The Difference Between Blog Title and Blog Domain Name

Before you start working on a new blog, you will probably want to name it. While you can spend weeks developing an idea and even sketching some of the first concepts that will form the entire blog, it is not really advisable to put a blog online without having a name for it. Think of it the same as naming a business.

Blog title

When you get an idea for a blog, you will probably have a title in mind. This can be anything you want, and you don’t have to check the Internet for availability. For example, if your name is John and you are starting a food blog, the title of your blog can be something as simple as “John’s Food Blog” (we hope you have some better ideas than we do).

Blog title can be changed at any time. If you ever decide to change the title, you are just one option away from that. Since the settings depend on the CMS you use, it is impossible to go through all of them in this article. So let us show you how to change blog title in WordPress:

1. Go to Settings -> General
2. Enter the desired title in “Site Title” field
3. Save changes

Usually, this is all it takes to change the title of your WordPress blog. Most of the themes & plugins will use this option to display the blog title where necessary, but if you want to learn more, don’t forget to check our WordPress guides.

The blog domain name (URL)

Before you can get to show your blog to the public, you will need a great web hosting company that will take care of your site. This is the place where your files will be located. We strongly recommend Bluehost for all your hosting needs. But you will also need to register a domain name that will be assigned to your website.

Imagine a domain name as the address of your blog. Just like your house has a unique street name and number that identifies it, your blog has to have a unique address as well. This address will allow everyone on the Internet (both people and machines) to recognize your blog by its unique location (the domain name).

Unlike the blog title that can be changed anytime and won’t have much impact on the site, the domain name is something you will want to keep forever. Everything that you do with your blog will be assigned to that domain name, so changing it would actually mean a new start. And that’s not something you will want to do after years of working hard on the blog. For example, if someone else linked back to your blog, and you changed the domain name, that link would stop working and a person who clicked to get on your site would end up on an empty page showing an error.

So, it is important to choose a domain name you really like and want from the very beginning. Well, that’s easier said than done. Why? As the domain names have to be unique, you can imagine that so many of them are already registered by someone else. For example, there can be only one www.firstsiteguide.com. Since we already own the domain, no one else can have it.

In the example of “John’s Food Blog”, John would probably like his domain name to be something like www.johnsfoodblog.com. But you can also register different domain names like:

• johnsfoodblog.net
• johns-food-blog.org
• jfblog.com

In this case, although you may end up registering something like www.jfblog.com (because the first one is probably taken), your blog title can still be “John’s Food Blog”. So, everyone who enters the domain name will be able to see the full blog title you set up in the settings.

Can I have a free domain?

If you want to get serious with your blog, you will want to pay for a domain name. Any of the examples above will cost you money. But paying for a domain name will allow you to choose the address of your blog and personalize it to your likings.

While you can easily have a free domain, those are usually subdomains. So, for example, if you host your free blog at WordPress.com, you can also have a free domain name. But in that case, you will not be able to choose something unique like the examples we showed. Instead, you will be able to choose just the first part of the name. Instead of having something unique like johnsfoodblog.com, you can only have johnsfoodblog.wordpress.com (unless some other food lover already claimed that one).

Summing it up

While both the Blog Title and Domain Name are important, there are clearly huge differences. Both names are used to identify a blog, but the blog title can be easily changed at any moment while the domain name isn’t something you should alter (in rare cases, people do change their URLs but that’s not something you should worry at this point).

A blog title is just a name that’s used for the blog identification, and a domain name is the address of your blog that will be used both by humans and search engines to recognize your site in the swarm of other blogs found online.

Coming up with a blog title and domain name that will identify you on the internet isn’t an easy task. It takes time and imagination to get something interesting and yet unique. After you’ve selected and purchased your domain name, make sure to promote your blog by using the right hashtags on social networks like Instagram, so you could get tons of likes and start to earn money with your blog.

If you’re still struggling with finding a domain name for your blog, just take a look at these blog name generators that will help you by suggesting ideas and checking for domain name availability.