Today I got yet another email asking me to “partner” with a business for free. Have a read of this if you are a business embarking on a blogger outreach program and do the opposite. I can’t even make this shit up.

seriously

Hey Mums,

Talkative Limbs (the name’s been changed) is expanding to blogging and we’re interested to offer you
the partnership to team up with us. The opportunity will involve writing a
parenting article every fortnight featuring on our blog under your name
with links/info and all social media accounts pointing towards yourself.
The choice of topic is up to you, so feel free to write about anything
that interests you. From this opportunity you’ll be able to increase your
brand’s awareness and leech some of our rapidly growing traffic base,
after 3 weeks we are already up to 2000 unique visitors and we plan on
hitting 10,000 by month 2’s end. As there are numerous benefits this will
be a non-paying gig, but those that can see the benefits realise how
valuable this opportunity is. We’re currently close to filling all the
opportunities available so we’d need to hear back ASAP as it will be first
in best dressed. Once the spots are filled we won’t be opening up anymore,
as we want to keep the benefits available to a select few who we can
establish a relationship with at Talkative Limbs.

Regards,

Talkative Limbs.

 Here’s my reply

Hey Talkative Limbs,

Thanks for getting in contact, but unfortunately I will be declining your “offer” to work for free for your organisation.

In fact, I’m unsure how you got my email contact on your database, but I’d appreciate it if you removed me for a number of reasons:

1 – I’m not that keen on being lumped into a group email with the welcome “Hey Mums”. Have you actually checked if all the people you are emailing are actually Mums and how does this make me more or less qualified to contribute to your site? Also I’m more inclined to be open to partnership opportunities if the person contacting me knows my name and has read my blog.

2 – I don’t even know what Talkative Limbs is and nowhere here do you explain what your business is. The assumption that I would work with anyone simply for extra clicks on my website and visa versa is contrary to why I blog in the first place – not to simply sell advertising space, but to make real connections with people.

3 – Writing is my livelihood and as like any business (like yours) I expect to be paid, for not only my articles, but also for access to my blogging community who I’ve worked darn hard to make real connections with.

4 – Website engagement does not pay my bills. And while we are on that point, I’d be requiring payment from your business seeing that my unique visitors are substantially higher than what you are recording.

5 – I like to work with people who have a positive and enriching relationship with bloggers. *refer to points 1-4

If you’re keen on learning how you can better reach out to bloggers in the future, I’d be most happy to help or point you in the right direction of some other businesses/blogger outreach professionals who could advise you.

Have a nice day.

 

In case you’re interested, I am very open to blogging partnerships, just not ones with Talkative Limbs. I love working with brands and organisations to deliver interesting content. I do not work for free, unless it is for charitable organisations who I believe in. I’m also keen on getting to know each other first, so the partnership is meaningful. Blogging is about building community not website hits. If all you care about is the number of uniques, your Facebook likers or Twitter followers then you’re wasting your time. You might make some cash, but you would’ve sold your soul.

For me, blogging is whole lot more than that. This is Why I Blog.

bigwords x