One of the most common mistakes we see when starting a blog is making a wrong choice when referring to name. It is not at all hard to create a blog. What is really hard is making it successful and this is something that always starts with really good name, preferably one that incorporates a main keyword you want to target, although not obligatory.
As a simple example, let us say you want to start a blog with a gossip theme. In this case a blog that would include the keyword “gossip” in the domain name would be a really good choice. When doing it just for fun you do not care much about the search engine but when you do want to make money, Google traffic is very important. Making the blog search engine friendly is always a necessity, just as often blogging. You want to know as much as possible about keywords and how to increase rankings.
Generally speaking, there are 2 ways to pick a very good domain name. Here is what you should always take into account.
The Keyword Approach
This practically means that you want to have a keyword in the domain name you choose. If you have something about shoes, “shoe” is a great keyword. If you want to launch something about dogs, a great keyword would obviously be “dog”. What is really interesting with the keyword approach is that there are many different options that will instantly become available. Combinations of keywords are even better because search engines love them.
The problem with the keyword approach is that the competition will be really high. Most sites that compete with you for the main keywords have existed for a long time now. Because of this, a new site will find it really hard to climb in rankings. You should expect a long time to develop a strong following. However, it is going to generally only require search engine to keep growing.
The Branding Approach
In this case the domain name is chosen with the purpose of creating a brand. It is not important to have the keyword in the domain name in this case. You want to choose something that you can create a following to based on branding. For instance, if the blog is about dogs, you can go for a simple thing like “Red Pooch” or “Friend Treats”. As you can see, the keywords that people would use to reach the site are not those you add to the domain.
The good news is that this works now a lot better than in the past since Google understands the power of branding. However, this does not mean that you can dismiss search engine traffic for a strong marketing approach.
Conclusions
Picking the best possible domain name is really important for any blog and whether you go for branding or for keywords, using search engine is definitely of high importance. Be sure that you learn all that you can about the topic and that you allow yourself enough time to choose a great and effective domain name.