Comments on: Space Not Available

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:12:09 +0000

Fiona, I think your situation was quite different. This person here wanted to put ads on my site. Your person at least offered content that was relevant and readable.

By: Fiona

Fiona — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:25:04 +0000

Lori, both of the posts they provided me were good fits for my blog (I guess I was lucky) One of my readers actually thanked me for the interesting read.
Having said that, I don't think I would do it again. Put hey we learn from these things.

Cheers for keeping us informed on these things. It definitely helps my learning process

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:26:25 +0000

I don't know about you guys, but when I see them I get a bit angry. It's a new twist on plastering useless content all over the Internet to drive search rankings. I don't care if they pay my bills for the next three years - it goes against my beliefs.

Fiona, that does seem very relevant to your blog - and we all become our mothers - FYI. :)) How do your readers respond to those guest posts? In your case, it seems to fit quite well.

Amen, Diane. I like the space here and the guests who do post know the blog and understand the readers.

Exactly, Devon. This blog costs me nothing but a few hours a week in "love" time - posting, responding, etc.

Cathy, I'd bookmark your posts. :)

Paula, that stumped me, too. I think the intent was not to post a new blog post, but to link ads all through my existing posts. BIG no thank you.

Jake, you're rude like I am. They didn't get anything but a delete from me. This is not, in my opinion, a missed marketing opportunity. It's maintaining the integrity of what shows up here.

And that's DAMN scary about the phone call! I'd heard that was happening, and maybe because we screen calls we don't get these. Glad your uncle wasn't taken by it!

By: Jake P

Jake P — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:24:09 +0000

Cathy, last week my 79-year-old uncle got a call from someone impersonating my brother (had his name correct, too), saying he was in Portugal with a friend, had gotten in a car crash, and they needed money. Mercifully, he knew enough to call my mom before doing anything!

When you inherit your Nigerian fortune, please remember to share...

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:26:19 +0000

Jake-I filed mine with the requests for help from the dying rich person from overseas who needs my help getting his fortune to his loved ones because of the crazy laws in his country. They'll transfer the money to me and even give me a piece of it for my trouble. Who wouldn't do it? 🙂

By: Jake P

Jake P — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:42:37 +0000

Yeah, I've gotten a couple of those in the past two weeks. I was flattered for about a half-millisecond, then my B.S. detector started ringing -- it's suspicious when it's someone who I don't know or hasn't commented on my blog previously.

Maybe I'm rude, but I didn't even respond. Seeing the volume of people who've gotten the same request, I feel more comfortable about that decision.

By: paula

paula — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:39:46 +0000

i'm still having trouble deciphering this woman's second sentence. they have a client who wants to pay you to sponsor a blog post you've already written? that makes no sense to me. it's either a poorly constructed sentence, or they want to go back in time to sponsor a past post.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:17:46 +0000

I've had a few of those as well and I just delete them. I can't say I have seen any appear on another blog. I hate when people take advantage of newbies-like what I call the "nice comment spammers." When I see them posted on someone's blog Really nice post – Great post-I am bookmarking this…yada, yada, yada… I empathize with the blogger. I remember how disappointing it was to realize it was just spam.

By: Devon Ellington

Devon Ellington — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:27:30 +0000

I get several of those a week, and I decline. If you're not going to tell me the client, or why my blog is a good fit for your target market, why would I think you're legitimate? You're writing me a pitch letter -- pitch me more than you'll toss a few pennies my way.

Um, a blog is NOT expensive to run. Wordpress and Blogger are free, it's the time commitment that's the expense, and the quality of the posts.

I've seen several of those posts embedded in other blogs, and I wonder "what the heck does that have to do with anything?" and I usually don't go back to the blog, because I feel the blogger broke my trust.

By: Diane

Diane — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:36:12 +0000

People asking to guest on my blog when I don't even know them results in that old knee jerk reaction, *delete*. At the beginning I did provide links, but only if they asked very nicely. Only when I streamlined the links to writing-related only did I start to ignore or decline.

I've had 2 people ask if they can guest on my blog in the past few months. One, I suspect, was selling some kind of pyramid finance thing, the other did produce solar panels which was something I'd discussed on my blog.

However, my blog is my blog, my space, my opinion, my friends, etc, and it clearly says so at the bottom, right next to the copyright clause.