Finding the perfect name for your travel blog

Your blogs name (domain name) is one of the most important decisions you’ll be making once you decide to start a travel blog. It’s your URL that you’ll be telling friends and family about and will eventually become your brand – one that you’ll be using when pitching to travel related businesses. The best thing you can do for your new blog is to pick the right blog name.

It’s not impossible to change your domain name later, just a huge pain in the arse. This blog used to be called Banquets and Backpacks. It was a long and cumbersome name that wasn’t particularly easy to remember and I was never happy with it. When I did decide to change it (a year later) I spent an entire afternoon changing all my social media accounts and internal links (links within my posts that linked to other similar posts) so that they all led to the new URLs. I also lost a small portion of traffic as I’d put so much time into building the original brand.

The right fit

What’s your travel blog going to be about? Europe? Budgets? Couples travel? You want to find a blog name that communicates your blogs niche without pigeonholing yourself into only writing about that topic.

Character length

Keep it as short as possible. Shorter blog names are more memorable and easier for social media handles. There’s no golden number but I think if you can find a name that’s within 10 characters, you’ve done well.

Looking for Inspiration

Thesaurus is my go-to for playing around with keywords. Write down all the words that relate to your travel blog, that speak to you about what your travel blog is all about and play around with combinations until you find one that feels right. Talking to friends and family will help too because saying it out loud to someone will immediately tell you if you’ve found the right name. Does it feel awkward to say? Do you have to explain how to spell it, or write it out? If so then simplify.

Make it easy for readers

You want your domain name to be simple to spell and remember, because how can they come back if they can’t remember the URL?

Avoid these

Avoid ‘and’ and ‘the’ (I know I did and I wish I hadn’t)

Always pick .coms over .nets or national domains like .uk

No hyphens, no dots, no numbers

Think about the future

You may go professional and be working with other big name brands one day, so you may regret ‘princesstourist.com’. Also stay away from URLs like ‘broke/poor traveller’ or brands may not think your readers are their potential customers. Don’t pick a name that’s too on trend at the moment because it may date too quickly. You also want a name that will grow with you as you develop your travel blog.

Originality

My blog’s name The Travel Natural isn’t unique at all. There are hundreds of blogs out there with the similar names. Finding an original name isn’t an easy thing to do at all – and there’s no guarantee that another blogger will come after you and pick a really similar name.

Once you’ve found a blog name that you like try googling it to find how many other blogs have similar domain names, or if it’s already been taken.

If you’re still at a loss, here are some travel related words to get you thinking:

One-way, return, overnight, abroad, circuit, holiday, vacation

Journey, wanderlust, Voyage, globetrot, bucket list

Hop, walk, trek, navigate, wander, cross, roam, hike

Car, bike, plane, train, drive, fly

Solo, couple, one/two/three, family

Hotel, hostel, camp

Explore, seek, search,

Found the perfect travel blog name? Great! Time to set up your blog