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Sometime ago I wrote the article “How to Choose a Blog Name“ where I described three simple rules that you should follow when naming your blog. On the third rule I argued that a blog name should be equal to the domain name or else you will lose readers along the way.
When people come to your blog through a search engine or through a link on another blog they will read the blog name and go straight to the content. Should those people want to return to your blog after a certain time they will just type the blog name followed by a .com, and if they do not find the blog there it is probable that they will just forget about it and move on.
Apart from making the blog name match the domain name, however, you should also pay attention to the domain extension. As I mentioned before most people are used to .com domains, whenever they need to type something they will always try first the .com. Not everyone has a .com domain for their blog, though. A simple solution to avoid losing readers if you have a .net or .org extension, for instance, is to add the extension to your blog name or logo.
If you have the domain “techblog.com” you should name your blog “Tech Blog”. If on the other hand you have “techblog.net” or “techblog.tv” you should name your blog or design your logo as “TechBlog.net” and “TechBlog.tv” respectively. This simple tweak will ensure that readers will remember the extension of your domain if they decide to revisit the blog in the future.
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That last paragraph is an excellent point Daniel, great article. Many people don’t think about this, including myself when starting. My blog (AutomoBlog.net) clearly doesn’t have the .com extension and at first I just called it “AutomoBlog” but now I make a point to say “AutomoBlog dot net,” even though my banner doesn’t say the “.net” part.
Egon, yeah I noticed you included the .net on the Title of your blog for instance. Also it is a good think to include it whenever you make a reference to other people.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
great adwise, thanks! But it’s to late for me
Is that a big problem to switch too a new domain name? Will I lose alll my Limklove at Technorati, all the Trackbacks… It would be interesting to hear from you, what a Name Change of a Blog could mean for someone blogging a few Months or even years.
thanks
Vito, changing the domain name depends on a couple of factors:
a) how long have you been using this one
b) how many backlinkgs you have pointing to it
c) are your raders loyal? meaning that they would follow you to the next one
d) do you have the possibility to take a really good domain that could conter-balance the negative effects?
Drop me an email and we can talk about your case in particular.
Solid advice. I’ve been considering a new branding myself and I’ll consider your suggestion depending on how my domain name search goes.
excellent advice. thanks for sharing your expertise
I am not expert Anne
I am learning this stuff just like you guys!
The key is to share stuff among use to that everyone benefits.
Very helpful post. How about in the less typical case of blogs that are associated with a volunteer organization–would a .org make sense if the parent organization is a .org? Or consider a blog that is trying to explicitly look non-corporate. Does a .org name in that case help or should the potential confusion over the name trump all other considerations?
Mark, I think that a non-profit organization or the blog of this organization should go with the .org. At least if you want to be consistent with the international standard (.com stands for commercial even if not everyone respects it).
Since we are talking about an organization people should not have a hard time to remember the .org, and as you said it should also help them to understand what kind of site they are visiting.
You are right Egon. Blog name is very important but I think even you have the best blog name like boysclub18 or
something you need to list your blog in many places. The best things is blogs are very easy listed by SE:)
Could you please send to me the contacts of developer of your site? It looks so damn good!
Blog names and domain extensions
Choose 1234.com