How to choose a domain name for your blog?

I have put up a Octagon test to figure out how to choose a domain name for your blog and create your domain name but Before we talk about how to create your domain name, I want to explain about one most critical factor, that is whom you will be writing too. we also call this thing technically as niche. for example shoutmeloud.com is a blog which helps about blogging and digitaldeepak.com focuses on teaching digital marketing to Indians only. once you identify the segment you are talking to it will be very easy to create good domain names.

Octagon Technique to choose a domain name 

First step is to identify who is going to read your blog ?

Many bloggers just pick up their blog name and niche in a hurry , you need to be very much careful while selecting the topic of your blog which is also called Niche. let me assume you want to teach students who are studying nursing about how to get nursing jobs, then it is better to pick a domain name like nursingjobs.com instead of  jobsforwomen.com or highpayingjobs.com

Can your domain name describe your business?

first thing people see on your blog is your blogs name or domain name, by looking at healthydietfordiabetics.com what can you understand is simply you know it is a blog for diabetics which can help them with diet but this name is not very userfriendly or easy to remember instead of that we have used the name cheenikum.com it would have been unique and it can also describe your business and easy to remember. 

Does your domain name sound like a  brand ?

Google and yahoo are not the words which were in the dictionary but they have made it to the dictionary now , this is called branding, Similarly Apple Computers name is also very interesting, apple is well know word and adding computers to it is a good formula, you also know about blackberry and kingfisher. if you are planning to build a big brand then you should look at brand value of your domain name.


For example few years ago, I thought of start up in which we can teach people how to do rooftop farming , for the rooftopfarming.com does not get good brand recognition so I have named it skiroots.com don't search for it because we discontinued the same.


unique words or words which are not in the dictionary can make for good brand.

Is your blog or business relevant only to a specific geographic location?

Let me assume your blog wants to cover events which happen only in delhi or your blog is about restaurants in delhi . in this cases you can use the location name. 


for the events site delhidrama.com, delhievents.com, delhiconcerts.com can be good domain names 


 delhifoodie.com, delhijalebi.com , delhiforks.com delhikhana.com etc can be good domain names



how choose domain name
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Is your domain name unforgettable and interesting?

people remember things which are unique and relevant to their lives. to make it easy to remember please keep in mind the following

  • domain name length should be anywhere between 4 -14 characters bigger the name more are the chances of forgetting
  • should be easy to spell, for example https://bonhappetee.com/ is really dififcult to spell where as healthifyme.com is easy to spell.
  • easy to recall or remember, shoutmeloud.com is a bit weird but it is easy to remember, do you agree with me. problogger.net and digitaldeepak are easy to remember by logic.



Is your domain name available on social media ?

Once upon time only way to drive traffic was through google and word of mouth but now social media has a very big role to play.  if your social media profile s and domain name are same it will be very easy for readers to relate and engage with your brand.



  • Your Facebook page url is same as that of your domain it will be easy for anyone to discover. 
  • your twitter handle, instagram handle and pinterest handle all of them are important so please also check if your domain name is available on these social media sites also .
  • This step is very important if you want to drive traffic to your website primarily through your social media sites



Is your domain name scalable ?

Amazon.com started in USA and then slowly started business in other countries, So if you are a startup who is selling ayurvedic herbs for diabetes in India and soon you may want to expand your business to USA or UK , then you may consider purchasing .in , .com , .us extensions and keep your domain name more generic like amazon 


If you plan to expand rapidly create a unique name which will be relevant with all the audience, naukri.com cannot look relevant to USA. 



Mistakes you may do while choosing your domain name ?

  • do not use numbers in domain names, they look like spam or fishy.
  • Do not use hyphens in domain names because it will difficult for the readers to remember the spelling.
  • Do not use double letters, like I did for my first ever blog www.readitt.in launched in 2011 this also makes it difficult to remember the domain name.
  • try to use only a .com extension, you may use .in if you are selling products or a ecommerce website. because .com is easy to remember.
  • please use https if you intend to sell any products or services on your blog.

Examples of good domain names 

As your blog grows in time, your blog name may become your brand name. if you ask me for single line of advice about your domain name, I will simply suggest adding two words, refer the examples below

  • digitaldeepak.com is a very good example, his topic is digital marketing deepak as digital marketing deepak does not sound very good he created digitaldeepak which is easy to remember and also adds to brand value.
  • problogger.net : problogger is also a very good name, the domain name says it all, it means professional blogger so you can expect to learn something about professional blogging so this makes for a great domain name.
  • bloggingmistakes.com : The blog you are reading right now, from this domain name you can understand that, you can learn about blogging mistakes people do, I am putting all the mistakes I did here so that new-bloggers can simply gain from these and do not repeat the mistakes. So the advantage of this type of domain name is the name says it all.
  • www.divinetaste.com reads “Feed your body, mind & soul”. We love this recipe blog because it lets you indulge in exotic food guilt-free, as they are pure vegetarian sattvic food (food devoid of meat, fish, eggs, garlic, onions & wine). Definitely divine! this is to a targeted audience, some communities in India do not eat onions, and many communities do not eat onions etc on special occasions
  • www.veganricha.com : conveys blog topic, personal branding, scalable and easy to remember.


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Step-1 :  Scribble all possible domain names

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Take a notebook and scribble all possible domain names which come to your mind , don't worry if they sound very weird or bad, just write down. 

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Step-2 :  Search for blogs on your niche on google

domain names in your niche
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search for blog names on internet, like just search on google " techblogs in India" start noting down the names you can generate more domain name ideas.

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Step-3 :  Use a Domain Name Generator  

I dont think this blog generator softwares are really very good at generating great domain names but they can help you in this process.


Use a blog name generator to generate more blog / domain names.  here are few blog name generators you can use


  1. bustaname  free tool 
  2. pickydomains ( paid tool )
  3. dotomator
  4. brandings ( it is not a domain name generator but can help very much )
  5. brandroot ( this is also a brand name generator which provides very good brand names which can be used for domain names)
  6. rhymer  ( this is also a interesting tool to help you create a domain name )

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Step-4 :  Check Blog Directories 

you can also check blog directories like topindianblogs to see few more names of blogs to get more ideas. 


Few more Blog directories are 


  1. Indiblogger.com  
  2. Blogadda.com

From these directories you can get good ideas for your domain names just by seeing the names and content of others blogs and write down more domain names.


by this time you would have generated more than 50 domain names for your blog 

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Step-5 :  Validate your domain names  

Now validate your domain names if your domain name is passing Our OCTAGON Test or not, to pass the Octagon test you need to score 5 or more out of 8 points. I will give you an example how to do it. Let me assume your domain name is skiroots.com and your blog is about roof top farming.

Niche of the blog is very clear - Yes (1 point)

Can your domain describe your business - yes ( 1 point )  

Does it sound like a brand ? -  yes (1 point )

I guess you understood how to use the octagon formula !

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Step-6 :  Cross domain names which do not score >5

Now cross off all the domain names which do not get 5 or more points you will be left with few domain names only , i.e not more than 10. 


Now you can try your luck with these 10 domain names using a domain search engine.

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Step-7 :  Check for domain name availability

Now go to a Registrar like namecheap and enter your names to see the availability of your domain name.


you can also get domain names from hosting companies like blue host or siteground. I initially did it like that.


Godaddy , name.com , namecheap.com all are good to get your domain names, you don't need to get your domain name from the hosting company.


see the video below, how simple is it to search your domain name, you can just repeat with all the domain names you have on your notepad.

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Step-8 :  Ask your Friends & Fellow Bloggers

After checking with the registrar you will be left with less than 5 domain names,  may be less than 3 also. ​


share those few names with your friends and other bloggers to shortlist one or two names. 

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Step-9 :  Choose your domain name 

we are done, in the 9th step choose your domain name and go ahead with the registration process. don't delay in registering the domain names because sometimes registrars increase the charges if they feel like your domain name can become a premium domain in future. 


If you are done with choosing a domain name for your niche you can now learn how to choose a good hosting for your blog.

how choose domain name
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