The Perfect Domain Name For Your WordPress Blog

The first step to setting up your WordPress blog is creating the domain name. The domain name is what’s between the www and the .com, etc. So the domain name for this site is WordPress-Tutor.com. The domain, sometimes referred to as Top Level Domain or TLD, is what points people to your site.

Selecting a domain is very important. It can go a long way in “branding” your blog. There are a couple of ways to go about selecting a domain name. One is from a pure branding standpoint, i.e. Amazon.com or Google.com. Another way is to use keywords to describe your site. For example, WordPress-Tutor.com, or AutoBlog or even using your name as the domain name.

Unfortunately, I can’t select the domain name for you, but I can help you out with some tools and advice.

• Determine what your blog will be about. This is very important. Determining your “niche” will not only help you determine what domain name should go with it, but also keep you focused while blogging, and help get and keep readers when the blog gains steam. Your niche can be anything:
  • Personal
  • Tech
  • Crafting
  • Humor
  • Anything. Just remember your focus - a scattered blog has a hard time defining its voice, and it’s difficult for readers to find a home in your blog.
• Shorter is usually better. The exceptions to this are that you can’t convey your message in a short domain, or you are targeting certain keywords in your domain name. Just remember, it’s much harder to remember and type in a longer domain name.
• Try to get a .com if you can. .com is the suffix people usually check if they think they remember a domain name. .net and .org and the like can be very effective for branding, but .com is always better.
• Use tools like BustaName to help with keyword based names. ***I recommend buying the domain name from HostGator when you sign up for the hosting, as it is kind of confusing later on if you sign up with another registrar, and I don’t provide a tutorial for redirecting the domain name.
• I don’t recommend trying to buy expiring domain names or currently registered domain names, since this can eat up a lot of time, money, and effort.

Now that you’ve got your domain name, let’s sign up for hosting with HostGator!