On Naming Your Blog and or Website

The name of your website and /or blog is important, in terms of both branding you as a professional and helping your site be found.

When you start your blog you will have to create a name that will read, "yourname.blogspot" if you are on Blogger or "yourname.wordpress" if you are on Word Press, where "yourname" is the name you choose. The .blogspot or .wordpress suffix makes your site name look unprofessional (at least by comparison to your competition) and makes your name needlessly long. Everyone is used to looking for website with a .com suffix. You will lose traffic when searchers look for your site, type in the .com address, get frustrated and move on to their next task. Attention spans are limited. Make sure you make yourself easily findable.

You should purchase a web site domain name, such as "yourname.com" and set up an automatic forward so that any time someone types "yourname.com" they are automatically forwarded to your blog. You then use the web site name in all of your promotional activity.

Web site domain names are easily purchased with prices ranging from $5 to $15. Automatic forwarding should be done for free by the company you purchase the domain name from. If it is not, move on to another company. There are hundreds. I purchase all my domain names and set up forwarding from www.GoDaddy.com. If you prefer, this is a task I can do for you.

Ideally, The "yourname" section of your blog address will match that of your web address. For example, if you want your blog name to be XYZCompany.blogspot.com then your web address should be www.XYZCompany.com. You may need to search around for different names depending on their availability.

Your site name should fit three criteria:

1. It should be short,
2. It should not contain hyphens, and
3. Description is more important than cuteness.

Short names and names without hyphens make your site name easier to remember. A description of what your site is about in three words or less will attract more readers. Further, the descriptive words should be keywords for your site. This will help with your Search Engine Optimization and lead to more traffic (SEO is a huge topic that we will get to later.).

Your web site name will have the option of coming with a number of different suffixes. You should choose a .com, .net or .org. These are the three most used in the USA and, reportedly, these three get higher rankings in Google searches (although Google denies this). I only use .com. and suggest that you do as well.

Finally, while you are about buying domain names, you should buy the domain name with your name as well. If you are, say, Susan Martison, you should buy the domain name, www.susanmartinson.com. If that name is taken, you may wish to consider www.suemartinson.com or www.smartinson.com or some other variant thereof. Purchasing your name as a domain name will open many options for you as you build your business.

Blog Writing, Part 1 On Form

Your blog post must be written to catch the readers interest within the first sentence or two! Your opening must be compelling and well written. Remember that your blog reader is always crunched for time and bombarded by other media. Respect your reader and given them your information in a concise and readable format.

At the same time, while respecting your reader, you should be writing for them at around the sixth grade level. Your average reader, like the average newspaper reader, has the reading skill and attention level of a 6th grader. People have come to expect material to be written for them at this level.

Your blog should be between 350 and 400 words. The average newspaper story is about 550 words. This size is not an overwhelming task to read or to write.

Keep your paragraphs on the short side. Aim for three to four sentences. Using more, while necessary at times, will decrease the readability of your post.

Whenever possible, break up your text with visuals. A graphic or photograph will make your text more readable. A quote from the text works too. Never have one long dense block of text. No matter how interesting, the average reader is just going to pass on it.

The visual does not necessarily have to relate to the post, but if it can, so much the better.

Along the same line, lists and numbered items help move your readers eye through the text, while at the same time breaking the text into readable pieces. Numbered items also provide your reader with a specific end point, so they can know how much time they will have to allocate to reading your post.

While your information may be extraordinary, if you present it to your reader in a format they find difficult, the information will not get read. Keep your form simple. Keep your ideas readable.