- The seller/blogger made a newbie mistake and didn’t research the name. Search on TPT with names your considering and google it, too. Don’t just look at the name. Say them out loud so you will know if they sound almost alike. You do not want your future followers to confuse you will someone else.
- Shortcut: When you line up your class, if your students don’t have assigned spots, what is one of the complaints you hear most often? “Ms. Teacher, he/she cut in line.” There are a small number of sellers/bloggers who thinks it is a marketing advantage to name their store and blog similar to an established one. As a child, did you like the kid who cut in line and didn’t wait for his/her turn in line? Pigging backing off of an established seller/blogger’s time and effort to build a following is the cyberspace’s version of cutting in line.
- TPT has a sellers forum where sellers share ideas and help each out in many different ways. I wished I had discovered that oasis of information when I was a newbie. I could have saved me hours of searching for help on the internet. Don’t forget to visit the section called collaborative Pinterest boards, linky parties, giveaways, etc.
Marketing:
- When I was a student teacher, my cooperating teacher gave me some valuable advice about school politics. Alliances and loyalties are invisible and it takes a while before you get the big picture. One year, our principal hired a first year teacher who unfortunately was not given this advice. At recess duty one day, she was complaining about the lack of support (in her opinion) she was getting from her mentor. What she didn’t realize was her mentor and the teacher she was talking to – although they taught different grade levels at this school – once taught the same grade level at a previous school. Not only that, but they went through their first few years of teaching together which bonded them. She was new, hadn’t seen them talking at this school, because they teach different grade levels so they had different prep periods, lunch, and recess times. What she didn’t know was they belonged to a group of once a month happy hours. The end result was not good for the first year teacher.
- I have never seen a sales circular with Target and Walmart joining together to advertise their Back to School sales. Yes, they could probably share some printing and shipping cost if they did that. But, they are competitors. The teacher blog/seller community is special because you will often see us collaborating/marketing together by giving links to each other’s blogs, donating lessons to another blogger’s giveaway, pinning each other’s blog posts, joining together for blog hops and Facebook hops.
What do loyalties, alliances, and collaborating with other bloggers have to do the title of this post? If you either didn’t do your research when you chose your name or you thought you would “cut in line” by choosing a name similar to an established blogger, do you think established bloggers would want to collaborate with you? It is not just the blogger whose blog’s name is similar to yours that you offended. It is all of that blogger’s friends who are offended on their friend’s behalf. Teacher bloggers who have been blogging for a number of years and have built a following, have formed relationships with other bloggers and are loyal to their friends.
Great Post!
-Lovely Nina
http://lovelyninadesigns.blogspot.com
Good advice!!
Kathy
First Grade a la Carte
Great post and a nice reminder. I spent a lot of google time before choosing my blog name. I look forward to your future posts.
Nice job! I agree wholeheartedly.
Jenn
The Teacher Next Door