5 Tips On How to Choose Your Blog Name

Guest post by Yohana Petrovic

So, you’ve decided to start your own blog! But before you can start writing and engaging with your readers, there is one hurdle that you have to jump: giving your blog a name. Choosing the best title for your blog is a very tricky thing.

Your blog’s name is its first claim to fame. As a starting blogger, your blog’s name is the make-or-break, the read or no-read, the click or no-click. It needs to be intriguing enough to compel an average browser to visit and start reading your posts.

To help you out, here are five tips on how you can come up with an attention-grabbing, click-begetting, and follower-attracting blog title:

 

1. What is your blog about?

Your blog name has two jobs. The first is to catch the reader’s attention, and the second is to tell your readers what they are in for when they visit your blog. Take note that it is an and situation and not an either/or situation. Your blog name should be able to do both of these jobs. If your blog is about cooking, then your blog title shouldn’t sound like it’s about shopping.

Next steps: Think about what your blog is going to be about. Will it be a travel blog? Are you going to talk about your carpentry projects? Will you be showing your readers different sewing techniques? Will you be cooking a different recipe every day? Will your blog be about your normal daily life? Once you’re clear on what your blog will be about, then you’re halfway to coming up with your blog name.

 

2. Make the Thesaurus your best friend

Wordplay is such a wonderful thing. You can use fancy words to describe simple concepts, or even make up your own words by splitting and condensing two or three words together. Sure, you can use generic and well-known words in your blog name, but it’s either already being done or it’s boring. Besides, where is the fun in naming a blog about solo traveling “The Solo Traveler?”

Next steps: Once you’ve determined what your blog is about, you can start listing all the words associated to it. Grab your Thesaurus (or, you know, Google synonyms) and try playing around with how certain relevant words sound together.

 

3. Decide on the tone of your blog

Tone is important; it is how you will “talk” in your blog. Your tone will determine what kind audience you will attract. This is why it is important to consider your blog’s tone when coming up with your blog name. For example, you would expect a blog entitled “The Fat Kid Inside” to be fun and informal. You wouldn’t expect the same from a blog with the title “Employee Incentives News.”

Next steps:  Consider how you talk. Is that how you’re planning to write on your blog? Consider your target audience. Are they the type who would appreciate a formal tone or an informal tone? Your blog title should reflect your tone to avoid confusion.

 

4. Research other blogs

Whatever blog you are thinking about starting, there is another one (or two or three or one hundred) that has already been published with a similar theme or topic. Embark on blog title market research. Remember, it is always good practice to learn more about what your potential audience finds relatable so you can name your blog accordingly.

Next steps: Check out blogs that are similar to what you want to do. Categorize them as successful or unsuccessful based on readership or followers. Then, compare the titles of the successful blogs versus the unsuccessful blogs. Try to see if there are similar aspects in the groups. Add the successful elements to your blog title and avoid the unsuccessful ones.

 

5. Memorability is a huge factor

Your blog name can be formal, informal, witty, funny, literary, or whatever you want it to be. The bottom line is that it should be memorable. You may have the wittiest, most beautiful blog title but if it is too complicated, or the letters don’t quite look right when placed together in a URL, then you are going to have a problem.

Next steps:  Once you have (semi-) decided on your blog name, write it together in small letters. Try to see if there are undesirable, shady, or unrelated words that would leap up when they are placed in a URL. You might need the help of someone else who is not involved in your creation process.

 

Best of luck! Share your favorite blog titles in the comments.

 

About the Author

Yohana Petrovic is a writer and blogger. She has 10 years of experience in education, and now she is a proofreader at http://globalessays.org. You can reach her on Facebook: Yohana Petrovic or on Twitter: @YohanaPetrovic

5 Creative Ways to Celebrate Mother’s Day

“It’s not how much we give,” said Mother Teresa, “but how much love we put into giving.” This statement is liberating and beautiful, but it sets a high standard on Mother’s Day. Buying Mom a blouse at the mall might be convenient, but creating a heartfelt gift with your own hands means more.

Mother’s Day is May 10. Check out these five creative ways to help Mom understand just what she means on her special day.

Make a Homemade Craft

Maybe in grade school you crafted a fruit bowl or papier-mâché sculpture for Mother’s Day. You can still make her something with your own hands. Not artistic? Not a problem. Check out these craft ideas:

• Make her a chocolate bouquet using a vase, cardstock, bamboo skewers, and tape. And, of course, chocolate.
• Create a personalized decoupage flower-pot using favorite family photos or floral prints. You’ll need a terra-cotta pot, Mod Podge, a brush, and your choice of photos or prints.
• Build a lovely necklace out of a washer. Apply scrapbook paper and Diamond Glaze to the washer, then adorn with a leather cord.
• If you’re feeling ambitious, visit the craft store and string your own special combination of beads on an elastic band. Try to incorporate at least three different types of beads—seed beads, faceted glass, chevrons, heishi discs—for the best look.

Make Homemade Beauty Products

Does your mother love the spa? If so, consider concocting your own version of department store beauty products at home. Whip up a handmade batch of bath fizzes by Martha Stewart, heart-shaped soaps by According to Kelly, or Neapolitan Ice Cream Body Scrub by Craftster.org. Keep Pinterest in mind, as well; this DIY site offers a never-ending supply of crafty recipes and ideas.

If making crafts isn’t your cup of tea, consider using pen and paper to create something special for Mom.

Write a Story Starring the Woman Herself

Does your mom enjoy reading? Do you have a flair for writing? If you answered yes to either of these questions, consider writing a story with Mom as the protagonist. True story, love story, crime story, fairy tale, a book of poetry—you decide. Just be sure to write Mom a happy ending.

You might even decide to self-publish your script. Printing a book costs less than you might expect, and here at Grammarly, we offer proofreading help for free.

Assemble a Photo Collage

Photo collages stir warm memories and touch Mom’s heart. Use the Internet resources to learn how to make Instagram photo strips, framed collages, and other gifts made from special photos. Whether you throw a few sentimental pics into a frame, fill an album with a visual timeline of family togetherness, or assemble your own family genealogy project, Mom will surely appreciate your efforts. So will the rest of the family.

Buy a Unique Gift

If you’re short on time or creativity, consider buying a unique gift for Mom made by someone else’s hands. We’re not talking about that photo print you spied at Wal-Mart. We’re talking about a one-of-a-kind piece of art, home decor, jewelry, or clothing.

The Internet boasts a treasure trove of online sellers with unique wares. Of course, there’s always Etsy, but consider these alternatives:

• ArtFire.com: Find homemade goods, art, and vintage products here.

• MadeItMyself.com: Find jewelry, clothing, and unique trinkets here.

• UncommonGoods.com: Find original artwork—watercolors, acrylics, photos, posters—here.

Mothers toil 365 days a year to support their children, grandchildren, and other loved ones. However, this sweet Sunday in May comes but once a year. Will you write a poem, sing a song, or create something altogether different this Mother’s Day?

Our Favorite Words in the English Language

Whether you are a logophile (word lover) or not, you probably can think of one or two words that you really enjoy using. These words don’t have to be rare or exotic. In fact, sometimes it’s far better if they aren’t. Some of my personal favorites are demure, frank, and stalwart. Why are they my favorites? Well, besides being fun to say, they are concrete and clear.

I’ve decided to run a poll on our Facebook page seeking out the top five favorite words in the English language. I asked:

There will be a lot of nominations, but only the top five will be featured in a blog post next week and made into a cool graphic. Naturally, for this poll, we will only accept words that have been added to mainstream dictionaries and are not slang.

Why not cast your vote? Visit the poll.

How to Use the Word Ought

You ought to learn to use the word “ought.”

What you see above is a usage example of the verb “ought,” which has two different meanings.

1 “Ought” can indicate correctness or duty, often when criticizing the actions of another.

She ought to slow down so she doesn’t get a ticket.

2 “Ought” can indicate that something is probable.

Three minutes ought to be long enough.

A lot of English learners struggle to use the word “ought.” This is because “ought” is what we call a semi-modal verb. It acts like a main verb in some ways and a modal verb in others. It is usually followed by “to” and it does not change its form depending on the person.

Your sister ought to clean up this mess.

You ought clean up your room.

Replace the “to” with “not” if you are making a negative statement.

We ought not take my mother’s car.

This short explanation ought to help you on your way to using “ought.”

Traveling or Travelling?

How great is it to travel? To meet new people, see new places, experience different cultures, live life the way life is lived somewhere else. Plenty of good things are associated with travel, but there’s one particular issue that can make traveling annoying: the spelling. Travel is easy enough to spell and not at all confusing, but “traveling,” “traveler,” “traveled”? These words are a common cause of confusion because some people spell them with one L while others use two.

Traveling or travelling depends on where is your audience. Traveling is the preferred spelling in the U.S. Travelling is the preferred spelling in the UK or in the Commonwealth. This American-British spelling difference carries for other forms: traveled or travelled and traveler or traveller.

To clarify, if you look through books or magazines for examples, you’ll see that both spellings are used, but the two-L version tends to be used in publications that also use spellings like “colour” or “flavour.” Those publications are written in British English, while the ones that use shorter spellings—“traveled,” “flavor,” and “color”—are written in American English. So the difference between “traveling” and “travelling” is really a variation of dialect. Both spellings are correct. Or, more precisely, neither one of them is wrong.

Traveling vs. Travelling

The word travel has more than one syllable—it’s a multisyllabic word. In American English, when a multisyllabic word ends in a vowel and a consonant (in that order), you double the consonant when adding a suffix only if the stress falls on the final syllable. For instance, in the word repel, the stress falls on the final syllable, which means that you double the consonant when you add a suffix: repelling. But in travel, the stress falls on the first syllable, so there’s no doubling.

“Traveling” and “travelling” shared the same fate as many other words in the English language that have two different spellings. The person who’s usually credited (or blamed) for this is Noah Webster—the Webster of Merriam-Webster dictionary fame. He was a linguist and lexicographer who greatly influenced American English. Webster preferred the shorter versions of many words that had multiple spellings. He included the shorter versions in his dictionaries, and, over time, they became dominant in the United States. At the same time, the rest of the English-speaking world gravitated toward the longer spellings. So, while both Americans and Brits can travel, the former can enjoy traveling while the latter can enjoy travelling.

The United States is pretty much alone in using the shorter form. Canada and Australia generally follow the rules of British English, and that’s why Canadians and Australians can be fond of travelling, not traveling.

By now, you probably know when to use which spelling—it should conform to the place your audience is. If you’re writing a paper for a college class in the United States, you should use the shorter spelling. However, if you live in the United States but are applying for a job in Australia, you could instead choose to use the spelling they prefer.

Travelling and Traveling: Examples

As a visitor traveling from the United States, you must obtain a visa, which you can apply for before you leave for Cuba. —Conde Nast Traveler

As the reporters who traveled to the Group of 20 summit meeting with President Obama from Hawaii piled out and walked under the wing to record his arrival… —The New York Times

​Passengers travelling to Bristol Airport are being urged to leave extra time as roadworks clog up a major link road for an entire month. —Bristol Post

Originally from Athens, and having lived in London for five years, he’d travelled on the train specifically to head in to town to “see the drunken crowds. It should be fun.” —The Guardian

Quick Tips: Using Contractions Correctly

Contractions are useful in both spoken and written language. They save time, use fewer letters than full words, and help us to sound less formal when the situation calls for it. Contractions are combinations of two words and, in most cases, the apostrophe indicates where letters are omitted. Here’s a handy list of contractions.

Common contractions Do + not = Don’t (The apostrophe tells us that a letter, O, has been removed.) Are/is + not = Aren’t/isn’t They + are = They’re It + is/has = It’s Could/Would/Should + have = Could’ve/Would’ve/Should’ve Could/Would/Should + not = Couldn’t/Wouldn’t/Shouldn’t We + are = We’re Will + not = Won’t (This is the slight exception to the rule that the apostrophe replaces the dropped letters. With this contraction, the spelling changes completely.)

Less common contractions Shall + not = Shan’t Might + not = Mightn’t You + all = Y’all (slang) Am/is + not = Ain’t (slang)

When to Use Contractions We use contracted words all the time in speech. This is natural because these habits help us to communicate quickly. Unfortunately, habits and tendencies that are common in speech are not always optimal in writing, especially when writing for formal situations. For this reason, we encourage our users to avoid using contractions when writing for work, school, and/or any formal environment.

Q Without U: 9 Must-Know Words to Celebrate Scrabble Day!

This Monday, April 13, is Scrabble Day, and Grammarly is celebrating with our fellow word-lovers, Dictionary.com!

Guest post by Michele Turner, CEO at Dictionary.com

Can you play a Q without a U in Scrabble? Whether you’re playing Scrabble, Words With Friends, or any other fun word game, here is a list of nine high-scoring solutions for the “Q conundrum,” so that you can make winning words with the letter Q — without its traditional letter companion, the U.

• Qi – a variant spelling on the word chi, qi is the vital life force believed to circulate around the body and through the universe in Chinese medicine.
• Qat – an evergreen shrub of Arabia and Africa, the leaves of which are used as a narcotic when chewed or made into a beverage.
• Faqir – a Muslim or Hindu religious ascetic or mendicant monk commonly considered a wonder-worker or a dervish.  Played on a triple word, this term could work wonders for your game. Can also be spelled fakir or faquir.
• QWERTY – yes, this acronym coined in the 1920s to describe the standard keyboard, can be used in the game.
• Qaid – refers to a tribal chief, judge, or senior official, and it stems from the Arabic word meaning “leader.” It entered the English language in the mid-1800s and is sometimes spelled caid.
• Qadi – related to qaid, this word refers to a judge in a Muslim community. It’s a useful variant when trying to stack words to play do or it.
• Sheqel – an ancient unit of weight equivalent to about a quarter or half an ounce. Today it is commonly used to refer to the Israeli currency, though it is also a slang term meaning money. Also spelled shekel.
• Qindar – a monetary denomination in Albania that is equivalent to 100th of a lek, the standard monetary unit. Also spelled qintar.
• Qoph – the 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Want more for your word game arsenal? Get Scrabble and Words With Friends word values by searching words at Dictionary.com. Search results will show a word’s corresponding score on the right hand side of the page, truly bringing words – and your game – to life! Keep these ten valuable words in mind as well; which will all rack up points in both games.

• Chapeau – a hat.
• Convex – having a surface that is curved or rounded outward.
• Exequy – a funeral procession.
• Frequent – happening or occurring at short intervals.
• Jacquard– a fabric with an elaborately woven pattern produced on a Jacquard loom.
• Jaywalk – to cross a street at a place other than a regular crossing or in a heedless manner, as diagonally or against a traffic light.
• Kumquat – small, round or oblong citrus fruit having a sweet rind and acid pulp, used chiefly for preserves.
• Mystique – an aura of mystery of mystical power surrounding a particular occupation or pursuit.
• Quixotic – extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or impracticable.
• Quiz – an informal test or examination of a student or class.

Broadening your command of language by building your vocabulary not only gives you an edge in gameplay, it also translates to better communication skills in all parts of your life.

What’s the best Scrabble word you’ve played? Share in the comments!

About the Author

Michele Turner is CEO of Dictionary.com, providing online and mobile properties that are top destinations for learning and word discovery. Dictionary’s products serve 70 million unique users monthly across mobile and web. Visit www.dictionary.com for all the contextual tools you need to boost your Scrabble or Words With Friends game and truly expand your vocabulary.