain
  3. If you want, you can add hosting and other to your cart, but these are not necessarily. I personally don’t host my websites on Namecheap and don’t have experience with it, but if you like, you can choose that too. Choose auto-renew if you want to make sure your domain never expires and automatically gets renewed annually. In any case, Namecheap will send notifications before your domain expires.
If the domain is available, add it to cart. You can also add web hosting and other services, if you want.
  1. Confirm your order
  2. Fill your billing info, create your account and place the order
  3. Congratulations! Now you have your domain registered
  4. Final step: Update DNS settings to point to your hosting

Time to set up your site

Now that you have come up with a name and have registered the domain, it’s time to move on to hosting and installing your WordPress site.

Related post:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *