Welcome to Book Blogging 101, a weekly feature on Parajunkee’s View that answers your questions and strives to share great book blogging tips and some helpful hints to help you on your way.
The name game.
Changed my Book Blogging 101 post topic again today in light of things that came up on Twitter – Again! I shouldn’t plan these anymore. Just troll the twitter halls for tawdry topics.
So, what came up you might ask? The fact that the names of our blogs are not as sacred as we might think. You see, with just an additional THE or a dropped AND for an “&” and your blog name can be modified and used. It might not even be on purpose, it might be purely accidental and that unwary name thief just didn’t do the right research…
Let me tell you a story.
It is Monday morning and with your coffee and croissant by your side you decide it’s been a month, time to Google yourself yet again. You are a logical person and you know your online presence is a big deal. Maintaining knowledge of what is on the internet about you is an even bigger chore than crafting your blog posts. With a few clicks of your mouse you scroll through the pages and your mouth drops open.
What is this? Click. Click.
This is my blog? Same name though…what?? What!!??
Are you the type of blogger that Google’s yourself? You should. You need to be aware of what is out there about you. There might be an author that quoted your review. Or another blog that wrote a rant that included your post…it’s nice to find these things out for yourself. Or, as the story went earlier, if there is another blog out there that has your name. Yet, if you do come across this — like let’s say a Parajunkie or even so far as a Parajunkee’s Take on Books — it can be done — what do you do??
Freak? Get mad? Ignore it? Unfortunately there is nothing much you can do, unless of course you’ve trademarked your name. You could write a letter asking them to cease and desist. They could still continue on, though. As we have found with piracy laws, the internet is full of copy cats and digital thieves. If you put it on the internet there are people that are just waiting to scoop it up. So, let’s try to play on the logical sensibilities of the start-up blogs to not be the unwary name thief, because accidentally or on purpose name grabbing can have some dire consequences:
- The established blog feels like they’ve had their name stolen. The obvious problem right? But being an established blog means the have A LOT more contacts than your few followers. They’ve been around longer, experience, friends, followers, etc. — their call-to-action about a blog stealing their name will be seen and heard by a lot more people than your defense post.
- The start-up blog looks unoriginal and copy-cat-esque. Do you really want to be the copy-cat? Go for trend setter, not lame rip-off.
- Readers get confused and are not able to distinguish bloggers. (There are so many bloggers out there, if you are like me and follow hundreds of blogs, how do you know what blogger you are chatting up on twitter or even reading — when they are all named the same??)
The person that will be hurt the worst will be the start-up…and all because that wanna-be blogger didn’t do their homework.
Unless you are purposefully trying to siphon off an established blogger’s street cred, you might want to cross your t’s and dot your eyes before you register that .blogspot or wordpress or you might find yourself ostracized before you even get started.
It’s called Planning –
A little bit of research.
Google is your friend – get on Google and search the name that you want to roll out. My suggestion is to have a few names lined up, because you might go through them quickly, depending on their originality.
Five is a good number.
Original names are even better.
Come up with your potential names and then start plugging them into Google. If you purposefully misspell something, make sure that you Google the right spelling.
Just because you are wittily calling yourself The Hawt Book Blogger doesn’t mean The Hot Book Blogger won’t be offended.
Google and Google and Google. Check twitter to see if the name is used, check Facebook to see if they have a page. Then jump on Blogger or WordPress and see if the URL is available. Even jump on GoDaddy and check if a .com is available because you might want to buy it at some point – it’s only ten bucks a great investment.
If you have to add a THE or a YA or a JA or a WHATEVER — then someone is using the original .com — find the original dot com. Are they still in operation, active and happy? Then don’t use that name!! It’s just a name. Pick a new one. You might think it is witty and original – but it’s not because someone already came up with the idea.
After all this research, hopefully you have nailed down your name and have a good plan to get it implemented.
Originality is key people. You don’t want to be just another Book Addict, right? My friend Patti found out this the hard way –
She was Book Addict Patti and who knows if she came first, but on Google you’ll find the Book Addict, then you’ll find The True Book Addict, further down there will be the Book Addicts (two of them), then there is Confessions of a Book Addict, which adds originality but is overshadowed by thebookaddict.net, Mrs. Book Addict, Mr. Book Addict, Me the Book Addict and then a slew of other female names followed by Book Addict. Ashley the Book Addict, Angelle the Book Addict the list goes on and on and on and on and on.
Some of these bloggers are friends of mine – but I’ll tell them straight, they might have done research before taking that blogger plunge. The problem is most bloggers just start it on the fly. If you haven’t done that yet, or are just starting – there is still time. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
Be original.
Your name is your name is your name. Call yourself something else…it has meaning but only if it sets you apart.
O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
What started this??
The Established Blog #1
The start-up <– Updated Name and everything is happy!
The Established Blog #2
The I’m not sure what is to come
I can’t get to all the questions, but please ask your BB101 Questions here…bring it on.
Well put! It does tend to get a bit confusing when multiple blogs have similar names (especially if you want to comment on a certain post and cannot remember which similarly named blog it was).
Original blog names rock!
Orchid @ The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia
And you are a marvelously original blog… definitely memorable name.
Hehehe, thanks! =)
I agree! I have a hard time distinguishing those blogs that sound the same (like your mentioned Addict theme). I’d hate for someone not to be able to google and see my blog on the first page when looking. I couldn’t imagine trying to compete with hundreds of other blogs with almost the same name.
Yeah, when I was trying to come up with a name my husband said “Don’t use Addict in the title, there has to be tons for those.” So we came up with Nympho vs Addict. But there is still a few out there with Nympho/Nymph. (Didn’t see those until after I started my blog).
My blog name is original. Heh. *ANGEL FACE*
Just a little…
Great post..I agree it gets confusing at times especially since I follow a lot of book blogs and sometimes I don’t have the time to comment on a post but want to go back to it later to give my opinion but completely forget which blog it was since there are quite a few blogs with similar names.
It is frustrating when you are searching for a book blog – that you know you’ve been to but there are so many just like it that you can’t find it. Gotta stand out.
This happened to me last year. When I first began blogging, my name just hit me in the car one day: The Picky Girl. (I know, I know, it doesn’t mention reading.) I googled it and only found a defunct store in Minnesota with that name. So I set up shop. Then last year I found another Picky Girl blog. I was so upset and tweeted about it. But an attorney friend told me there was nothing I could do about it (he volunteered info on Twitter; I wasn’t seeking to sue or anything). And I calmed down and realized all of what you said is true. Our blogs are nothing alike. I even checked a few months ago, and she hadn’t posted in ages. Deep breath, and done. It’s an inconvenience, but it’s not really a problem.
I’m glad it worked out for you. There is a Parajunkie out there — but lucky for me they aren’t very active…
I know there is another Ex Libris (probably more) but she’s been around longer, so I can’t get too mad
I’m just glad my blog comes up on the first page when I google “Ex Libris blog”
I know what you mean. There is a Book Nympho and Book Nymph but when I Google mine (The Book Nympho) comes up first.
It’s Stella – and she’s been around for awhile, Kate – and in all honesty when you first started commenting I thought you might be like an associate blogger on her site. First assumption of course, I did take a look and realized you guys weren’t affiliated. But that is what happens. And again, honestly Kate — Google will position your rank higher when you search them logged in as yourself. To get an accurate Google ranking you have to search when not logged into gmail or blogger.
Stella comes up first when I search “ex libris blog” along with “ex libris” see–> http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6766405865_162e1d27be_o.png
I really hate being the bearer of bad news.
Well, pretty much everyone has been around longer than I have in the book blogging world. It’s a common Latin phrase and certainly didn’t mean to offend anyone by choosing it. It reminded me of the bookplate my mother used when I was a kid…. My apologies to Stella.
Thank you Kate, it was quite a shock discovering your blog one day when through Twitter. But at least your reason for choosing the same name is a nice one due to your memory of your mom.
So now of course I had to google myself, and immediately found a “Lost in the Pages” that has just recently changed her name to that (URL still has the old name). It doesn’t bother me that much, since the blog is tiny, and a librarian blog instead of a “normal” book blog, but still.. I got my name from the lyrics of an Audioslave song, and it’s a fairly common expression, but there’s just something about it I love..:)
She came up first for me Nina — you might want to work on your SEO a bit to increase your Google rankings.
Ugh, yeah I see that now that I could google without being logged in. (I was first replying from my phone.) SEO improvements next!:)
If I find another blog with the name Xpresso Reads I’m hacking them! Muahaha
Evil…
Same here… no one else can be hung over like me (*insert evil laugh*)
Great tips!
I promptly googled myself and I’m proud to announce I only found myself and lots of Harry Potter Muggle related sites
Yeah — go you.
What a great post! I’ve seen a few duplicates here and there in the blogosphere and definitely think it comes down to a lack of research, an abundance of enthusiasm, and to a lesser degree, lack of creativity.
Having a blog about book reviews is not original, but the implementation and design of it can be. I searched around for a few names I was initially interested in, via the avenues suggested above, and found that some of them were already taken and others I wasn’t really in love with. Then I came up with “BlookGirl”, which, of course, is a play on words
Since it was the name I loved the most, thankfully it wasn’t taken!
I do hope your post will cause those who are considering starting a blog to do a bit more research, and to put more thought and creativity into their brand. It only makes it better!
The best thing anyone can do is buy the domain with their name. So at least they know anyone going to http://www.theirblog.com is going to end up at their blog no matter how many blogs have that same name.
When my husband was helping me come up with my blog name (The Book Nympho), we Googled to make sure there wasn’t already a blog out there with the same name. And there wasn’t. But then a few months later I noticed through a blog hop that there is a blog name Book Nympho (without THE) and then I found a blog Book Nymph. I thought oh well. I like my name and I’m keeping it. I hope neither of these blogs think I was coping their names, that was not my intend.
So yeah, do your research and then some. I did do research but apparently I didn’t dig deep enough. It happens and not all are copy cats. It’s easy to make the mistake.
Great BB101!
I know Jennifer, that’s how I started as well: googled to see if anyone has already established a book reviewing blog under the Ex Libris brand name, and as there wasn’t any I chose it. So seeing later that a few started popping up wasn’t a great feeling. But I love my blog name and the Latin theme, and as that’s how I established my blogging presence I just hope people will realise that there is no affiliation and remember which Ex Libris blog is mine.
I love your blog posts!
Although my Another Look Book Reviews is original it appears that there is an actual bookstore with a very similar name.
So thank you for a very awesome idea and I just purchased my domain name from GoDaddy. Neat!
Great topic and I found another blog with my name –she does mommy blogging and I am all about book reviews. I know that feeling of finding someone else with the same name . My blog always pops up first ..maybe I have more social media presence then her.
GREAT POST! As you know, I have made great use of this post already *wink wink*
Frist off, thanks Rachel for taking the time and supporting us.
I know there have been stories of duplicate blog names. But I just never thought it would happen to us. We’re just a little blog who is just trying to get people to read! I cannot stress enough the importance of bring original and developing your own brand. I hope everyone does their research before picking a name. Saves the trouble and you don’t look like a copy cat in the process.
Thanks for this amazing post! I would hate for anyone else to experience the same things we have.
EVERYONE GO BUT YOUR DOMAIN NOW.
Great post and advice. It’s hard finding a name but it’s worth the work to find something original.
I have seen another blogger using AwesomeSauce. I think she used Awesome Books or something like that. But she was only on for a few months and so I just let it go. There are 2 other AwesomeSauce Book Clubs on facebook (one even adds the official AwesomeSauce Book Club) I know they were not on there when I started my facebook group because I did that like 3 yrs ago. But they only have like 25 followers so I haven’t said anything about it. Its kinda annoying because I thought the name was original, but maybe its not. I remember searching and searching before I started my blog to make sure no one had that name. I would be devastated to find out someone had it before me and I used it. Great Post as always!
Love this Book Blogging 101 post, as always!
I also tried to be original with my blogs name by playing off of my middle name, but, I did research just to make sure. Hopefully, this will not become an issue for me in the future. Good luck to anyone battling through this <3
I've also tried to develop a brand as the others have stated, my only problem is I'm never satisfied, so I'm constantly changing the look of my site. Maybe I need a Book Blogging 101 for my Theme Obsessions, lol.
You might remember when I came on the scene because I pestered you insistently. *blushes*
At the time I was trying to come up with a name for my blog, I used something I picked up as a inside joke for myself because on the first day of an Eng Lit grad class, the professor called me ‘unread’ because he didn’t/doesn’t consider the stuff I like to read as “real literature”. So, I was like, Fine, I may be unread, but I’m still a reader.
Oh, the ways I amuse myself. LOL
But honestly, I wish I had put more thought into my blog name. Had I done so, I definitely would have followed the steps you mentioned here and tried to come up with something more original. *sighs*
I know you’ve done a post on branding before and the importance of naming your blog, and I find them very helpful every time. Thanks, PJ!
not to worried about another book blog with the same name as ours…nope, not at all . (I Smell Sheep)
just wanted to mention this is probably one of the most useful blog features out there. I have learned so much from this! thanks
Oh my. I immediately googled my blog name, checked it again on facebook. I did all this before I named my blog. The first name I wanted to use was already taken, yeah, I could have tweaked the name somewhat but I wouldn’t want anyone to do that to me, so why would I ever think about doing that to someone who was here before me, enjoying her space, having her followers. If they can’t be creative enough for their own unique blog name, how are they going to be unique enough for their own posts.
Thanks again for the wonderful lesson..
Kat
Great post! I ended up going through a list of I think 8 names before I settled on Hope, Faith & Books. I googled every name I came up with only to find it was already taken until I got to Hope, Faith & Books. I also just googled it now (without being signed in) and so far my blog is the only one that comes up with the name still as far as I can see. I also looked on GoDaddy to see if the .com for mine would be available and it is! So hopefully soon I can buy my domain!
Also, I have a friend who said she wanted to start a book blog and I had to steer her away from any title with the word addict in it. I ended up helping her find a unique title that wasn’t taken as well.
Thanks for the great post!
Excellent topic! i spent time researching before i set mine up. i don’t see many smitten with bad boys out there. i did see one site using smitten something but nothing like mine and it wasn’t a blog. i retweeted the article for you! btw. i love your Blogging 101 featured articles!! so helpful for us newbies!
Awesome post! I wish I had known about this before I started my blog. Though everything I did about book blogging was a** backwards. I wanted a writing blog, searched for domains that were available, without doing any Google searching, came up with my own version of the spelling of Fiction and bought it. I am sure there are umpteen fiction sites, fortunately the only misspelled Fiktshun is some Fiktshun on 43 Things from years ago. At least I think so. Because I never ran a Google search until months after I started blogging.
I just never even thought about checking if other blogs or sites had a similar name. I didn’t even know there were such things as book blogs when I bought it. I guess I’m fairly lucky.
Though I should have Googled before I bought the domain for My Reading Pile, which I did so that no one else would kill the SEO for my posts on Fiktshun called “My Reading Pile.” Because it seems right around the time when I bought the domain someone started a blogspot blog with that same title. I’m not sure who came first, but I feel bad for buying up the domain without seeing if someone else was already using a version of it. I only found out when I started up the blogspot blog months later when you had that awesome template for sale and was trying to create the site as myreadingpile.blogspot.com and add in my paid-for domain.
So yes, for MRP I totally feel like a name thief now even though it was totally unintentional!
I love you and your blogging 101 posts. They’re so damn helpful! I wish I had a little booklet of all these when I first started blogging. Regardless, I still need all the help I can get
So thank you!
Very true! It took me quite sometime to think of an original name for my blog but it was important to me to do so. I am pretty proud of my name. :->
Great post! When I first started blogging I had a name, and while I still own that name, I don’t use it. I decided to switch and inadvertently picked one that had a difference of my “the” and their “a”. They had been around longer so I decided to change mine. I recently picked a new name which I used on Twitter already. Then I just made sure the domain wasn’t taken, Facebook, Google+ etc. So far it’s the only one besides a profile on Amazon that hasn’t been used since 2003, but I am always looking. I never want to take anyone’s name. I have been thinking of purchasing some various other forms on my domain name to prevent this type of thing along with some of the free blogs. But really is it worth all that work? Not sure at this time.
I’ll admit, I googled my blog name before going with it but that was it. I put VERY minimal effort into it, which I know now is bad. Luckily I haven’t seen any other Reading to Penguins yet…I think I’m safe.
No names like mine (phew), but I did find some copyright infringement -.-
Anyhow, this post made me go to blogger and wordpress to lock down my blog name under those domains, and “bawdybooks” as well. I’d like to nab the .net domain, but I really don’t want to spend the additional cash. I dunno. Something to think about.
Initially when I was moving to self-hosted WP, I wanted bawdybooks.com, and the domain had just been purchased by a domain host. I was so pissed. They still haven’t done anything with it, and I have a feeling that they “buy” up domain names similar to blogger and wordpress blog names in hopes that someone like me will come along needing it and try to buy it from them. I didn’t bite, but boy was I mad.
GREAT topic this week! I sssssoooooo struggled with a distinctive name and thank heavens I succeeded. I’m the only Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess out there…..so far.
Perfect picture and perfect quote to bookend this post. I never thought about this before but you’re right. In the day of SEO, you want to avoid name similarity at all costs, and this would hurt a newbie blogger in the long run because they’re just overshadowing themselves in someone else’s legacy.
Smiles!
Lor
GREAT post. I wish I’d had this when I first started — it wasn’t until after I’d registered a domain name and started branding that I realized that “Romanceaholic” was taken on Twitter — I had to go with @RomanceaholicBR (the BR is for Book Reviews) :-/ Luckily for me, I didn’t find any other book bloggers with a similar name, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I did.. I don’t know what I’d do, other than maybe cry lol
Then again, I can’t say I would’ve gone with any other name even if I HAD realized someone already had that twitter account — “Romanceaholic” just… fits.
Jess
I wonder how many of us promptly Googled ourselves after reading your post? All of us maybe? I did. I couldn’t find any other blogs with my name, but I did find some cool references on author blogs that I hadn’t seen before.
Pingback: On a Book Bender
When I started my book blog a few weeks ago, I googled a lot of the names I came up with and finally found one that wasn’t taken (The Overstuffed Bookcase), but I’ve since found some really similar ones, the most similar being My Overstuffed Bookshelf. That blog has been up for a while, but mine seems to be more focused on YA, with the occasional adult book, while hers is mostly adult with an occasional YA book. But I feel really bad about it, and I wonder if I should send her an email apologizing. What do you think?
I am IN NO WAY copying her blog – I don’t even follow it right now and I’m not sure if it would be a faux pas to follow, or a faux pas to not follow? Yeesh.
Also, my blog is so new that the actual site doesn’t come up when you google “The Overstuffed Bookcase,” but her site comes up and my twitter and NetworkedBlogs page comes up… But I haven’t tried it while signed out yet, either.
I’d appreciate any advice. Thanks!
Andrea (New Follower)
Andrea, I can only tell you my thoughts from the other end: and “older” blogger whose blog name came up used by a newer one. Your approach is absolutely wonderful and I am sure the other blogger will see it as the gesture that it is. I certainly would have appreciated it
Thank you so much for your advice! I really appreciate it! I think that’s what I’m going to do – send her an email and explain and say that I don’t want to copy her blog, and I don’t want to take traffic away from her blog. I hope that she’s understanding about it. *fingers crossed* Thanks again!
P.S. I’m going to go check out your blog now!
Some people might think the bigger blogger is being a bully and sympathize with the start up blog. But aside from that, lots of people blog just to have fun. They don’t care if they have the same name as another blogger, or if they get a lot of comments. They’re documenting something they’re working on, or they’re journaling, or they’re here to learn and are open to commenters/followers because it’s nice to build friends, but they don’t care if they grow exponentially.
I struggled with this one- still do. I searched tons for “Short and Sweet Reviews” back when I started it up and found nothing. (And I pride myself on being a good Googler). Well … I was wrong…. there was one before me. I struggle with whether to change my blog name after over a year and 1000+ followers and cause them confusion on what blog they are reading or keep it the same and feel like a jerk.
I asked my followers what they thought, and they told me to keep it the same, but I still feel like a jerk.
And I looked and that blog is gone. But there is another Short and Sweet Reviews that is newer than mine. I guess it serves me right, ha ha.