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Most Bloggers Are Effing Clueless!

Bloggers are absolutely bloody clueless – well except for my friends of course. But most of the bloggers out there really don’t know which way is up.

Most bloggers bitch about one of two things: coming up with new ideas for their blogs or not getting paid to blog! The whole today.com fiasco had blame on both sides – there were an awful lot of bloggers who were convinced they were owed a living based on their inane, or even well-written, ramblings about their day-to-day life.

(BTW if you were thinking why not to that last sentence – try putting up your own blog along these lines and living off the resulting revenue… )

Which brings me to the point of this post.  I do some freelance work for an agency. That agency gives me articles which need to be placed on relevant blogs – that’s not so hard is it? After all most bloggers want unique content right?

Actually absolutely not correct. I have kept a bit of a list and I find if I try to contact 10 blogs that look suitable the break down goes something like this

  • 1 blog will have absolutely no way to contact the owner of the blog – this is particularly true for wordpress.com blogs but I have had it from self-hosted and blogspot blogs as well.  Its not that hard people – its called a contact page – you either put a form on it or you write your email address like lis at lissowerbutts dot com.
  • 2 blogs will promptly and politely respond that they don’t accept guest posts – cool no problem, thanks for your time.
  • 1 blogger will respond and then prove utterly clueless about how to actually cut and paste the post – we get there eventually  – and hey at least I got my Kharma quota up – I do however wonder sometimes!
  • 1 blogger will respond, request the post, and post it – win/win job done.
  • 5 bloggers will never  respond to my email.

Its those 50% of bloggers who are too lazy/arrogant/whatever to bother responding to that I am talking to.

  • No you haven’t just not been online becuase I know your blog is updated regularly otherwise I wouldn’t have contacted you.
  • No its not a trick -the concept of Guest Posts is apparently difficult for some people to grasp – I’m not sure because its talked about all over the blogosphere – but trust me Guest Posting is a legitmate opportunity for companies to get their nae out there. What do you think article marketing is all about?
  • No I will not be insulted if you don’t want a post – just tell me so – how long does hitting reply and typing no thanks take?
  • Have you no bloody manners?

Oh and if you have a PR3 on your front page or more than 200 RSS subscribers blog in any of the following niches: health, diet, exercise, healthcare careers, medical careers, patient rights, or Web 2.0, and would like a 500+ word original article which includes one link in the authro’s bio paragraph please feel free to drop me a line via the contact form or email lis (at) gmail (dot) com. No splogs or other autogenerated content please.

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34 replies on “Most Bloggers Are Effing Clueless!”

I don’t agree with you in his case Liss.
May be yes, many of them are clueless… but I will never accept a “guest poster” . I mean, why should I get your 500 words and give you juice from my blog? I outsource all my content and a 500 word article cost me $2. So why should I give you a link for the value I get for just $2?
.-= Gabriel´s last blog ..Which are the advantages of use Submit Jedi =-.

Gabriel – I don’t have a problem with people who don’t accept guest posts for whatever reason – the one’s I have an issue with are the ones who can’t manage a 2 word email response! BTW I never said it had to be a followed link!

Nice post Lis,
The problem is the people it will help the most are not going to see it because they don’t even have a clue about desiring a passive income from blogging. Everybody has this belief that if you post online you should be rich in a month or at least two if you don’t want to miss any of your TV shows. It takes a long time and a lot of work but it is well worth it in the end.
The part I particularly like about making money online is the people you can become associated with, such as yourself, who are making a go of their dream and willing to put in the effort to get there. (along with the online income of course) It inspires me to keep working.
It used to be that everybody had a half-finished novel in their desk now they have a blog that is just as boring and useless to anybody who might possibly be a customer.
PS. Really like the new theme.
.-= Agrande with online business opportunities´s last blog ..Making Money Online Business Opportunity =-.

LOL – oh I had never thought of the 1/2 finished novel (mine never really got to page 2) – you might be onto something – fortunately most 1/2 finished novels are lost to history! Thanks – the theme still has some hurdles but its growing on me.

LMAO – its unbelievably common – its also very bad practice if you are using affiliates or Adsense – against most TOS

Nice post Lis, I’m glad I fell into the ‘responding promptly and politely’ category!

I have to say though that I don’t totally agree with you on this one. If I didn’t know you, I probably wouldn’t have replied either. Well, I probably would have in your case because the email was probably worded well, and addressed to me rather than just to ‘sir or madam’, like most of them seem to be. I guess whether I reply or not depends on how the proposal is written. Unfortunately most of them are annoying and don’t warrent a reply, same goes for link exchange requests.

But even when emails are well written, addressed to the person by name, etc etc, you still have to remember that it hasn’t been asked for. It’s sort of annoying… like getting cold calls with people offering products by phone, or flyers in the mail. Sure, replying by email takes only a few seconds, but if the offer annoys me, I’m not really too concerned about what the person on the other end thinks of me, I just want them not to contact me again.

Just my two cents!
.-= Kirsty´s last blog ..Wondering About Wanderstruck.com =-.

What’s annoying about free content Kirsty? That’s the bit I don’t understand? Particularly as most bloggers do complain about “feeding the monster”! After all the “a-listers” do say updating regularly is critical!

Everything is annoying about free content that is written with a sales pitch in mind. I didn’t have a look at what your people had on offer, but most other free content offers I get are crap. I would much rather see a blog I read go a couple of weeks without content than put up a guest post as filler just to ‘feed the monster’. But I am completely anti-guest post, even from bloggers I like so my opinion on the free content matter is likely a bit extreme.
.-= Kirsty´s last blog ..Wondering About Wanderstruck.com =-.

Oh that’s interesting Kirsty – the content i have isn’t a pitch at all – in fact its not even directly related to the site being promoted – they purely want the backlink – so I will re-write my pitch letter if that is a perception. To be honest I’ve had hardly any solicitations of guest posts on this blog – if you really don’t want them maybe take the RSS feedburner stats down -that’s probably what’s doing it! Thanks again – I partly wrote this post hoping for some insights!

In defense of slow–or no–responders, I use a different email address for my blog than I do for regular email. I check the blog’s email address…um…well after I read this post because it reminded me to. I had 23 unread emails. Oops.

So, it is possible that this is the scenario elsewhere.
.-= Yo´s last blog ..How to Tell If Your Freelance Writing Business is Headed in the Wrong Direction =-.

Oh bad girl Yo! This is a very simple thing to fix – its called a foreward! Foreward your blog email to your regular email! I have dozens of email addresses but they are all forewarded to one address which is the one I actually use LOL

NOOOOOO!! I get so much spam or “Comment” emails that I don’t want them in my regular box, that’s why I wished them out to the cornfield. What I need to do is act like an adult and confront the box at least weekly. I’ll try Lis, I’ll try 🙂
.-= Yo´s last blog ..How to Tell If Your Freelance Writing Business is Headed in the Wrong Direction =-.

OK now I’m confused Yo – are you not running Askimet – that deals with the 100+ spam comments I get a day -I don’t get an email on those. I do get emailed when someone leaves a comment on the blog but those i want because nothing appears here until I approve it and I want to do that in a timely manner. I also run gmail so that I may get 100 comments on a blog post- but I only see one thread in my inbox … I really get true spam in my inbox about once a month if that – gmail is good like that!

Wait a minute . . . I’m trying to make sense of what you said: “I also run gmail so that I may get 100 comments on a blog post- but I only see one thread in my inbox ” Is there a setting you can use in Gmail that sends all email from one address into a designated folder instead of the inbox?? I’m intrigued!

Yes you can set up a “filter” in gmail which will add a specified label to all email from specified email address -in this case my blog’s comments email address. But if I have a whole lot of comments on the same post I see only one line in my inbox
Wordpress (100) [passive income online Lis Sowerbutts] Please moderate “Site build it scam”
– even if there is a 100 plus comments its just the one line in the inbox because they automatically all attach to the same thread as the sender and the title are the same.

Right-o that makes sense! Kind of like when you subscribe to blog comments and you get multiple replies showing up one line. This is really going to get me organized. Geez Lis, first Q10 then Gmail . . . your productivity tips have been very helpful! 🙂

Lis what you say is true. I have been hunting for links for some time for one of my niche sites and a lot of sites do not even have a contact form. Those that had one, I emailed. One responded no links, one responded and we exchanged some links, all the others did not respond and one of them reported my site. My site was clean of non Google friendly stuff but I did have to file a request to make things flow faster. Funny how people want to start a business with their doors closed.

There are even a few retards that are closing their comments sections completely because Google recently said nofollow links leak link juice anyway. So in order to save link juice they close the comment section completely and forget about the free content that they get in comments. LMAO!
.-= Archie@How to Make Money Online ´s last blog ..How To Make Money Online Blogging =-.

OH you KNOW I feel your pain!!!! Nice not to be the only one, though.

As per this: “After all the “a-listers” do say updating regularly is critical!” —–all those bloggers who are trying to follow the strategies of these a-listers might also note that they DO accept and ENCOURAGE guest posting as a building tool!

ANd @ Archie:

“Funny how people want to start a business with their doors closed. ” —–Exactly!!

I was having a bad day – I thought I’d redirect my annoyance!

I agree too with Archies comments about people with their doors closed – I think the internet does attract a large number of people who a) have poor communication skills and b) are terrified of undefined bad things that can happen on the Internet. Sure it a bit of wild west but most people on the Internet are just that – people LOL

As the headline says, mLis, as the headline says … people put up a blog to be seen and heard by the world, but don’t want to be contacted. It puzzles me. I have URL in my stable that I wnated pretty bad. I tried to contact the owner every month or so for ayear, because the URL wasn’t even parked, it was owned but dead’. I was in all honestly willing to pay up to $200 USD for the URL. But ‘Mr. Privacy’ never answered … and then, lo and behold, he let the URL expire which I quickly grabbed up for $8.95. Had he bothered to answer even one email he would likely be $200 richer. Strange.

Alos, here’s one I just remeber I am behind on .. how many bloggers who want to earn money have an advertising page with their rates and contact info so someone _could_ buy an ad easily? Last year I was showing a new prospective blogger how ‘name brand’ blogs made money … shocking how man blogers who clearly took ads didn’t have acontact page so we could get an idea of thewir prices, traffic etc.
.-= Dave Starr´s last blog ..If A Single Mom Makes Money Like This, Why Don’t You? =-.

Unfortunately, I fall in one or two of the above categories. I’ve responded to a few pitches to write content for a couple of my blogs. I became frustrated when I received crappy content from folks who obviously didn’t take the time to read my blogs to see the type of content I post.

As a busy freelance writer (not a copy editor), I don’t want to take on the task of re-writing sloppy content.

You do have a point, however, a simple reply with a “No thanks” would resolve the issue.

Thanks for the kick in the pants.
.-= Felicia´s last blog ..Summer is Having Its Way with My Writing Schedule =-.

Wow they are some amazing stats on your 10 contacts. I’m shocked especially if these are all presumably up to date blogs that like you say should want some nice unique content for free. Unfortunately I’m not in one of your niches or I’d say yes, yes, yes! And I have an e-mail contact so you could get in touch!! Anyway my main problem with other bloggers is that groups of them (I won’t be more specific because I’m trying to integrate!) seem to sneer at the fact that some of us are trying to make a few pounds from our sites. I tried to join a carnival last week but the sign up page was accompanied by “no commercial tutt” requirement. Is there something wrong with posts that are informative but link to things you can buy? Anyway I probably digress – apologies.
Cheers, Chloe
.-= Chloe @ Ben 10 Toys´s last blog ..The Busy Parents Guide To Green Toys For Boys =-.

Actually Chloe you are probably on to something else there – I call them the arrogant amateurs. I have no problem that people chose to not make money online- but some seem to take the attitude that if you have to make money online you are little lower down the pole LMAO! Well it used to be the British upper classes looked down on anyone in Trade – this is just the modern equivalent- I imagine you are talking about Mommie bloggers – whose lifestyle is supported by Daddie working hard in a good-paying job – nice for some!

Rofl, Lis, I am guilty of nothing but the missing contact info, but nevertheless you found me 😉 For everybody that wants to know, the blog post was excellent original content, fitted nicely into my overall content and generated quite some interest! Lis, whenever you have another one to place, send it to me! I love guestbloggers, I only wished this one would have come, said “hello” and answered / responded to the comments his / her posts have created. SY *making note to herself about the missing contact page*
.-= hospitalera@Blogging Resources´s last blog ..John Chow ebook review =-.

Bloggers in general seem to be deathly afraid of generating spam through their blog and I think that’s the reason for both. People either have separate email accounts they don’t check often enough, a hidden (or nonexistent) way of contacting them, or they are quick to consider anything offered to be some sort of sales pitch and write it off.

Personally, I just list my HubPages profile as my website in my profile page. People who are trying to contact me can easily go there and contact me through HP without me having to list my email addy for spam harvesters to scoop up. Works pretty well for me.
.-= Kelly W. Patterson@http://eyeam4anarchy.blogspot.com´s last blog ..The Top Ten Cover Songs of All Time =-.

Great Rant Lis – must have made you feel a lot better getting it all out! Very useful feedback too.

I’m very surprised at your stats – 40% responses with 10% positive is excellent return for effort in a cold calling arena!

Be encouraged – Rhys
.-= Rhys´s last blog ..Monetize Your Site =-.

One more follow up on this one, not only most, potentially, hosting bloggers are effing clueless, also most guest bloggers are! Up to today the guest blog post you send my way was the only one that was properly formatted! All the rest nicely bolded, indented etc in a wordpress doc with the corresponding links and additional info in an email *sigh*, SY
.-= hospitalera@Niche Marketing´s last blog ..Do you text and drive? =-.

LOL that would be because I formatted it – not the writer! I am a firm believer that no one should be allowed to submit anything to the web using Word – that software is just a disaster!

You did a good job! And yes, no Word for me either, long life OpenOffice! Also basic mathematics is off for a lot of my guest bloggers, you should see how many links they try to squeeze into a tiny post ;-( SY
.-= hospitalera@Niche Marketing´s last blog ..Do you text and drive? =-.

I agrree Openoffice is fantastic I just upgraded to 3.0 – do so if you haven’t But I don’t use it for blog posts I either use Q10 or WriteMonkey – both simple basic text editors and I know a very limited about of html – basically enough to do an anchored link with LOL.

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