Creating Your Name

Lesson 1: Creating Your Name

In the previous unit, we talked about what type of traveler you are and what niche you could fill in the market. We are going to continue discussing what niche your blog will cover. In addition to this, we are going to discuss your blog’s identity, including: naming your blog, creating a logo, establishing a theme of your blog, and much more!

Choosing Your Niche

A niche, as discussed in the previous unit, is a subset of the market. The market we are discussing here is travel. Travel is a massive market, one that you would never want to cover in a travel blog of your own. Not only is it dominated by major names in the industry that already dominate search engines, but it is also not a focused enough topic for your blog. Your reader may be interested in one post out of fifty on your blog. That is not enough to retain them as a reader.

To just claim your blog to be a travel blog is not what we are trying to do here. We are trying to identify a niche that has yet to be filled in the market of travel and create our blog around that. This way, we can have a large market share of this subset market rather than being drowned by the major names within the travel industry.

Choosing your niche is the first step to creating a travel blog. This step was begun in the previous unit when we discussed what type of traveler you are. Now, considering the questions presented in that unit, you need to ask yourself if you can create a travel blog around that. Alternatively, you can create a travel blog around a personality trait of your own or something that makes yourself unique to others.

Before you choose your niche, make sure you search the keywords of your travel blog to see who already has a share of that market and whether, or not, you want to continue with that niche. Try to be unique and choose a blog that suits your personality. Do not try to force something that does not exist in your life, or else your readers will see right through you or you will lose interest in your blog altogether.

Creating a Purpose

Continuing from choosing your niche, you should also consider what you want to accomplish with your travel blog. There are many things you can consider with helping people, but that should be your priority. The more people you help with your blog, the more valuable your blog will be, the more people will subscribe, the more traffic you will earn, and all of this is what you want to accomplish with your blog. It all begins with understanding what your goal is.

After choosing your niche, you now need to consider your goal. Is your goal to inform people about a topic? Do you want to let them know about the food in a certain area of the world, teach people how to travel the world with a loved one, seeking adventure travel, or traveling the world with a disability of some sort? All of this would be valuable information within a niche market and serving a purpose.

For example, To the Nations Worldwide is a couple travel blog (the niche we chose) that seeks to create an enjoyable environment for travelers to share their travel experiences, teach travelers more about how they can share their travels, and work together to give back to the international community (the purpose). However, it would be beneficial for you to think small in the beginning of your travel blog and take steps towards greater things. Do one thing really well, and then try to expand from there. It will all come in time, but knowing your direction is always beneficial.

Naming Your Blog

Now comes the hard part, naming your blog. Do you have a name in mind already? Great! We were lucky enough to have a blog name in mind before we began. If you do not have one in mind, then let’s get thinking. Now that you know your traveling style, your niche, and your purpose, let’s make a name around those concepts. Be creative, take your time, and consider a few options before moving on. This will be stuck with you forever. Changing the name of your blog down the road is doable, but a headache you will want to avoid.

Some things you should consider when choosing a name are:

1. Is it taken? Do a quick search of the name you have chosen. If no other company comes up, then you are in the clear. If there is something there, consider a new option. Also, search your domain on GoDaddy.com – World’s No.1 Domain Registrar to see if it is available and how much it will cost.








.com.co.info.net.org.me.mobi.biz.co.uk.us.in












2. Social media accounts should be available for that name. Like the previous step, do a quick search on each social media network you may plan to join. Also, consider the length of usernames you can create. Unfortunately for us, we had already chosen To the Nations Worldwide before considering this step. We signed up for Facebook and Instagram no problem, but when it came to Twitter we were only allowed 20 characters for our handle and our name is 21 characters long. Therefore, we took the name @TotheNationsWW.
3. Branding is important. Creating something recognizable is important for the long term growth of your blog. When you see a company’s name, their brand immediately comes to mind. That company worked hard to create that image in your mind. Choosing the right name is the first step towards creating that brand and that image in your reader’s mind. What do you want your blog to be remembered as? Think of something short, catchy, and memorable that will be easy for people to search.
4. In addition to branding, consider what your logo design will look like. Thinking of a name that a unique logo can be created around will be beneficial. This brings us to the next step.

Creating a Logo

Much like the name, you are going to want to spend some time choosing the right logo for your blog. Your logo should spark a lot of different emotions and images into a visitor’s imagination. Everything from choosing the right images to be included into your logo design to the right colors will be important to consider with your logo design.

In addition to your design, you should also search the designs of other blog’s and company’s designs of their logos in the travel industry. Do not copy, but these can be direct sources of inspiration for your blog. You should aim to be unique as possible. In the travel industry, the same images are used again and again. An airplane (like us), an image of the earth (like us), or other travel related themes are used in a lot of logos, but aim for something that is not used. Alternatively, look for a way to use those themes and rearrange them to create your own unique logo, like we did. The themes themselves do not have to be unique, but the final logo design needs to be original.

Color is extremely important. It evokes emotion, and you do not want your brand to create a negative emotion. Do your research on which colors you want your brand to represent. Choose one or two main colors and two to three complimenting colors. These colors will help in later lessons when creating your blog’s website.
If you have trouble with creating a logo or it just is not your area of expertise, consider these resources to create a logo:

1. Fiverr
   This website allows you to search for a logo designer, and have them design a logo for as low as $5! Look for the accounts with good reviews and some pictures to show their work. Most sellers have a variety of packages to choose from, but the basic packages are $5.
2. Free Design Consultation from 99Designs

   
   99designs allows you to choose a package based on the funds you have available, allow dozens of designers to make a logo for you, and then you can choose the best one and work with that designer to come up with your design from the one they have created.

You now have a niche, name, and logo all decided or in the works. You are well on your way to establishing a creative and original blog. Continue on to the next lesson for the next step in getting your blog on the worldwide web.