So you’ve decided to start a blog that will be more than just a personal online diary. Great! Now What?
Well, a good starting point is finding a nice domain that includes your target keywords. Keyword domains have tremendous value in branding, name recognition and search engine traffic. There’s little doubt if you search for [your topic]blog.com it will already be registered. You might have also found that the domain owner is asking several thousand dollars or more for the rights to it. Welcome to the world of domains.
Not to worry though. I have some tips to help you find a great keyword domain name for your blog that will bring the same level of brand awareness and marketability your looking for.
As a person that has been in the domain business for over 7 years I have 3 principle rules I like to work from when choosing a domain for development.
The domain 1) needs to be a .com 2) should have no dashes 3) needs to include the target keyword/term.
(note: There are always exceptions but I prefer to stick by these rules if possible.)
Using Alternative Blog terms
So lets get to it. The basic premise I’m going to suggest is to append your topic keyword with some alternatives to the term “blog”. I’ve included a list of terms I really like and have seen put to use very well. Not all terms will fit your exact purpose but there should still be one available for you to use.
magazine
guide
review
post
herald
chronicle
chronicles
ink
authority
pro
fan
news
wire
world
central
journal
daily
This is by no means a comprehensive list but they are some of my favorites.
Searching For Your New Domain
Ok, so lets what shakes out when we combine our terms. I like to use the domain generator over at Fabulous.com to run my lists. Free registration is required but it is well worth it as Fabulous has a great set of research and management tools to offer.
I’m going test these terms with the very popular Scrapbooking niche. I think the terms “Scrapbook” and “Scrapbooking” will both work well as a primary keyword.
So here is what my Fabulous domain generator screen will look like prior to searching.
And this is the result of the search.
Looks like we’ve got a nice selection of brandable, keyword domains available to register and use. Yeah!
What If There Are No Available Domains?
If all of the name combinations for your keyword or term are gone with this list you are probably in a very competitive niche. My first suggestion would be adding the word “The” in front of your primary keword/term (note: also had blog into the secondary list). Using “The” as the initial word in a blog domain can serve a domain blog well as it instills an air of authority.
A secondary option would be to try finding some alternative primary keywords for your search. I suggest using Wordtracker’s free keyword suggestion tool to find what others are searching for in your target niche.
If you are still stuck just drop me a line through the contact page and I’ll see what I can whip up. 
Happy domain hunting! 
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