Another oddity from my inbox.
Here’s today’s message, with the subject “We would like to write an article for your site,” edited to remove identifying information:
Hey there,
We have been reading the articles on your website and are very impressed with the quality of your information.
We have a team of copywriters who specialize in writing articles on various topics and would like to write an original article for you to use on your website – this article will not be used anywhere else on the Internet.
In exchange all we ask is that we can have one or two links within the body of the article back to one of our sites. You can view a sample of the quality of our articles at [redacted].
If you are interested in having us write an article for your website please just let me know and we would be more than happy to have one written for you within two weeks.
Kind regards,
[redacted]
If they’re so impressed with the quality of my information, what makes them think I need a post written by someone else? Isn’t it clear that I can write my own blog posts?
And if it’s my personal blog, what makes them think I’d welcome posts from others? Did they find any posts by others on my blog?
And yes, I do realize that they likely never even looked at my blog. That this is just a form of spam that’s likely to sent out to every blogger they can find contact info for.
The question I take away from this is: Are bloggers so desperate for content that they’ll let strangers do guest posts in exchange for a couple of links?
Needless to say, I’m not interested so I don’t think a response is necessary. No need to put my e-mail address in their spam list. (They had to use a contact form to contact me.)
In a way, they did write a blog post for me. This one.
Hi Maria,
lol I laughed when I read this because I recognise the email instantly. I have had some similar ones too… in fact almost word for word the same.
Guest blogging in general though is actually a really great thing I think…but not the way they were suggesting doing it. I personally use a guest posting community at myblogguest.com where people do post on one another’s blogs. However,the primary reason for them doing it is to reach a new audience, rather (in the case of the people who emailed you) to just get a couple of links.
Of course, on personal blogs sometimes it just isn’t fitting to invite someone else… but many blogs do benefit from a guest insight sometimes.
Thanks for sharing :)
@Stacey Cavanagh
I like the idea of guest blogging, especially in a blog maintained by a group of people. It’s a great way to get a mix of viewpoints.
Funny that you got the same message. Just proves what I suspected: they send it out to anyone they can, hoping for a hit. Sometimes I wish e-mail cost money; I think it could cut out a lot of this kind of spammy junkmail.
@Stacey Cavanagh
Thanks for mentioning MyBlogGuest, hun :) Got to this post thanks to your comment.
@Maria Langer
As for guest posting spam, it makes me very sad. I founded MyBlogGuest to connect bloggers through GREAT content and I really wouldn’t like the concept to be abused that way.
And yes, those emails are everywhere (which makes me even sadder). I mentioned one in my post a few months ago and we had great discussion there as well:
http://myblogguest.com/blog/guest-blogging-spam-please-dont/
@Ann Smarty
The concept of guest blogging has been around for quite a while and is used on many blogs. But those are usually topical blogs rather than personal blogs.
The way I see it, the blog owner should be asking the writer to do a guest blog post — not the other way around.
There’s far too much spam and far too many forum/comment trolls on the Internet these days. Wouldn’t it be nice to wave a magic wand and have all the crap sucked out of the Internet, leaving behind only good, interesting, or useful content?
I read Maria Langer’s blog because I want to read about Maria Langer’s escapades. If I want to read about someone else’s adventures, I’ll go directly to their blog. You are right, guest blogging is not appropriate for your blog.
@Daphne
Escapades! I like that word!