In this lesson we are going to name your blog.

Naming your blog is the first step to establishing yourself. Your blog name will determine your website URL, people's first reaction, and design elements like your logo.

Take Action: brainstorm a list of names for your blog URL and for your social handles. Remember the social handle should be no longer than 15 characters. Your blog name can be longer than that. Once you've come up with a few options, check and see if it is available. You'll get a free domain name in the next lesson, for just check for now.

Resources: https://www.namecheckr.com/

Formulas

Your name + what you do

Your audience + adjective or other descriptive word

The journey.

What to do if the domain name you want isn't available.

If the name you want isn't available, but isn't being used (or has nothing to do with blogging) there are a few things you can do.

1. Add prefix, suffix
2. Add an action
3. Try a different domain ending

1. Add a prefix or suffix. Say I really wanted my blog to be named Fitness Life. The domain name fitnesslife.com is taken but there isn’t anything there.

2. The second is similar to the first, but more specific – add an action. Adding an action to your domain name brings the site to life for your audience. For example getflywheel.com is the domain for Flywheel, a hosting company. People will be visiting their site to get hosting so it just makes sense. Maybe you want to go with the brand name Paleo Plates, but the domain isn’t available. You could add eat and the URL will be eatpaleoplates.com and instantly your audience knows what they want to do when the come to your site: eat Paleo Plates.

3. The third suggestion I have is to use a different domain TLD. That's the extension at the end of your domain. Try .co .blog .recipes .tv .guide or one that fits your name. Dot com is more preferable, but these work too.

Remember to check trade marks so that you don't have legal issues down the line. Also, if there is someone else blogging with the same name - then you want to choose something else instead of using these ideas.