Blogs require good design and layout, constant maintenance, interesting content and topics to keep your visitors coming back for more, and some interaction by way of inviting comments and feedback…and that is just for starters.  There are a host of other things you can do to set your new blog on the path to success, but that’s for another article.

Before you get into all the ‘pretty’ decisions about your blog, like color, font size and what WP theme you’re going to use, I want to address a more pressing need that should take priority over most other things. That is the need for you to sit down and start researching a good web domain name for your blog.  Sounds easy doesn’t it?.  Let the truth be told.  It could take you days to finally find a good web domain name,  one that even closely represent what your site is about. That’s because all the ‘good ones’ are gone..or so you might think.  Let me explain how you can go about this task without pounding your head on the computer desk from frustration.

There are a lot of theories floating around out there about how long or short a domain name should be.  Some experts say that your domain name should be the name of  your site, short so people can remember and spend less time typing it into their browser, minimizing the possibility of making mistakes.  I agree with all of this, but for me it’s not set in stone.  You can have longer domain names that people can still remember, without jeopardizing your search results in the major search engines.. You just have to be a little creative.  If you absolutely cannot come up with an appropriate domain name, here are a few suggestions.

Buy an existing domain name.  There are sites where you can actually buy a domain name on the aftermarket.  Try some of these:

• wwww.sedo.com
• www.snapnames.com
• www.afternic.com
• www.tdnam.com

Get a domain that has been dropped or no longer in use.  There are expired domain list you can refer to. Some website owners never renew their domain registration and they become available for you to snatch right up.  You just need to sign up for a free account with them.  Here they are:

• www.pool.com
• www.clubdrop.com
• www.snapnames.com

One great tool I’ve personally used and I highly recommend is the Domain Name Analyzer.  It is a free tool that comes ready made with various combination of words,  enabling you to create your own domain names.  Once you’re satisfied with what you’ve created, the program will actually run a mass search of whois of the entire domain name and return results in no time.  Very cool tool. You can download it here for free.  This will help you create your web domain names that are not necessarily “short” but appropriate.