Like a great book, the title of your blog is as important as the content contained within. It needs to be catchy, informative, and unique.
At its best it should be descriptively focused without being unnecessarily long. A challenge in and of itself sometimes.
I struggled with this when I first began conceptualizing The Sales Pro Blog.
After my stint in the plastics industry I sought a topic and theme I could keep with me for a long time. Even though I knew there was room for me in the property management software niche, I didn’t want to fall into the same trap as before. For most, this isn’t a concern.
I could have very well named this site The Property Management Software Sales Blog but that is awkwardly long and clumsy. Not to mention that property-management-software-sales-blog.com doesn’t roll off the tongue nearly as easily as salesproblog.com.
In a bit I’ll dive a little deeper into why I went so high level.
But as a sales person who wants to establish yourself as an expert in YOUR INDUSTRY, I highly recommend you create a blog that is as laser focused on your industry and it’s keyword terms as possible. That is my #1 tip for how a sales person should choose a blog name.
Having a catchy blog name will grab their initial attention and lure them in. But it’s the great content you provide, content that THEY’RE INTERESTED IN, that will keep them on the hook and coming back for more.
This is how content marketing works. This is how you get found online through professional branding. This is how a sales pro operates.
So Why Didn’t I Follow My Own Advice?
When I decided to start a new blog I had to think long and hard about what it would be about.
Based on the above recommendation I made, and because I work in the property management software industry, you’d think it best for me to go with something like I mentioned, property-management-software-sales-blog.com.
There are two reasons I didn’t do this.
The first is that I decided the product I wanted to sell through my blog was ME. Not MRI Software’s suite of solutions.
I wanted it to be centered around me, my skills, and my experience. This would allow me a lot more latitude in what I wrote about.
I wouldn’t be confined to the property management or software industry. Mind you, this is an extremely long term professional brand strategy.
The second reason, as I’ve mentioned before, is that I didn’t want to be SOL if I left the industry. I ran into that issue after creating my last blog as a sales person in the plastics manufacturing industry.
When that happened I had an incredibly hard time writing about an industry I was no longer a part of. There simply wasn’t enough drive, motivation, or compensation to continue it.
For many this is not an issue. You know you will be in that industry for a vast majority of your career. Or maybe you’re OK with having a short term blog for your industry specific professional brand. Completely understandable.
And although I am extremely happy where I am I still had in the back of my mind, “what happens if I leave MRI for any reason” ? That fear made me consider that the impossible might happen again.
Hence I decided not to go with The Property Management Software Sales Blog or similar. If I were to ever leave the property management software industry then I would be hard pressed to keep it going.
So this time I decided to go high level and make my blog about sales. Because I do not forsee myself ever leaving the sales profession.
My entire career has been in sales and I have no reason to think that will change anytime soon.
So consider that when you start a blog. Do you want it to be part of your life long brand management strategy or will it simply be for a flicker in your career path?
If you already have a industry specific professional blog let me know how you came about your blog name. What influenced your decision to name it that?
~ Johnny Bravo
Image courtesy of imagerymajestic & David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I like the name of my blog, Websites for Small Biz. It doesn’t cover everything I do in my business, but it does cover what I write about for my blog and my target audience.
I’m still trying to come up with a new name for my business overall, however. The one I have is too long and is not general enough.
You write well on the topic of choosing names - The Sales Pro Blog is a good fit.
The fact that the name matches what you right about is a good idea. Especially since it targets your target audience, which is always key.
Coming up with the name can be the hardest part sometimes. Believe it or not it really did take me a while to come up with The Sales Pro Blog. Even though it was similar to a previous site I made, I wanted it to be perfect.
I found this a very helpful post. It is too bad that I hadn’t read this before choosing my blog title. I will certainly take what you’ve said into consideration for the future. I am bookmarking this for that reason.
Thanks Susan. It’s never too late to start another blog.
The origin of my blog title is not immediately going to make people think, oh yes, that is Michele de Montaigne’s motto! I’ve blogged about everything under the sun while trying to find my niche as a writer (and we’re a dime a dozen) so I’ll keep plugging away and know that I’m in it for the long haul.
Jeri, you’re already on the right path if you know it’s for the long haul. There’s nothing wrong with choosing your name as a blog name though. Unless you have the same name as a cartoon.