Picking a Topic and a Name for Your Blog

Now that you have decided on a free host, you have to ask yourself two questions.
1) What topic should I write about?
2) What should I call my blog?
Search engines search for content – what you write – so take some time to think about this. What is your passion? What subject do you like to talk about?
What topic(s) do you know a lot about?
Is your line of work fascinating? Do you have an amusing hobby or avocation?
Do you want to blog about the places you’ve been when traveling?
How about interesting books or magazine articles you have read?
Or amazing movies you love and watch time and time again?
Have you found ways to save money that you would like to share? Or ways to spend it?
Stories about your amazing, lovable dog. or your curious, independent cat?
Exotic animals and their curious habits like the platypus and the wallaroo (combination of wallaby and kangaroo)?

Your name should have some relevance to the contents of your blog. Your name should be short and easy for folks to remember. Not only is a short name easier to remember, but it will be to your advantage when you are counting words on Twitter (limit – 140 spaces) which you will be using to advertise your blog. More on advertising with free Tweets in my next post.

Your name should also be easy to spell and not confusing when spoken. If you heard PfeifferPhotography.com, would you know how to spell it? Although I admit it hasn’t hampered the Pfister Faucet Company even tho I’m tempted to spell it “pfaucets.”

In the past, bloggers tried to invent domain names containing keywords. Now search engines are smarter and your name contributes only a small percentage toward your page ranking – where you are listed on Google and other search engines. On the free hosts, Blogger and Wordpress, you will have a dot.com name or URL. Most people think of dot.com when they are looking for a website. It takes more energy to remember dot.org, dot.net, and the others.

In the future, if you want to purchase your own URL without the Blogspot.com or Wordpress.com extension, you can purchase a dot.com name. Here are several registrars of domain names where you can learn if your name is available. GoDaddy.com, Nameboy.com, NetworkSolutions.com, Domain.com, Register.com. Costs vary from $9.75 to $26.33 per year. For now, however, concentrate on writing your content in your free host with your free domain name.

Have you selected your free web host?

Then now is the time to get serious about your blog. What topic or topics are you going to be blogging about? Will yours be a blog about celebrity escapades? Who did What to Whom? Why? How? and Where did it happen?

Or a more personal blog about a topic you are passionate about: recipes, gardening, your family, movies, books, art, American Idol winners, American Idol losers who became winners, TV shows, Susan Boyle? You get the idea.

Or are you interested in selling your professional services, as a consultant, resume writer, life coach, career consultant, whatever?

When you blog, content is king. You may not post (write) every day. But you do have to have content. Content is what you blog about. Are your posts creative, interesting, informative, worthwhile, serious, humorous, unusual, practical, memorable? Or all of the above? Would the reader want to return to your site?

Do you keep the reader in mind with everything you write? Be aware that all of us are constantly listening to an internal radio station: W I I – F M - What’s In It For Me. Your content has to show your readers what’s in it for them.
My next post will focus on your domain name. If you have any “newbie” blogger questions, please post them as comments. I'll give you the best answers I know.