E.S. Ivy

author of middle grade books for children

Picking a domain name for a lifestyle blog or mommy blog

by

It can be tricky to pick a domain name for a lifestyle blog. I like the terms “lifestyle blog” or “mommy blog” because the topics can be so broad on them, which is what has turned out to happen here in my little corner of the internet. But in some ways, that seems to make coming up with a domain name and buying a URL more difficult.

But before I get into all that, maybe your wondering – Exactly what is a domain name? And if you look on the internet (like I did), it will become clear to you that all of the definitions were written by software engineers who knew exactly what they were talking about. But after you read their three paragraph definition you’ll have no clue what they’re talking about.

Here’s a simple way to define domain name.

Look at that string of letters in your browser bar. That’s this webpage’s URL. (On this webpage right now you should see https://esivy.com/picking-a-domain-name-for-a-lifestyle-blog. It will change after I switch over to my new domain name.)

A simple way to define URL is the address of a webpage on the internet.

The domain name is part of the webpage’s URL; it’s the “title” or “name” that comes immediately after either “http://” or “www.”, before the next dot back-slash (/).

As I write this post, the domain name for this website is esivy.com. You can see it in the URL for this webpage in your browser bar at the top of this page which I’ve copied below:

http://esivy.com/picking-a-domain-name-for-a-lifestyle-blog

If you go to the homepage of a website, like www.amazon.com, you’ll see only the domain name in the browser bar.

If you go to another page on the website, like this one for Miri Attwater and the Oceans’ Secret, after the domain name you’ll see bunch of other letters or numbers to give the address for that specific webpage on the website Amazon.com.

So, now back to choosing a domain name for a lifestyle blog. Why come up with a clever domain name for the URL of a blog? It seems like the title bar on this webpage has had “creative tagline in the works for here” for ages. I’ve done lots of thinking and brainstorming trying to come up with a blog name.

I’ve read on the internet:

How to choose a domain name by Amy Lynn Andrews

4 Things to Consider When Choosing Your Domain Name by ProBlogger

And I’ve read books:

Everything But the Posts

How to Blog for Profit: Without Selling Your Soul (disclaimer, I am a long way from that profit part)

I looked for inspiration from parenting, mommy and lifestyle blog s with names I like. (Surprisingly, if you search for “top mommy blogs” or “best lifestyle blogs” you’ll come up with nothing that’s useful. Nada. Zilch. So I’ll include a list of the best lifestyle blogs with names I like at the end of this post.)

But the perfect domain name was elusive. A few months ago, I gave up. I took comfort in the fact that lots of blogs were starting to just use the names of their author. But, I did notice that while I’ve learned some bloggers’ names, I’m more likely to remember a clever blog URL the first time I encounter it.

I’m going to be making the switch soon to the Genesis platform, and while I was researching it I came across the new lifestyle blog, MyCrazyEverAfter.com. So clever. So easy to remember.

So I was once again inspired to brainstorm. And then, while I did my after-school pickup run I came upon a brilliant solution! I enlisted the help of my daughters.

I was really tempted to go with the first suggestion of my youngest, CoolerMomThanYours. (Actually, she insisted I should spell it CoolerMomThanYurs.)

I mean, what mom wouldn’t love that? But we kept at it and we finally came up with one we all liked!

New face of the blog coming soon at MomBehindTheCurtain.com.

If you still need domain hosting, I’ve been very happy at Bluehost. You can buy your domain name there too. I’m an affiliate which means that I make a small commission if you click through my link, at absolutely no cost to you. This post also some other links that are affiliate links of other resources I’ve used, at no cost to you.Thanks for supporting this blog in this way! 

*And here’s that list I promised of my top mommy blogs or lifestyle blogs with the best names to give you some inspiration for your own blog name.

 

Comments

  1. dlparr82 says

    Thanks for the shout out E.S!! My first link 😉 I’m a little giddy with excitement. HAHA! Blogging is such a new world to me but so much fun to connect with all the others out there. It took me YEARS to come up with a domain I thought would stick for me. Some people start without one but it was the name that finally made me take my typed journaling to the next level and post it as a blog. I LOVE MomBehindTheCurtain.com and can’t wait to follow you there.

  2. Jennifer Kaufman says

    Oh, thanks so much for the link! I love this post, I think I always forget we all come from totally different backgrounds with regards to tech knowledge 🙂 Can’t wait to see your update!

    • ES Ivy says

      When it came to domain and URL although I knew pretty much what they were, I found it was really hard to put it into words. When I looked, it was obvious that software engineers had even more trouble with defining it! I often laugh with my husband that software engineers writing directions on-line is like telling someone how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich starting with “spread the jelly on the bread” when the person they’re talking to needs to know where and how to go to the store to buy the bread! Then when they try to correct it they tell you how to get in the car, start the engine, etc. It’s hard to find middle ground.