We are happy to say that this blog is one of the top travel bloggers online and has helped hundreds of people by giving them travel blog name ideas, and showing them how to start a travel blog! But we always hear the same questions about how to pick a travel blog name. What are good blog name ideas and what are blog names to avoid? Here are a few of our tips for starting a kickass travel blog.
People always seem to hit a speed bump when it’s time to choose a travel blog name!
In this article I’m going to teach you how to choose a good travel blog name, give you the best blog name ideas and also (perhaps more importantly) tell you all of the names that you should avoid. You may be surprised to learn that some names simply aren’t good for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), so if you pick a bad travel blog name, you may actually harm your chances of growing an audience over time and featuring in Google Searches.
You shouldn’t let picking a travel blog name stop you from buying your domain and getting started with travel blogging. The sooner you start your travel blog, the quicker it will begin to grow and potentially earn a blogging income.
Google awards blogs simply for being around for a long time, so if you do want to start your own blog, don’t delay. If you can’t think of a travel blog name, even after reading this post, that’s okay. You can start a blog now and pick a name later as well. In our How To Start a Travel Blog guide, we detail exactly how you can start a blog now without having to think of a name right away.
Bluehost has an excellent feature where you can purchase a domain and choose to pick a travel blog name later. Using this awesome tool, you can start to build your blog, design it, choose the style and find a direction in your content first. Then, a little later down the road, you can choose a name for your travel blog when you finally think of a good idea.
In my opinion, this may be even better than picking a travel blog name before starting the blog because it’s easier to name something once you’ve seen it, spent time with it and understand it. Very rarely do people name their children before they’re born or name their pet before they pick it up!
To learn how to start a blog and then think of a blog name later, check out our How To Start a Travel Blog post.
If you have a travel blog name idea in mind already, you can use the domain checker below to see if it’s available in the domain registry. There’s no need to search multiple domain registries because they all pull from the same database. If your blog name idea is available, then after clicking “Check Availability” in the box below, you’ll see a “Create your account” page at Bluehost where you can buy the domain and get started!
For a limited time, Goats On The Road readers will get a special 63% discount off of the cost of hosting plus a free domain registry and full Bluehost support to help with any issues that may arise while getting started with blogging. We’ll also give you a copy of our beginner travel blogging ebook totaly free! If you enter your travel blog name above and click “Check Availability”, you’ll see a page like the one below which includes our discount:
If your travel blog name ideas aren’t available in the above directory, it won’t be available anywhere else. If your name is available, I recommend buying it. I once had the perfect domain name that I wanted to purchase, but decided to wait, and within a week it was gone. You never know.
In this post I’m going to show you how to pick a travel blog name by using concrete data of what works and what doesn’t. There are certain absolute no-no’s when it comes to buying domains and there are quite a few things to think about for brandability, SEO (Google traffic), logo design and social branding.
Blog Names To Avoid
Before I help you think of a blog name idea and give you some blog name inspiration, I need to first start with the no-no’s of travel blog names because these are pretty cut and dry. By listing names to avoid, it will help to narrow down your list of possible names for your travel blog.
Don’t be cliché
Your name needs to stand out in a market of millions of travel blogs, so it’s best to avoid the cliché terms that you see pop up in 75% of travel blogs.
Try To Avoid These Words
Wandering
Wanderer
Adventurous
Global
Travelling
World
Unless you can think of something extremely clever and unique using the above listed words, I would avoid them altogether. Your name needs to stand out in the crowd and by giving it an overused, played out name, you’d be starting off on the wrong foot.
Avoid Dashes, Symbols, Numbers & Periods
Any post online about how to pick a travel blog name will tell you the same thing. Don’t use numbers, hyphens or symbols.
For pure branding and SEO reasons, you should always avoid using these characters in any blog name. Our good friend Johnny Ward of OneStep4Ward is a great example.
He regrets using this name because every time he tells someone his blog he has to say: “It’s one, step, then the number 4, then ward”. This makes it so much harder to remember the name of the blog. Luckily, Johnny has still built an excellent brand using his blog name idea, but it may have hindered his growth in the past.
Similarly, your blog shouldn’t have a dash in it because every time you tell someone your name, you have to say “dash”. When they go back to their computers later and try to remember your blog, they may forget where to put the dash, or that there’s a dash altogether. It’s just confusing.
Lastly, it’s just not good for SEO to have numbers, symbols or punctuations in a name because in some cases, your name could reflect a search term that someone is typing into Google.
If your name has random numbers, dashes and symbols, it could dampen the exact match possibilities for those searching terms similar to your name. Make your name as easy to remember as possible and don’t use hyphens, numbers or symbols.
Purposely Misspelling
Keeping with the “easy to remember” domain name theory, don’t create a blog that purposely misspells words to sound cool. WorldTravelz would be a horrible name choice because it would force you to explain to every person you tell that the word travels is actually spelled with a “z”, and Google wouldn’t rank you for any terms including “travels” because you misspelled it.
On top of that, Google algorithms hate misspelling and grammatical errors because it shows unprofessionalism in content. You’d literally be damaging your blog if you purposely misspell the domain name.
Too Long
There are so many reasons not to have a really long domain name.
- They’re much harder to remember
- It’s hard to fit a long name in a logo or header area of a website
- Domains are limited to 63 characters anyways.
The most common domain name length in relation to .com registrations is around 12-13 characters; and containing 2 words. This can give you a bit of an idea of how long your domain should be.
GoatsOnTheRoad is 14 characters and 4 words, which is a bit long and cumbersome. The saving grace for our name may be that it’s easy to remember. If you have the perfect blog name idea that’s a little bit longer than 13 characters, go for it. As long as it’s easy to remember.
Still, I wouldn’t choose a name with more than 18 characters and 4 words.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that Twitter only allows you to have 14 characters in your handle, so if you want people to easily be able to search and find you, it’s a good idea to keep your name under 14 characters so that it can be the exact same on Twitter.
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What a Domain Name Should Be (How to pick a GOOD travel blog name)
Now that we’ve covered things to avoid when thinking about how to pick a good blog name, it’s time to go over some blog name inspiration in an effort to help you choose the perfect name. Keep in mind that the domain name is a reflection of your brand and the blog topics you’re looking to share with your readers. Take your time and use these points to think up something great. Learning how to choose a name for a blog doesn’t have to be difficult!
Always Go With .com
First and foremost, you need to pick a travel blog name that is available in “.com”. You can choose .net, .org, .travel, .tv, or .info, but .com is by far the most commonly used and thus, easiest to remember suffix possible in a domain name.
It won’t affect your SEO if you choose another ending, but it will definitely be harder for other people to remember. You can buy all variations of your name if you want to, but .com should be your primary focus. Click Here to check and see if your domain name is available in .com.
Check Social
When you’re starting a new travel blog, you’re also going to have to start all of your social media accounts. At the very least, you should be able to have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube using your name. Here are a few social media tips.
I’ve covered a lot about how to pick a travel blog name already, but if it’s already been taken on the most popular social media channels, then you may want to consider another name.
To check and see if your social media username is available, you can head to NameChk.com and type your proposed username in the search field at the top of the page and click enter. Then you’ll see certain social media logos fade in the table below and that will tell you they are unavailable.
As long as you can get Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and (if you plan to create videos) YouTube, then you don’t need to worry too much about the others.
Your Travel Blog Name Should Describe Your Blog
A good blog name should easily describe what your blog is all about. Goats On The Road does a terrible job of doing this, but again, perhaps because it’s quirky and memorable, it worked.
But choosing a name that has nothing to do with the content you’re going to create is an absolute no-no. ThePlanetD openly admits that they regret choosing that name. It’s simply because they both have names that start with “D” (Dave and Deb) and they were going for a Lonely Planet type idea.
Luckily, they still made it in the industry, but their name is not the ideal example of a descriptive blog name. Some great examples are sites like Expert Vagabond, Cheapest Destinations Blog, Art Of Scuba Diving and Neverending Voyage. These all do a great job of explaining the brand and the niche within the name itself.
Descriptive travel website name ideas:
- AlwaysTravelling.com
- FoodLovingTrips.com
- FoodTravelReviews.com
- AdventureExplorations.com
- AdventureTripping.com
- LostInAdventure.com
- TravelAdventurers.com
Using Your Own Name
There are loads of blog names out there that use the founders name, like Nomadic Matt, Nomadic Samuel, Wandering Earl, Travel With Bender etc. While I wouldn’t recommend following the basic formula of “Nomadic + Name”, it’s still possible to think of a clever name using your own name and make it memorable.
A lot of people have a blog name that simply is their name, like YeisonKim.com. This is a very professional way to create a blog name, but it’s not overly catchy in most cases.
Many people start a self-named blog as a secondary portfolio for photography, videography and personal growth, after they’ve already created a successful online business elsewhere. That’s not to say that a self-named blog can’t be a great one.
Keep in mind that if you’re starting a travel blog as a solo traveller, that’s great, but one day you may find that you hire more writers, you find love on the road or you start blogging about other things besides your personal travel adventures.
Unless you’re sure that you always want your blog to include at least some aspect of your personal story, and you’re always going to be the sole contributor, then you may consider avoiding using your name in the title.
Every blog name needs to have longevity, which brings me to the next point.
Self-named Blog Name Ideas:
- JohnGoesAbroad.com
- AmandasAdventures.com
- MarkMyTrails.com
- LillyLeaves.com
- LukeLeaves.com
- LianneLeftHome.com
- RyanRoams.com
- EllenExplores.com
- ExploringWithEric.com
- BeyondBrad.com
- BethGoesBeyond.com
