Name Your Blog

Now you get to experience what parents go through in trying to find the perfect name! Or maybe you’ll
be one of the lucky ones who think of a great name on the first try. Either way, whether it takes you a
minute or a month, you need to come up with a name for your blog. Although you can change your blog
name later, it can be a big deal on some platforms (you may lose all your images, for example, and have
to reinsert them, which is very time-consuming and not fun). So, take the time now to think about a
name, before getting started.
The name of your blog should be related to its purpose, whether it’s a personal journal, a fundraiser,
a school project, or a professional blog about a service or product you provide. For example, if you’ll be
blogging about yourself, you may want to use your name. If you’re using your blog for business, perhaps

the blog name should be your company name or slogan, or it might describe the type of service you
provide. Here are some examples:
• My blog development business is called “Blogs By Heather,”
(www.BlogsByHeather.com), which uses part of my name in the title, and indicates
what my blog and business is about (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Blogs By Heather home page 

• Many celebrities, athletes, professionals, and everyday bloggers like you and me
use their own names for their blog. Figure 2 shows The Cooley Zone
(http://chriscooley47.blogspot.com/; Chris is a professional athlete, #47, of the
Washington Redskins). Others are blog.drphil.com (official blog of Dr. Phil) and
www.sandimaciver.com (a fellow stamper blogging about her passion).

Figure 2. Chris Cooley’s blog

• Some blog names include a cause or foundation name, such as
www.donationsfordiabetes.com (a fundraiser site for a child with diabetes),
www.fromourhearts.info (a site that gathers handmade cards to give to troops
overseas so they can send them to their families), and the New York Times’ blog
on Breast Cance.

Figure 3. The New York Times’s breast cancer blog

To find more inspiration, lists of many, many different types of blogs, and what others are blogging
about, visit www.blogs.com/topten. First, however, I want you to come up with a name for your blog.


EXERCISE — COMING UP WITH A BLOG NAME

By the end of this exercise, I hope you’ll figure out a name for your blog. This will take some time—as it
should. If you are a business owner, you probably took some time to think of your business name. If you’re
a parent, you probably went around in circles searching for the perfect name for your new baby. Choosing
the right name is important.

1.  Consider if having your name as your blog name suits your blog’s purpose. Is this blog about you and your life? Are you a business professional known by or for your name?
2.  Get out a piece of paper or open your favorite word processor on your computer. Jot down all the names that come to mind, all of them, even if they don’t quite make sense! Sometimes the best names are created by mistake. Note the ones that  
   • a. Involve your name, your business, your company name, what you love to do.
   • b. Include a specific cause or upcoming event you are promoting.
   • c. Refer to a group you belong to.
3. When you have a list of names, go to the Web and start searching for them to
   make sure they don’t already exist.
   
   • a. First use www.google.com or another favorite search engine.
   • b. Then go to www.GoDaddy.com to see if they’re used in a domain name (see
     Chapter 6, Setting up a Custom Domain; you may wish to use a domain with
     your blog, such as www.HeatherPorto.com instead of
     heatherporto.blogspot.com, for example). In Chapter 6, we actually
     purchase and setup a domain through GoDaddy. I mention this now as many
     bloggers do decide to purchase a domain later on, so you want to be sure at
     the outset that your name isn’t already taken.