These are some lines that feature in 8 out of 10 emails I write to pr agencies who have approached me regarding promotional activity on The Potty Diaries:
'... I don't run guest posts on the blog as I write all the content myself. However I have attached a copy of my rate card so you can take a look at the other promotional opportunities that are available.'
This is what I respond when asked if a 3rd party (agency or potential client) can put their content - with no input from me - on my blog. Why? Well, until today, other than the fact that I have plenty of my own ideas and don't need someone else to supply them for me thankyou very much, I didn't really know. I did wonder if I was being over protective about the blog and perhaps a little bit bloody-minded, but whatever my subconscious reasoning, it just felt like the right answer to give. Now, however, I think I've got to the bottom of my intransigence on this matter.
Mooching about the internet this evening I came across a guest post on a blog I read often enough to have it listed on my sidebar. I love this blog; the writer is funny and engaging and perhaps because she is at a totally different life stage to me, I really enjoy reading her take on things. This evening, when I clicked on the link to her latest post and saw it was a 3rd party piece for a company I have used myself in the past I was interested.
But it left me cold. It took me a couple of minutes to work out why, before I realised that when reading a blog - unlike when I'm reading a magazine - I want to hear the point of view of the owner of the blog, not to read some anodyne piece that I would be more likely to find in an ed/advertorial in a glossy or a Sunday supplement. I mean, if I want magazine-style writing, I can reach for a magazine, right? So it was helpful to have this realisation, and in the wake of it I'll now feel more self-assured when I continue to use the lines above in the future. And at least now, I'll understand why I write them.
But that's just my point of view. If you have a blog, and / or enjoy reading other people's, what is yours?
'... I don't run guest posts on the blog as I write all the content myself. However I have attached a copy of my rate card so you can take a look at the other promotional opportunities that are available.'
This is what I respond when asked if a 3rd party (agency or potential client) can put their content - with no input from me - on my blog. Why? Well, until today, other than the fact that I have plenty of my own ideas and don't need someone else to supply them for me thankyou very much, I didn't really know. I did wonder if I was being over protective about the blog and perhaps a little bit bloody-minded, but whatever my subconscious reasoning, it just felt like the right answer to give. Now, however, I think I've got to the bottom of my intransigence on this matter.
Mooching about the internet this evening I came across a guest post on a blog I read often enough to have it listed on my sidebar. I love this blog; the writer is funny and engaging and perhaps because she is at a totally different life stage to me, I really enjoy reading her take on things. This evening, when I clicked on the link to her latest post and saw it was a 3rd party piece for a company I have used myself in the past I was interested.
But it left me cold. It took me a couple of minutes to work out why, before I realised that when reading a blog - unlike when I'm reading a magazine - I want to hear the point of view of the owner of the blog, not to read some anodyne piece that I would be more likely to find in an ed/advertorial in a glossy or a Sunday supplement. I mean, if I want magazine-style writing, I can reach for a magazine, right? So it was helpful to have this realisation, and in the wake of it I'll now feel more self-assured when I continue to use the lines above in the future. And at least now, I'll understand why I write them.
But that's just my point of view. If you have a blog, and / or enjoy reading other people's, what is yours?
