How to Choose A Name for Your Company's Blog

Choosing a name is hard. Anyone with kids, a business or even pets can attest to that. And while naming your blog doesn’t feel quite as monumental, it’s still really important.

Does it need a name?

Not necessarily. The very blog you’re reading doesn’t have a name. There’s Zillow, Disney and even the hallowed Content Marketing Institute—all who have blogs with no name.
But then you see Marriott On the Move, Whole Foods’ Whole Story and Target’s A Bullseye View and you get confused, right?
Should you name it, or shouldn’t you?
The tough part is there really isn’t a right or wrong answer. There are many factors, such as:

• Company brand
• Blog tone
• Goals for the blog and your overall content marketing plan
• Blog topics
• Target audience

Choosing a name

The quickest way for your reader to associate the blog with your company is to leave it unnamed. Still, there are still options when you choose a name. Some blogs, like General Mills’ Tablespoon, barely mention the brand at all. Others, like Pottery Barn’s Inside & Out, have a unique name but the company name still appears in the blog’s masthead. And, if your blog becomes successful enough, its name can eventually become synonymous with your brand name.
If you’ve decided that a name is the way to go, consider these factors to help guide your brainstorming session:

• Is it memorable?
• Is it easy to spell?
• Does the name include keywords you want to be found for? This isn’t a requirement, but it can be very good for SEO.
• Does the name fit with your brand?
• Is it a name that will resonate with your target audience?
• Does the name reflect the topics you’ll be writing about?
• Does it sound good with your company name?
• Is the URL available? Even if you’ll be redirecting to a subdomain of your website, owning the URL is important.
• Is it unique? Make sure there’s not another blog with a similar name—pay special attention to your competitors.
• Does it leave room for future growth?

If you’ve played the blog name game, what did you decide? We’d love to hear your thought process, so join the conversation in the comments below, or on Facebook or Google+.