Finding the Right Topic and Domain Name For Your Blog

Thanks to Berner Lee without whose contribution you would not have been able to read this post. If you have no idea who is Berners Lee, he is the father of the internet, who in the year 1989 successfully tested the first HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) and created the first web browser.

When I started blogging 4 years back, I had no clue about selecting the right blog topic and domain name.

If you are starting your first blog or even if you have been blogging for some time, and want to recap on the basics, this is an article which will guide you to get started.

The Two Most Important things when you are starting a new Blog

1. Finding the Right Topic or subject for Your Blog.
2. How to choose the right domain name (website name or your blog name)

Are you serious about blogging or if you are just starting a casual blog? The whole advice in this blog post is very strategic and is meant for someone who is planning to start a blog for success and run it professionally.

It does not matter if you want to write about baby food, technology, food recipes or yoga, the fundamentals for choosing the domain name remain same for everyone.

If you already have a brand and want to start your own blog, tips may be a bit different in your case, but basics still remain the same for everyone.

We are not thinking of short-term or quick wins here – this article will teach you how to start a real website to make some real money and have some serious traffic. Everything starts with the right domain name and niche.

How to Find the Right Topic or Niche for Your Blog?

There are a lot of websites which write articles on diverse topics like Mashable or Forbes and there are also websites which write on a single topic GSM Arena or 91mobiles (on mobiles) or Autocar (about vehicles).

But these are big websites and have several authors with different experience and expertise.

When you are starting a new website it is always better to start with a particular topic or niche.

Why Have a Niche, Why not just write on Anything?

I think there are 4 major reasons for doing this:

1). Your readers will understand and follow you for a particular type of content. If you have a food blog and you post about new food recipes they will come to your blog again to read about latest topics.

But if you post food recipes for some days and then start writing about technology, your readers will get confused and you may not be able to create a community.

2). Since you are starting you want to establish yourself as an authority in your niche so people can follow you and take advantage of your experience. It is better to concentrate on one field and offer the best experience and content to your readers.

3). It is great for SEO, in short when you write about a topic and its related topics, Google understands that it is a website which has good content in a particular field and you get SEO benefitted.

4). You have limited time and resources and there are a huge number of websites on each topic and field, Why should people come and read your website? You need to be thorough with your topics and should have deeper content in your own niche.

How to Choose a Niche for Your Blog?

This is one of the most important things when starting a new blog.

I have been blogging for 4 years and prior to that have 9 years of experience in marketing and branding but before starting the Profoundblogger.com, I have spent years learning the basics of blogging and have a very successful blog Candytech.in (on technology).

I thought of starting profoundblogger in 2015 but waited for 2 more years and learned a lot about coding, SEO and WordPress development and million other things before writing the first post on profoundblogger.

Also, I have this domain name registered for a couple of years before I actually started writing on it. But I wanted to be sure when I start it, I have enough knowledge of the subject and experience to offer something valuable to readers.

What matters most in creating a successful blog is your experience and expertise.

If you have a good experience in any field if it cooking or fashion, you should choose that as your blogging topic.

Don’t worry or think about what people say about which niche is more profitable, which keywords will give you most traffic and money.

If you have passion and knowledge in a particular area, you will be able to do your best and write in-depth content. On the other hand, if you choose a topic you are not familiar with but have high PPC keywords and traffic opportunities, you are bound to fail.

Follow your passion and heart and your blog will be super successful.

Expertise in a Topic is a Must

As I shared my own experience, some expertise or experience is always good to have. It will help you gain a following faster and sooner compared to most other people.

Also, you will be able to add value and help others. I would humbly request, don’t start a blog to earn money, it is a terrible idea.

Start a blog about something you believe in and then scale it up for success.

What if You don’t have any experience with the topic?

Would you like to learn from someone who has no idea about the subject? Think about it.

It would be better to learn as much as you can, about the topic, you want to write about, get the first-hand experience.

I would suggest you get a lot of experience before launching your first website.

Also, if you want to start can do so but have a slow start and keep learning along with blogging.

Starting is important and more your work in your niche better you will become with time.

Should You Choose a very limited topic or have a broader topic for your blog?

This is a bit specific issue and more of a personal choice, if you are writing on cars should you write about all type of cars or should you write on premium cars only.

Before choosing a niche, write down at least 20 article topics, which you can write about your subject when you start blogging. If you are unable to do so, you need to think of a different area where you can have plenty of topics to write about.

Afterall, you are going to blog on the similar topics for years to come.

I think you should start with what you know better and then slowly experiment and see what your readers like.

Your Article topics should be in Sync to Your Blog

Search for the topics you want to write – it should gel well with your Site – say we are going to write about blogging or online marketing or analytics on profoundblogger. The subjects we are going to write about and the blog name is in sync.

What if we choose a name like chandigarhmetro.com and start writing about all these topics – it looks ridiculous to readers and doesn’t look like a long-term strategy by the blogger.

To Sum It Up

• Select a topic you have experience or expertise.
• Better to have a niche and focused content strategy than to write on diverse topics.
• Select a topic that you are passionate and can write a lot of content.

So, lets now move to our second question of how to find the right domain name for your blog?

Why it is important to choose the right domain name for your blog?

Firstly, It is very difficult to change the domain name at a later stage so whatever you will choose, you will have to live with it forever.

If you choose a ridiculous name it is going to stick with you and no matter how much you hate it later.

It can’t be changed because that domain name will become a brand for your website and maybe you will also have an associated Facebook page, Google Plus Page, a Youtube Channel and twitter handle for your brand.

But Can You Change the Domain Name later?

You have an option to change the domain name and create redirects for all post and pages to the new domain but believe me, it is not what you would want to do.

Your Domain Name Should go with the theme of your blog Topic

You Don’t want to write about making sandwiches on a blog named as techoftommorrow.com nor people would like to learn about sandwich making on a tech blog.

There are 3 different type of domain names – Keyword Based Domain Names or Pure Brand Names or a Hybrid Domain Names.

Keyword Based Domain Names 

It is not bad to have a keyword you want to rank for in your domain name it is actually helpful and Google gives it significant weight in search engine ranking. But Google has stopped giving it too much importance in recent times.

Keyword Stuffed Domain names – Bestsmartphonunder or top10mobiles or nokiapoweruser.com.

These seem to be keyword stuffed domains and don’t actually sound like a brand name, remember we want to create a brand which is going to have 1000s of readers, the name can’t be a let-down.

Also, You can Watch this Video from Matt Cutts From Google to understand How Google Treats Keywords in the Domain Name

Branded Domain Names

Your blog domain name can be a unique brand name like – Moz, Yoast, Shoutmeloud or Google or Yahoo, which actually don’t hint at what these sites are about.

But these are unique brand names with a very high recall value and fairly catchy and easy to remember.

The Hybrid Brand Names

I love the hybrid brand names, which are good sounding, easy to remember, and also hint about the topic of the site.

Some examples are Techcrunch, AndroidAuthority, ProfoundBlogger.com, Candytech.in, Gizmodo.com, Yourstory.com and so on.

There is a connection between the Niche and domain name, which makes it even easier for the readers to recall.

6 Things To Check in a Domain Name

1). TLD – Try to get a .com instead of .in or .co.in or any other TLD. If you are not doing a local targeting the .com represent a more global domain name and no matter your users are from The US or UK or India it is going to be more neutral TLD for them.

Also, Google prefer the geo-specific TLD for the local web traffic like .ph will get a decent ranking in the Philippines but the .com don’t have any such limitation.

Moreover, the .com TLD (top level domain) is easy to remember for users and by default, they type .com instead of .org or .net

2). Avoid Copyright Issues – Don’t use another brands name like Google-Tech or lakmeindiablog.com or something like that to avoid legal issues.

3). Don’t use symbols – or numerals bloggerpasssion12.com – bad example of domain name tough to remember for readers and

4). Short Domain Names – Using a very long Domain Name is a bad idea, it is difficult to remember and users will have to type that name every time in the browser. It cannot be too long – short is good

5). Don’t use a very specific and limiting domain name – dosareciepies.com or wordpresswizards.com – you are limiting your future scope.

6). Choose a unique and Catchy domain name – This is Easier said than done.

It is a Your Brand Name Not Just a Domain Name.

Getting Ideas to Find a Good Domain Name

Check existing sites in the niche and see if there is some catchy name you can think about.

Check some book names on the topic – you may get lucky. But don’t copy an exact domain name.

Spend at least 3-4 days, consult friends and family, and give them some options and see which one is more preferred.

Lastly, where can you buy a domain from – there are many services like Google domains, Namecheap, Hostgator, or Godaddy to get a domain name. All are same just don’t worry and go and register it.

So that’s all if you need any further help from my side, let’s have a chat in the comments. You can bookmark ProfoundBlogger to check out later or can sign up for our monthly newsletter if you find this article useful.