How to Start a Blog (Part 3)
2008 March 27
Interested in starting or restarting your blog? Want to share your thoughts? Welcome to my mini-tutorial. Also see Part 1 and Part 2. Today I’m discussing blog setup.
Two of the most important elements of starting a blog are…
- Choosing a name.
- Choosing a host.
Choosing a name.
- Pick a name that is long-lasting. In a way, your blog’s name is a brand name. It identifies who you are and what you’re about. If you change it, it’s confusing for you and your readers – not to mention Google. And changing your name usually means that your blog address becomes mixed up too. Don’t make the choice in a hurry; make sure you’ve settled on one you really like.
- Pick a name that is distinctive. If you want to stand out from the crowd, I recommend not including any of these words or phrases in the name: cool, journey, life, ramblings, random, stuff, things, thoughts. Also, try to stay away from using numbers unless they actually make sense; for instance, 85 Places works, but charliebrown348182 does not. Choosing a name for your blog is like choosing a title for a book or movie. It’s got to be pithy and memorable, which brings me to my next point…
- Pick a name that is easy to remember. Even though you want your blog name to stand out, you don’t want it to be so unusual that everyone forgets it. This means that you will want it to be shorter rather than longer. For instance, before this blog was Hope Road, it was There’s Beauty in Not Blending In. That’s way too long. Hope Road is a lot easier to remember.
- Pick a name that is relevant to your blog’s content. This can be difficult if you’re in a popular genre. What if you write about being a stay-at-home mom? The momosphere is quite full of very similar blog names that evoke mommyhood. Somehow, you have to find a name that gives a hint of what your blog is about without being too commonplace.
Some of my favorite names for blogs: 22 Words, Between Two Worlds, Ragamuffin Soul, The Rebelution.
Choosing a host.
- Free hosting, like Blogger or WordPress, is great if you want to write for people you know. It’s also good if you want a smaller, more interactive community and you don’t really care about having a huge audience. But do know that in spite of the more limited options using free hosting, you can still build a big readership. I personally think it’s harder, but there are some very popular blogs that don’t have their own domains; Between Two Worlds is an example.
- Self-hosting is great if you want to stand apart from the crowd and give yourself some credibility. There is also quite a bit more flexibility with having your own domain. The downsides are that 1) it requires some money, 2) it requires a little bit more knowledge, and 3) there are more things that can go wrong. But if you’re willing to spend some money and put a little time and effort into getting things right, self-hosting can be a wonderful way to establish your blog.
Things to remember.
- It’s best to match your blog title and address. I made this mistake last time - the name was Hope Road but the address was annakristine.wordpress.com. Quite a few readers had to search in Google for “Hope Road” because they couldn’t remember the address. Not good. Consistency helps make your blog memorable and easy to find.
- Decide up front what kind of host you want. I just made the switch from free hosting to self-hosting, and it is not the best thing to do. I had already built up a lot of traffic, readership, and especially Google rankings from my old address, and I wasn’t able to redirect all of those old links. Even though my readers followed me to my new blog, I lost some links and I lost Google rankings. So if you can, invest in your own domain at the very beginning if you think you’re going to want it.
Do popular blogs break these “rules” all the time? Yes. Why? Because they’re not rules. They’re guidelines meant to ensure the best success possible when starting a blog, and to avoid having to rectify mistakes later on down the road.
Tomorrow Soon, in part 4, I’ll be discussing the nuts and bolts of setting up your blog, and providing some links for the more intricate elements of it. What are your thoughts on blog names and hosts? I’d love to hear your ideas and experiences.
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Good tips!
As far as naming goes, make sure that you find something that might even include your keywords (if you’re writing to a specific group of people), and don’t sweat the cost of the domain name. I use 1-and-1.com for my domain registrar and they’re consistently cheap with free private registration.
Of course, I also run a small hosting/development company that bundles the domain registration in with the monthly fee. And I’m also looking to start a blog network, but that’s beside the point.
As far whether to self host or free host, free is good to get past the one month or whatever amount of time it takes for you to figure out your level of commitment, but you will want to move over quickly (if not right from the start) because without doing that you will have the link problem.
There’s also a lot of work you can do to make sure you have your sitemaps appropriately configured, your headings correct, etc. , but I figure you’re getting to that in later posts…
Great work so far!
Good advice!!! I am hoping to get my own domain name sometime in the future, but I am really liking Wordpress for right now. The only thing that I don’t like is the length of the url, because the name ‘Jenna’s Midnight Musings’ is somewhat long.
I’m definitely with you on this:
I recommend not including any of these words or phrases in the name: cool, journey, life, ramblings, random, stuff, things, thoughts.
I’d also add “musings,” “reflections,” etc. Blah. That’s why I ended up with the name I did–trying (too hard) to avoid those. Three out ot four isn’t bad, I guess…I’ve got long-lasting, memorable and distinctive downpat, even if it is completely irrelevant/off the wall
no ‘cool’ in the title? oops…
“What if you write about being a stay-at-home mom? The momosphere is quite full of very similar blog names that evoke mommyhood.”
You’re so right about this one!:) I guess I try to write about issues as often as possible rather than just always about the day to day happenings of my son, etc to distinguish myself, have a varied readership, etc. I have had a few blogs and the name thing has ALWAYS been something I agonize over-more than anything because I just love to put words together in creative ways!:)
With that said, I am least happy with my current blog name which I came up with at a time in my life when I was involved with an online mom’s group full of “cutsie” blog names. As you say, you want a name that evokes the subject matter but also longevity. The name I’m proudest of from past blogs? “Letter-Rip.” There weren’t too many blogs out there with that name!!
As your last reader mentioned, I am planning on switching to a domain name in the not so distant future as well. I already have one actually but have just not gotten around to moving there yet and all that that entails!:)
Great post, I think a lot of people will find that helpful.
Jon
Cool Dad – I definitely wasn’t thinking about your blog!
Sometimes it can work!
Actually, I just looked and “MidnightMusings.com” is available, Jenna, if you want it. I could grab it for you if need be.
I would think that this works well if you figure that it’s also alliteration. The words flow off the tongue.
Now if you add your name to the front, then it gets a little long.
The only reason I added my name was because midnightmusings through wordpress was already taken.
Thanks for your offer but I’m still not sure when I’ll move.
I remember the first time I blogged. Opened up a whole new world. I have enjoyed the aspect of creativity it allows.
Good tutorials. I might send this link to my mom she often wonders about starting a blog.
These guidelines are great! I wish I could have read these before I started blogging… I will definitely point to these posts if anyone I know wants to start blogging. Great stuff.
I’ve thought about restarting my blog and getting my own domain. I just don’t know if I’m actually going to keep blogging long enough to make it worth it. Who knows? Oh and yep, I guess I have one of those boo-boo words in my title too, but thats okay…its works alright even though its not totally original
great info Anna!
Actually, Kaylene, I think your blog title is different. I think the word “thoughts,” not “thought” has to be avoided. Even though that seems like a minor difference, it’s because “thoughts” is usually used in the context of “Kaylene’s Thoughts” or something generic like that.