Every so often I Google my blog name, I created my blog almost 2 years ago. I will admit "Forever Book Lover" is not unique but no one else had claimed to the name back in 2011. So as I am drinking my coffee one Sunday morning, imagine my surprise when I found the same name as mine being used by someone else. Shock was just one of the many emotions I had.
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How Can This Be? Didn't this blogger do a search before naming her blog? This is my name, I worked so hard to get it where it is today!!
So what did I do, I followed the advice of Rachel @ Parajunkee, who wrote a blog post on this exact topic. I tried to find a way to contact the blogger but there was no email option that I could find. So, I had to leave a blog comment, "Hi (name), it appears you have chosen the same blog name as the one I already have established. Please make some changes to your blog name as it is confusing for authors and blog tour hosting sites, as they may mistake yours for mine. Best of luck."
I waited for a response but nothing ever came. Then I popped back to her site to see if she made any changes, only one ~she deleted my post!
I felt violated, like my name and identity was stolen, but honestly there is little I can do, except tell my story. I reminded myself that I have an established blog, I have the follower based already established, I have A LOT more contacts than her.
Do I think she did it on purpose, definitely not. But since she knows now, why does she want to use the same name~be a copy cat? Why not be unique?
"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." Parajunkee
Thanks for listening.
And, if the blogger I am referencing reads this posts, I would appreciate it if you would change your blog name. It will only be that much harder if you wait.
5 comments:
Aww Kat i hope they change it. I would also recommed buying your domain name in at least .com and .net.
I have had the exact same thing with Serendipity Reviews. An American girl used the same name. She has put a disclaimer up saying she isn't connected to my blog but refuses to change the same. It made me feel sick.
Aww I'm sorry that this happened to you! From someone who had ideas and words stolen right from my own blog I completely understand the frustration, believe me! The best you can do is what you already did, and know that a blogger without a sense of community and honesty will not usually last very long in the blogging world!
That's terrible! As you said, I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but the courtesy of a response from the other blogger would have been the least she could do.
As someone who follows a fair amount of blogs, I admit it gets confusing when the blog title is generic. I sometimes forget who the belongs to. I think branding your name WITH the blog title goes a long way in establishing identity and keeps your title unique.
Good post!
Thanks everyone. I feel better just getting those emotions released. I may add "Kat" to my blog name, thanks for the suggestion!
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