An Honest Guide to Blogging · Blogging · Blogging Tips

An Honest Guide To Blogging: Deciding What To Call Your Blog

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If you didn’t know already, I’ve recently started a series called An Honest Guide to Blogging.

I’ll be sharing my best tips, tricks and honest opinions on starting and maintaining a successful blog. Not saying that mine is particularly successful, but I think I’ve done an alright job.

Last week, I kicked off the series with my honest thoughts on what you need to consider before hitting the sign up button on WordPress, Blogger or any other blog platform. I also hit 5 years of blogging and wrote a post about 5 things I’ve learnt along the way.

Today, I’ll be chatting about how to decide on what to call your blog.

1. Get some inspiration.

Before you delve in and choose the name of your blog, you may want to get a bit of inspiration from others. Seeing as you’re already reading this, you’re well on your way to getting inspired!

2. Think about what you’re going to write about.

Of course, your blog name doesn’t necessarily have to relate to what you’re chatting about. It can be something completely obscure, or you could opt for a ‘does what it says on the tin’ name.

Weirdly enough, I probably write less and less about retro and vintage fashion now that my blog name is Retro & Thrift. Just make sure you’ll want to write about your topic in a year or, like in my case, 5 years time.

3. Brainstorm.

I knew I wanted a ___ & ___ name for my blog as I think that structure works well. I remember getting a word document up and writing down a few words that I thought related to me and my content. I have always been a thrifty bitch, so thrift was in there. I think I possibly wrote down ‘Vintage and Thrift’ or ‘Thrifty Vintage’ at first. However, I settled with Retro and Thrift.

Grab a notepad or piece of paper and get creative. Blogging is supposed to be fun, so don’t stress too much about it.

4. Check that it’s not already taken.

Before you get your heart set on a name, check that it has not already been snapped up by someone else. You can do this by simply typing http://www.[insert your new jazzy blog name here].co.uk (or .com if you prefer).

You may also want to Google to see if there are any other bloggers or websites out there with a similar name. For example, if there was someone called http://www.retrothrift.co.uk and they were more fabulous than me, I probably wouldn’t have chosen Retro and Thrift.

Lastly, check on social media to see if anyone has your name. I’m a huge advocate of having consistent names on social, even though it’s not the law or anything. I do a lot of PR and blogger outreach for my job and I’m not going to lie, it really bugs me if people have completely different @names on their Twitter and Instagram. #Honest

5. Is it too long?

Another pet peeve of mine is when bloggers have extremely long URLs. This ties in with my aforementioned point.  You can only have 15 characters in your name on Twitter, so if your blog name is longer than this, you’re going to have to shorten it.

Also, a long URL means that people are less likely going to be able to remember it or get it 100% correct. I would honestly say stick to 2, 3 or 4 words. But, of course, it’s completely up to you.

6. Will you grow out of it?

I feel a bit of hypocrite saying this as I think I have grown out, or rather moved on, from Retro and Thrift. It’s a shame because I still love the name and the brand that I’ve tried to build around it. But, I’m just not chatting about vintage on here anymore and it seems a bit silly.

Honestly, ask yourself: Will my blog name still be relevant to me in 5 years?

I know 5 years seems like a long time, but it soon comes round, trust me.

7. Seriously, consider opting for your ‘IRL name’.

As I said before, I first started this blog as http://www.courtneyfarrow.com and then changed to Retro and Thrift. I do love my current name, however, I do think it’s wise to seriously consider using your ‘real’ name or a version of it.

Your real name is memorable to people that already know you, it’s professional and you can’t ever grow out of it because it’s your real name. Unless your parents were cruel and called you bUtTeRfLyGaLxOxO.

8. Remember, you can always change it.

Although I’ve just gone into detail about what you need to consider before choosing a blog name, it’s important to remember to have fun with it. Remember, you can always change it at a later date. These are just some of my thoughts in hindsight. Have fun choosing your blog name, you’re going to be great!

What would you change about your blog name? If you have any further tips, comment below to share them with me and others. 

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