courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Now, I have your attention! Oh, Tonya speaks about checking your ass over at Budget on the Beach, you should get there next. My easy girls are related to blogging news. I want to talk about selling yourself short. I know many bloggers would take anything advertisers offer, because ‘’$20 is better than nothing’’. Well, it isn’t necessarily. Remember that girl in high school that you could get to spend the night in the back of your car for a couple of beers? And the other one you had to buy flowers, and chocolates, and a heart shaped balloon just to be granted permission to hold hands? Who do you think wins? Who would you rather be? I know I’d rather have the courtship and be showered in presents. Don’t sell yourself short. Inquire with your peers about rates, and know what you are willing to accept.
For placement of garbage links, I have been offered
Nothing: ‘’Hey, we have a super cool product, would you mind taking 2 hours of your time to check it, review it for free, and recommend it to your readers?”. Another one was an ad rep saying his client has ‘’no budget’’. I wish I had no budget, ad reps working for free, and websites advertising for me for free. And we would all be unicorns.
Links to a link farm: ‘’Hey, put a premium banner for us on your homepage, and we’ll put you on a random page with 200 others on our site’’.
Quality content: ‘’Hey, our ghost writer is better than most and will write a 300 words article about PF, something he knows nothing about, with even more English mistakes than you. Expect the topic to be 5 ways to save money, spun 200 times over the PFsphere!’’.
$10: Oh sweetie… Where to start? With the time to read and rewrite the crap you are sending, argue on the links you want to place (for which you are charging your poor client ‘’on a limited budget’’ $200), find a picture that makes up for the terrible post, upload, format, and offend my readers by imposing them your work? Totally worth $10.
Side note: I happily accept guest posts from fellow bloggers, with links to their non commercial blogs or sites, contact me if you would like to guest post on RFI.
Bottom line: do not sell yourself short. Yes I said that three times already. You are not doing yourself nor your fellow bloggers a favor.
On life news, I am giving the garden a second chance. I mentioned previously that it has been an epic fail so far, but in spite of it being a time suck and money drain, I enjoy gardening and want to try again. Safe for the plants that we brought grown already, like basil and oregano, nothing has grown in two months. The seedlings have a hard time growing, because they either burned by the sun, drown by the heavy rains, uprooted by the wind or eaten by the chicks. Not much I can do about the weather but increase the watering when it is very hot. I plan on fencing around the patch so the hens can’t come eat the plants. They also like to dig a hole and sit there when it is hot, I guess because the freshly watered patch makes the earth cooler and refreshes them. Thanks to many gardening posts this week, the garden 2.0 is taking shape! I have sown lettuce, coriander, tomatoes, broccoli and spinach so far. Fingers crossed!
I published four posts this week
Little house in Guatemala, week 18-19
Should you take a holiday while in debt?
Bang for your buck, La France edition
As well as a guest post on I Heart Budgets about how to have your own best interests at heart, financially and otherwise.
On Rather Be Shopping, Kyle published a fun interview of me, if you can’t wait to see what my favorite brand of cereal is, head over there.
Thank you to everyone who mentioned RFI this week, I really appreciate it.
Repaid.org, The Frugal Farmer, Frugal Rules, The Frugal Path, Budget and the Beach, The Random Path, Canadian Budget Binder, The Heavy Purse, Luke 1428, Memoirs of a Norwegian girl, Freedom 35, Eyes on the Dollar, L Bee and the Money Tree, Financial carnival for young adults, Living Debt Free Rocks, The Money Principle, Money Bulldog, Carnival of Wealth, Carnival of Retirement, Money Mail Carnival, The Frugal Farmer again, Festival of Frugality,
See you tomorrow for the second edition of the Carnival of Financial Independence! Remember you can submit your posts here.
Latest posts by Pauline Paquin (Posts)
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- Why gold attracts people - June 19, 2013
- Spending on daily items, quality or price? - June 18, 2013
Ha, yup. Fully behind this. I do get the occasional genuine guest post request from personal bloggers, but as I clearly state, I don’t accept guest posts from bloggers I don’t already know. Build a personal relationships with me, or alternatively, cough up the dollars if you’re commercial.
eemusings recently posted..What I value in a job
well said!
I’ve only been blogging for a few months and I’ve gotten a several guest posts from a ghost writer emails. My favorites have been the ones that have such blatantly bad spelling and grammar problems that I even I can pick them up. I suspect that this problem gets worse as I blog more.
My Financial Independence Journey recently posted..A Brief Primer on Dividend Growth Stocks Part 1: What are they and how do they make money?
Hi Pauline,
A “favorite” review request went something like this: If you review our product, we will give you a discount coupon code for the product AND mention your review to our XX, XXX Facebook fans. Seemed great, so I did the review. When I asked about the Facebook mention, they said they could not because they didn’t want to promote the coupon to their existing customers.
…Tim
Tim @ An Entrepreneurial Life recently posted..Shiny Object Syndrome – A Reason Why Startups Fail
haha nice one! I hope you didn’t get to buy something too.
No, I passed on the opportunity to buy anything from them.
Tim @ An Entrepreneurial Life recently posted..How to Establish Credibility and Authority
it will certainly. When even I as a foreigner can spot the mistakes I know it is a red flag.
I’ve had people soliciting with ridiculous offerings or questionable motives too. I just ignore them because there’s only so many hours in a day I can spend on the internet. Good luck with your garden. I know some people put tarps over their vegetables so the leaves don’t dry out as quickly. Thanks for the link back.
Liquid recently posted..Potential Investment Idea – Diamonds
Will look into tarps, thanks for the tip.
Oh my gosh, some of those emails are ridiculous! One guy who clearly works for a commercial site said it was “strictly forbidden!” for him to pay to have his post placed on the site…. *shakes head* I’ve wasted so much time with these people who are trying to essentially place sponsored content for free.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..Friday Giveaway Roundup – 39 Giveaways
because some they yes, they will keep trying. Like the Nigerian scams.
Gotta love those emails. Especially the “limited budget” ones that whine and moan that they have no money. I might be able to understand that, but when your email is from a commercial company then I don’t buy it. My other favorite is when they tell me that they’ll be providing the content and I’ll have one less post to write. I love to have one less post to write, but when what they send me is utter garbage it just takes more time to edit it.
Anyways, glad you’re giving gardening 2.0 a go and excited to see how it comes out for you. We should hopefully be able to get started in the next few weeks…assuming we stop getting so much freaking snow.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..Frugal Friday: Blog Posts That Ruled This Week, More Snow Edition
”we have no money so we work extra hard for our customers”. Makes total sense. I wish I had an employee like that.
You got me with the picture, Pauline. Great.
I am beginning to get the emails for guest posts. Very strange stuff. Posts on gambling and other weirdness. Who knew??
it will only grow with time. the price of success!
Great wisdom here, Pauline. As I’m new to this blogging thing, I appreciate the tips. We’re starting our first big garden this year too. Here’s hoping both of us will do well and have plenty of food stock for the winter! Have a great weekend.
Laurie @thefrugalfarmer recently posted..Ways to Handle Unexpected Family Expenses
Nice little profile piggy Laurie. Good luck with your garden too.
good luck on the garden 2.0! Hope it turns out better this time! Personally, I`m hopeless with anything green, I have big problems with just keeping an indoor plant alive, so I can understand your difficulties with a whole garden! Tvi Tvi as we say in Norway!
The Norwegian Girl recently posted..Sourdough Bread – It takes some time
thanks! I am quite the disaster but hopefully the handyman will help me avoid killing everyone.
I dunno $10 pre-tax can buy me a supersized Quarter pounder with cheese combo…
Good luck on garden 2.0! I hope it grows nicely and you can enjoy a nice fresh veggies! A nice refreshing spinach salad sounds great… I think I know what I am getting for lunch today now!
Bon Appetit! $10 gets me a builder for a day… still, that’s a pass.
WHAAA $10 is not enough for you? Haha just kidding of course.
Lately, I have had a large influx of guest post requests from other bloggers. I’m loving all of the guest posts on my site. Having a new opinion is always nice
However, I do not like when advertisers try to pretend that they just want to “guest post.”
Michelle recently posted..Preparing Your Minimalist Wardrobe for Spring
”but come on, we will put links that HELP the readers”!! I like other bloggers’ guest posts, but try to keep it to once a week max to keep it consistent.
Thanks Pauline. I haven’t started working with adverstisers yet, but I’ll be sure to watch out for these things. I’ll try not to sell myself short.
Nick @ ayoungpro.com recently posted..Apply for Every Job You See
LOL I totally agree! I have to laugh when I get emails for guest posts that are written really horribly. Uh, no thanks. Who are these people. After a boom in blog revenue in Feb, I realized that I’m better off and happier having discretion about what appears on my blog. Thanks for the blog mention btw!
Good luck with the Garden: Part Deux. I need to think about planting tomatoes soon!
Budget and the Beach recently posted..No Wind in my Sail
yum, nothing like home grown tomatoes!
I’m starting to get those emails you’re mentioning, and I’m like “Really? Are you kidding?”
Have a great weekend Pauline
Mackenzie recently posted..Dear College Newbie…
Be careful, since you are not self hosted you would be violating WP’s T&Cs
I had one recently, you may have gotten it also, but it was addressed to Phil at Eyes on the dollar, and they wanted to give me Krill oil to write about. First, I don’t even know what that is. How it relates to finance is beyond me, and my name certainly isn’t Phil. I got a good laugh. I agree it is tempting to take low offers, but you really degrade yourself in doing so. Hold out for people willing to pay what you are worth.
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted..6 Money Tips for College Graduates
lol didn’t get that one. Happy Friday Phil!
I received one request from some guy (definitely a scammer) who wanted to write a post for me. All I needed to do was set-up an admin profile for him on my site so he could upload the article for me. He wanted to make it easy for me. Yeah, easy to imbed all kinds of malware and viruses! The worst part, he emailed me again (maybe 5-6 hours after the first email) to ask why he hasn’t heard back from me. I don’t have advertisements, yet. I’m still so small that I really didn’t think anyone would want to advertise on the website yet. But I’m glad that I can ask my fellow bloggers what to charge if/when I decide to allow advertisement, because I honestly have no idea what to charge.
Shannon @ The Heavy Purse recently posted..Blog Roundup: Week of March 11, 2013
oh that screams hacker! glad you didn’t get fooled. Imagine the guy deletes all your posts, or changes your password and you can’t get on until he has sent all kind of posts via your RSS! brrr.
I does my head in when people who are obviously working for someone else try and crack on they’re a fellow blogger or someone who is just trying to build their online profile. Who writes article for someone elses blog for free? Do they think I’m thick? Maybe I am thick and I just have trust issues but I don’t think so. Great post Pauline
Money Bulldog recently posted..Fun Friday ~ The Amazing Chalk Man
I do write articles on other blogs for free, but they link back to my site not to letsgogambleijustgothemoneyfrommypaydayloan.com
Ha, yeah I’ve done a few guest posts but like you say, linking back to a genuine blog.
Money Bulldog recently posted..Fun Friday ~ The Amazing Chalk Man
Yeah, that picture got me to click.
I totally agree with your rant about commericial “guest” posts. I have yet to accept any, but ever since I got a PageRank of 3, people have been coming out of the woodwork. I’ll usually respond with a super-high price and some steep catches on the content. Just because it’s fun and, hey, maybe I’ll actually get paid to give my readers something useful one day. But if they lead with a price like “I can pay you an amazing price of $15!” I just delete right away. Although if I’m feeling particularly snarky, I’ll respond with “15! Now I can retire!”
Edward Antrobus recently posted..The Case Against Minimalism
they are definitely not worth the time. Although I have had a couple of pleasant surprises after replying to what I thought was spam.
I like it when you get a “guest post” request from someone you don’t “know” and the e-mail asking for the post is grammatically incorrect and so poorly written I don’t understand exactly what they’re asking for. Just say no!
KK @ Student Debt Survivor recently posted..My Spending Life Stages
yep, when they hire a virtual assistant for $100/month they get what they pay for…
Just doing a bit of back reading Pauline and found this aptly thought provoking for me. In a bit of a dilemma over several aspects of my site at the moment – most revolving around this exact topic: – that fine line between altruism and being so overly generous that one ends up in the back of a car with one’s knickers around one’s ankles on the first date (which on a side note is something I rarely managed to achieve despite being one of the few students in Uni with a car
That is a powerful analogy; which I think may help me a great deal Pauline. So thank you
Gareth |Helpful Habits recently posted..The Art of Optimism
hehe “rarely managed to achieve”… glad the post was some help Gareth.
I gotta guest post one time, that was the last time for me. I don’t make any money on my blog, I can’t! It would be considered income and I can’t make any more without affecting my BK. I do it strictly for fun!
debtgirl recently posted..Easy Sunday
you can accept posts from other bloggers for free if you “know” them or think the post is good but beware of the other ones!