Coming up with the perfect name for your blog or business can be an incredibly challenging task. When we have a big and exciting vision of what we want to create with our business / blog, we want to make sure that the name is perfect.
This big decision can feel rather overwhelming and it's something that I see holding many people back from getting started. But it doesn't have to be that way and in this post I'm going to share with you a simple process that you can follow to help you come up with the perfect name for your new blog / business.
I have also created a free worksheet to go along with this post that you can use to complete each of the steps.
1. Define Your Core Message
The first step in coming up with the perfect name for your blog and/or business is to know what you are about or as Simon Sinek puts it, your why. If you are not familiar with Simon's work I highly recommend watching his Ted Talk which I included in my post the 5 Must See Videos For Bloggers.
Without knowing exactly what you do in your business or on your blog and why you do it, you can't come up with a name that will capture the essence of your brand. You have to know what your naming in order to name it.
If you don't already know what you do and why you do it i.e. what your core message is, don't fear, the worksheet that goes with this blog post will help you figure it out.
2. Know Your Audience
The next thing you need to get really clear on before naming your blog/business is your audience. You want the name of your blog to connect with your audience and if you don't know your audience you can't hope to be able to connect with them.
The clearer you get on who your audience is, what their needs, preferences and interests are the better. You want to be able to think like them. You want to know what will stand out to them and what they will respond to.
And again, if you haven't already downloaded it, the free worksheet will help you nut all of this out.
3. Brain Dump
Once you know what you do, why you do it and who you do it for you're ready for a good old brain dump. Keeping in mind your what, why and who, grab a fresh page in your notebook (or the space in the worksheet) and write down all the words that come to mind when you think about your blog/business.
The reason you want to do this is firstly to help warm you mind up and secondly to help you order your thoughts. Getting words, ideas and concepts that you have floating around your mind out onto a page will help you see connections between things and make sense of you ideas.
While doing this exercise you are not trying to brainstorm name ideas. It's more of a stream of consciousness type exercise. Just focus on writing words or phrases that come to mind. The trick is to not to think too hard about it. It's almost like you let the words unfold for themselves.
So let loose and write down everything. There is no wrong answer here. You will find that one word/idea will lead you to the next. You may also find that some words feel like it's off on a tangent and not directly related to your blog, don't worry, write it anyway and have fun!
When you have finished have a look over what you have written. See if you can spot any links between words. Are there any patterns or themes that jump out at you? Are there any words that stand out and could be incorporated into your name? If it helps you could draw lines between words or ideas that are linked or use highlighters to colour code some of the main themes that jump out.
4. Brainstorm
Now that you mind is all warmed up it's time to brainstorm name ideas. Using any insights and inspiration you got from doing the brain dump start brainstorming name ideas. I often find that doing a brain dump before a brainstorm helps my brainstorm ideas flow more easily.
As with the brain dump, don't censor yourself. Write every idea down, even if you think it's crappy, just get it out. No one is going to be looking at this anyway. I'd say write at least 10 ideas, but I think with brainstorming, the more the better.
5. Choosing One
This final step is rather obvious and I don't think it needs much explaining. Once you have your list of name ideas go through it again and see which one jumps out at you the most. If there is more than one, narrow it down to 2 or 3 and ask your family, friends and your audience if you already have an online presence, to help you decide. You could create a Facebook poll, Google survey or just send out an email.
And voila! That's all there is to it. Don't forget to download your free worksheet which will step-by-step walk you through this process.
And if you have found this post useful I'd love it if you shared it with your friends so that it can help them too!
