5 Tips to Help you Choose a Blog Name

I started thinking after my last post, and after reading some of your comments it confirmed my thoughts, that it can be tricky to pick a name either for your blog or your business. Sometimes I think it’s the hardest part, everything else seems easy or falls into place when it comes to what you do, but picking a name to describe who you are and what you are all about can be the biggest obstacle we face when establishing our business. I shared with you how my blog name came to be, but I also have a business. Many of you already know this, but the blog is what spurred on my business. The blog gave me the courage to finally start something, and go for it. After blogging for about 9 months, we launched Doucette Design Co. Where I offer interior design services to local and online clients.

In fact that’s how I’ve worked with so many of you already, through my online design service. That’s why you will see two names around here, on Instagram I have my blog name with my business logo as my profile picture, and my Facebook page is called Doucette Design. I went back and forth for months, on trying to merge the two, if I should drop one of the names, but both names were already established, so we have a business called Doucette Design, and the blog for that business is Rooms FOR Rent. Doucette is my last name, so it describes me and my husband who joins me on certain aspects of the business. I went with Design because I wanted our services to cover all aspects of spaces not just interiors. When the time came to get a professional logo for the blog, I wanted it to be as close to my business logo, but still be slightly different, so people can easily see there’s a difference between my two websites. There was a lot of back and forth on decisions when it came to my business website and my blog website, and I’m not saying we did it all the right way, but ultimately in the end we didn’t want to loose people in the transition. So with the business needing it’s own landing site, and the blog already established we decided to launch both, but keep them linked together. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this in my own life so I wanted to share some of my thoughts and tips for picking a name that suits you best.

1. Brainstorm! Don’t underestimate the brainstorming process. I walked around for weeks with a notebook and pen at arms reach to jot down any words that came to my mind when I started thinking about my blog or business and what I wanted it to represent or feel like. Once I had 10 or so key words written down I was able to see a clearer picture of what I wanted my blog name to be. Sometimes your name will be in those words, sometimes it won’t. I find it just as effective as when I create mood boards for clients. It’s a visual that helps you stay on track and keeps you inspired.
2. Be Authentic. When picking a name, you want it to truly represent who you are. As much as I wanted to incorporate words like “farmhouse”, “white”, “interiors”, “country”, “cottage” there are already so many variations of those names, I didn’t want to feel lost in the mix. I’m not against any of those words, I had a hard time not including one in my name, and if you have one of those words as apart of your name please don’t feel bad. They aren’t bad words for a name at all, but I really wanted a name that was going to be different. To be completely honest, I felt so silly in the beginning with “rooms for rent”, but every time I thought of why I picked it, and what it represented to me, it made sense.
3. Be True to You! When picking a name don’t include words that won’t truly describe you. If you don’t plan on doing DIY’s or tutorials, than make sure your name and mission statement make that clear. You don’t want your name to be “DIY in the City” if you live in the burbs and only show after pictures (side note – I totally made that name up, if that name is real, I apologize in advance, this does not reflect you!). When people read your name they should be able to get some sort of sense for who you are before they even visit your site.
4. Check Availability – Once you have your name, check to see if it’s available. Hop on google and search to see if anyone else is using that name. This may seem insignificant in the beginning, but you MUST MUST MUST buy the domain name. I can’t tell you how many times I read that in my early days, and thought I would never be big enough to want my own domain, or that it would be available when I got “big” enough to find it necessary. Well guess what within about 3 months of checking the availability for my business, Doucette Design, I went back 3 months later to finally purchase it, and it was gone! Just like that. Talk about kicking yourself in the butt. I knew better. So I had to get savvy and a “co.” to the end of my name, but small fixes like that aren’t always available. My blog name was slightly different. I didn’t want my domain to be simply “rooms for rent” because everyone and their mother searching for a place to live would stumble across my blog. LOL, and I still got some of that, thankfully it’s minimal and not as often anymore, since I made my domain roomsforrentblog.com. Adding the word “blog” to the domain was key in my case. I can’t stress enough how key this is for your blog looking professional and being easy to find!
5. Come up with a Mission Statement. This is another useful tool, to help you solidify your name. When you have a mission statement, you are adding more meaning and details behind your name. You are saying to the world “Here we are” and “this is who we are”. I have the same mission statement for both my blog and my business. It’s who we are and it describes what we want to impart into others. “Inspiring others to Love the space they Live in” – and this stemmed from one of those brainstorming sessions I told you about, when I thought about what I wanted to share. What my ultimate goal as a blogger was, and how I wanted people to feel after they visited with me. I thought back to helping my mom complete one of the biggest transformations in her home, and how she felt afterwards. Every decision we made from paint to curtains to accessories, were all pieces that she knew she loved. Instead of just filling the room with stuff, we carefully sought out to find the exact pieces she loved and inspired her. When you have a mission statement it’s easier to make choices and decisions in regards to your blog or business, because you know who you are and what you are all about!

I hope you find these helpful. Again I don’t claim to be a ‘Name’ expert by any means, and I certainly don’t claim to have done it all right or perfectly the first time, but these were things that I thought about and learned along the way, and I hope it helps you have a clearer vision of who you want to be, and how you want to be seen in your social media platforms.

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