How to name a website, domain name, URL, web adress

…from Amy Bayliss

One of the most asked questions I get is about how to name a website. There are many reasons why you might want to get your own domain name. The first reasons that come to mind are personalization and professionalism. It also makes it easier for your readers to remember your URL and find you again, just in case they forgot to bookmark you.

When choosing a domain name remember to google the name first to be sure that no one else has a similar name. Try to be as unique as possible. It is easy to confuse URLs that are similar. For example, let’s use a URL that I considered purchasing a while back. It is called “thecajunwoman.com”. I decided not to use it and here’s why:

I found at least four other sites that were high ranking in Google and that used the term “Cajun woman” either in the URL or in the tagline. They have existed for years. Not only would it be difficult for me (just starting out) to compete with their ranking but also, I wouldn’t want to try to capitalize on their name. They worked hard to build that brand, not me. Using it would, in my opinion, be unethical.
It was much to similar to the name Ree’s blog, “The Pioneer Woman”. She has pretty much cornered that area of the market. No matter what you sandwich in between “the” and “woman” you will always trigger a memory of Ree. That means you haven’t done a good enough job of distinguishing yourself.
The name was still not a reflection of the things I wanted to share on my blog. Yes, I am a Cajun woman but I wanted what I teach and share to bring joy to people and give them a new perspective on different areas of their life. Cajun Joie de Vivre does that. The Cajun Woman does not.

Unless you are a niche blog and intend to stay a niche blog then I think it is best to not choose a blog name/URL that restricts you. For those of you who have blogs like mine that are transformation blogs (aka “lifestyle” blogs) then your content is likely to change regularly and your blog name and URL should reflect that. The best thing to do would be to choose a name that is a direct reflection of you and not your content. That way your content can change and the blog remains true to it’s title because it is you who is writing it. And if it is an all out ministry then it does need to be separate from your personal blog. Like me with A Woman Inspired. Make sense?

Bunny Trails is a perfect name. So is Sprittibee. Those names reflect them and are unique. I used to have the blog name “In Pursuit of Proverbs 31″. While I did not find it restricting I did find it boring. Even though that is my “purpose” and it did give me freedom to post many things, I found that just a year into it that there were more than 70 name variations using Proverbs 31 and 16 (I think that is the number) blogs that were using “In Pursuit of” in the title. One of the sites using Proverbs 31 was Proverbs 31 Ministries. I did now know they existed at the time I started my blog but I’m sure you can imagine how high they rank in Google. That left me with a very common, low Google ranking blog. It meant I didn’t stand out. For ministry, platform, or business purposes you do want to stand out and rank high in Google. Otherwise it is hard for others to find you. So do your research. Pray about a name. Then once you have it settled in your heart and mind then you can make the domain name purchase. If you don’t you could end up like me and buy 13 of them in one year because you keep changing your mind.

…from Lisa Boyd

Once you decide on a domain name then it needs to be registered somewhere. Some web hosts offer a free domain name with your account or you can have your domain name registered somewhere like Host Gator or Name Cheap.

Keep in mind your domain name does not necessarily have to be your blog name. The domain name for this site here is lisaboyd.com but I can name my blog itself whatever I’d like. The advantage to that is you can change your blog name any time you want. The disadvantage is people would have to remember 2 things – one, my domain name and the other is the name of my blog (to know they want to read it again). Amy’s blog is a good example of this. Her domain or URL is amybayliss.com but the name of her blog is Cajun Joie de Vivre.

Try to get a domain name that’s your name (especially if you are an author or speaker) or try to get one that is easy to remember. I know that can be difficult because so many are taken. Put some serious thought behind it though. Depending on your web hosting account you may have more than one domain name pointing to the same place. I have the domain name zeteosolutions.com also but it will bring you right here.

The main thing you’ll need to worry about with the domain name is the name servers. When you sign-up for your web hosting, your host will tell you what domain name servers you should use. It will look like nsXX.domainname.com. These will need to be put in where you have your domain name registered at. This will tell everyone which host your files are stored at to display.

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