Discussions
People trying to Steal your Blog Name
Posted by bfeatherstone • 3/16/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blog name, competition, moniker
What do you do?
Say you created a blog first GrilledCheeseGretchen.com
And you've been working for a little while trying to establish yourself. You make your presence known in the blogosphere commenting blogs and joining networking sites as Grilled Cheese Gretchen. Suddenly someone pops up with a new blog and is trying to go by the GCG name as well only they have a Blogspot.
They start commenting the same blogs as you and posting on the same forums as you under the name Grilled Cheese Gretchen and it starts to become confusing and irritating.
What do you do? How do you drown the person out so that you're the only one known by your blog name? Especially when the person knows you were there first but they're just trying to outdo YOU.
User Comments
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Someone would have to be "fruity" to steal my (online) identity.
I'm not sure how I would handle the situation you present. That has to suck. I wish you the best of luck (and wish I could offer more help). -
There's really nothing you *can* do. Names aren't copyrightable, or otherwise protected.
HOPEFULLY, they'll work really work to promote their site and when people go looking for THEIR site, they'll come up w/ YOUR site instead...
That is pretty slimy of someone to do IMHO. It REALLY is. -
Maybe you might change your name to, "THE ORGINAL GCG BLOG!"
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Write a sticky post on your blog explaining the incident and hopefully the other one will die off. -
can't copywrite domain names but if you can prove they are trying to 'trick' folks into thinking they are YOU or an affiliate of you, you may be able to get their site shut down. The first step is to send a warning email sent to them and their host (i guess google in this case) telling them to cease & desist, if they don't you can bring it to court or something.
You're not gonna do that though.
you have 2 options
1. Forget it
2. Hire a black hat seo to drop the other sites pagerank
I suggest option 1, how competitive can the grilled cheese industry be anyway?-
@codesucker
Re: 2 ...
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I don't know if anyone else is having this issue but instead of getting your blog when I click on the link I get this search.suddenlink.net/index.php?origURL=http://grilledcheesegretchen.com/
The blog name thing... Are you sure that was done to be mean? I set up a blog that I am using to try and write a book and I ended up using thte title because it's my name. Though I'm not adding tags or doing any promotional stuff either. -
that domain doesn't exist for me - i get "Address Not Found" error. -
LOL Grilled Cheese Gretchen isn't the real blog name I was just using it as an example. Just saying that you choose a name thats unique at the time, you are trying to brand yourself under this name and suddenly a new blogger comes and tries to steal it away from you blogging under the same moniker and about similar topics.
I know this blogger knows that I exist and sees me. I guess he or she figured since my blog is only about 4 months older they could get away with it. If I have registered the name first on a certain site he or she will either do all lower case if the site allows the name to be registered that way or he or she will add an underscore or numeral or something and register the same name. As far as blogs go the only difference is that I got the dot com of the name and the other person is getting it free hosted.
I know I can't copyright the name, so I'm wondering what my other options are. I guess I just have to work harder at presenting myself in the blogosphere and tweaking SEO to try to fill up the first couple of pages with MY content. Right now ours is going pretty neck and neck.
Whats a black hat SEO? -
Why would someone even do that?
Maybe it's someone you know who's trying to get at you. From what I saw on your blogs, it's not like there aren't already blogs about single parenting or music reviews. I could understand if you had discovered some crazy niche market or something.
It's totally someone you know, who also knows that you love having these blogs, and it is a quick and efficient way to push your buttons.-
I agree that it's probably someone that's known to her and who is trying to push her buttons. I would proceed with my blogging and totally ignore the other party. I would NOT even refer to them on my blog. Remember that even bad publicity is better than no publicity, and this other person is obviously an attention seeker. If you fail to engage the other party will eventually stop because they aren't committed to blogging. Their only commitment is to pissing her off.
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I have other blogs than the ones I have listed here.
I don't know the person, I can tell that by reading the blog and their social networking profiles. I'm not upset that they are blogging about the same topic because that's to be expected. I'm only upset that they're purposely using the same blog name. So they're using the same name, blogging about the same topic and posting on the same blogs and forums UNDER the same name as me.. its starting to get so confusing and irritating.
I feel like the person is purposely thinking "Well she isn't long established or super popular yet and I want to be the one with this name so let me outdo her!" just because I know they can't help but to have seen me around. They've even commented right below me on certain blogs. And like I said if they haven't registered on a site before me they obviously try the name and see it's taken so they just add an underscore or number and go about their business.
You're just starting out and made your blog a month ago. I made mine under this name last year. Pick your own name for cripes sake! I wouldn't mind the rest if they'd just change the dang name! lol -
Anyone can use any blog title they want and they can change that title at will. The url is a different matter.
Anyone can used whatever online nickname or moniker they choose to use. In fact there are others suing "timethief" now too.
Given those realities, I wouldn't sweat this. I would get on with doing my own blogging and creating my brand and blog centered community.
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I was on the other end of that sort of thing. I had no idea. I even tried google searching it first.-
What did you end up doing after you found out? How did you even find out?
This person knows and is pretty much like "oh well! well just have the same name then!" LOL
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Here's what I did immediately after I established DeadRooster.com
I took deadrooster.net
I took deadrooster.blogspot.com
I took deadrooster.wordpress.com
...and, a whole bunch of other deadrooster related items.
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Good thinking However, that doesn't cover them all now does it?
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good thinking. deadrooster.xxx?
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TT -- yeah, I spaced it on the .org and someone else got it. I know there's more, but I can't cover everything. I wasn't too worried about the .info, .biz, etc., because, as everyone knows, no one ever becomes successful with those. LOL
isonomist -- is there such a thing as a .xxx? If there is, I think I better grab that one right away! -
True
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I should've done that! I thought about it at first too, but I wasn't too sure how serious I was going to be about the blog. When I decided I wanted to be very serious I registered the domain but didn't think too much of all the free hosted sites. I honestly did not think anyone would ever try to go by the same name. Boy was I wrong!
I'm too late now since the person in question has their blog free hosted under the name.
I have been thinking about buying the .net and .org just incase they decide to try to brand themselves even further.
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I think it is possible that people want to take your blog name. But in the end, it is the plagerism that caused headaches! -
Sorry to harp on the same theory here..but how do you know you DON'T KNOW the person.
I feel for ya...what a strange situation. But if I were going to steal someone's blog name or make it similiar, I would choose a blog that was established...not a new blog, as you are implying this blog of yours is.
There's no value, except causing personal anguish, in stealing an unestablished blog name. Perhaps I've watched one too many Law and Order's...but motive is everything.
So..all that to say, if my theory is right, and it is someone you know the problem is easily solvable.-
LOL thats why my theory is since my blog new and only a few months older than this person's they are just being "oh well" about it and trying to outdo me and see if I drop out of the blogging game after awhile and let them keep the name. Kinda like "the stronger blog will survive" type thing.
I don't really discuss my blogs to people I know so that is how I'm sure I don't know the person. I have too many blogs to fill everyone in on LOL.
I'm so irritated about it because I was new, but on the rise and people were associating me with this name as I was making connections. Now this other person pops up trying to make the same connections and so there are two of us. It's kinda like "Ok well which one is which .. was it you who talked about this topic or the other person? Which one's blog do I go back and bookmark?" for the other readers.
Argh!
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Oh that is terrible bfeatherston!
I didn't even think to look up on the net to see if anyone has the same blog name as mine, ( which there probably is somwhere ! ). If so it wasn't intentional to copy anyone's, as what has happened to you -
I had someone using my name roentarre for domain as well. It was a terrible thing to build a brand name for roentarre! It has implications in photography society
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BTw thanks to all of the suggestions so far that I'm not able to reply to. I guess the only thing I can do is just keep on keeping on putting out the better content and register everywhere I can to try to bury this person out. And if I see the person somewhere I'm not I just have to get on with my name and start commenting and being active too! LOL
Gotta play the game I guess!
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