My Teachers Pay Teachers store is a business and I have always thought about it that way. I take it seriously and pour a lot of time and energy into it.
Businesses check out the competition. Wal-Mart and Target know what the other is doing and both are keeping tabs on Amazon too
I believe it’s important that I do the same. Before I write a blog or make a resource I look around at what others have done to do some research. I use Google and TpT and look to see what is on the first page or two of the results.
The first pages of people are people who rank the highest for the topic I’m researching. I want to see what they did that got them there.
I look for:
- What was done well
- What I think I can improve on
- What I agree with
- What I disagree with
I take notes, but I do not want to copy their work. I have always found that if I read, research, take notes then close the source I do a better job focusing on my opinion and writing.
How do you research your topics?