I knew moving to this new url would result in losing followers. I was 100% A-OK with that. The people that want to find me, will*!
I love the engagement part of blogging but my blog has NEVER focused on how many readers I have. I’ve never looked in to SEO. I’m not trying to build “a brand.” I’m just sharing silly stories and thoughts with people. That’s all I want from it – sharing and a few real connections!
I’ll admit, I was looking to lose a specific kind of follower (at least for a while) – the ones who send me spammy blog requests. You know, all the requests from random schmoes to promote their product, share their infographic, swap out a link I used for their link, etc. How long would it take them to find my new email address?!
Sigh.
Apparently a week. I got my first email, within a week of publishing the new blog, asking to talk to me about boosting my revenue through “an individually tailored digital marketing system.” Sigh, again. I was disappointed it happened so fast.**
Disappointment face:
Maybe they won’t come in as frequently as they used to?! At least for a while?! Fingers crossed.***
*the last post on my old url points here, and the whole old blog redirects here now, so it’s not hard!
**Although, they weren’t asking me to do something, they were trying to sell me something, which is different than what I was whining about above!
***What’s so annoying?! It’s just an email, right? Yeah, it’s easy to say “no thanks,” unsubscribe (which never seems to work), and delete. It’s just irritating to me that I get these requests for completely bullsh*t stuff. Asking me to promote things with animal products in them. Telling me they are inspired by my weight loss journey (what weight loss journey?) and asking me to promote DEXA scans. If they have your email, they will send you a request, whether it makes sense or not and that is what bothers me – HOW LAZY THEY ARE AT THEIR JOB.
The link swap out really irks me because if I’ve linked a product, it’s to help my readers find it because I like it. They certainly aren’t paying me to link it…so why would I change it??
I have to admit that I took the DEXA scan bit because I really wanted to get my bone density tested, just to make sure my bones aren’t crumbling away. I don’t care about the rest of the stuff, but to not have to pay for a bone density test was good enough for me. That said, like you I turn down 99.9% of everything that is offered…and WHY can’t anyone offer me some good running gear?? I want Knuckle Lights like no one’s business, but after some bloggers were given them for free while I, who does 99.9% of my running in the dark, wasn’t? Well, now I’m not going to pay for them out of spite. (btw I’m very pleasant to live with as long as you don’t cross me, LOLOLOL)
Right! They are just selfishly asking you to change it to benefit THEM! The current one I received is asking me to update a link on page that is OVER TEN YEARS OLD. What is even the point?
Oh, no shame in taking it! It just doesn’t apply to me and the pitch sucked! I am glad you found it useful.
OMFG those knuckle lights. I respond to every offer YES PLEASE and they NEVER respond. Ha, they are pranking me 😉
Oh for sure, that DEXA pitch was ridiculous – they gave me the same “inspirational weight loss journey” spiel, which…hello. Read the blog, people. Or at least read something more than the title.
Gah. Sigh. How hard is it to actually read a bit before the pitch?!
I’m kind of impressed they found you so fast! It took a LONG time for me to get my first marketing email after I started my blog – but then again, I was starting from scratch, not moving from one to the other, so I suppose it’s not apples to apples.
I don’t get marketing emails too often–I’d guess maybe a couple per week, at most?–but it does surprise me how often I get emails that are totally unrelated to anything I’ve ever blogged about. I guess the mindset must be if you pitch absolutely everyone, you stand a better chance at getting your pitch picked up than if you limited yourself. It must be an effective enough strategy if it keeps happening!
I am too. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got my email from my host. Eyeroll.
Do you find them as annoying? Or is it just me?! That seems like what they are doing to me, too. I somehow got on same mass mailing lists like that and it makes me freaking crazy!!!!
I get few enough of them that it doesn’t bother me too much – plus they all go to my blog email, not my real email, so that probably helps with the annoyance factor. I also don’t get too many bizzaro requests (no one’s ever asked me to swap a link, for example, though I have had some people ask to put up a post on my blog, which I’ve always found weird. It’s one thing for ME to write a post on your behalf, but it’s a completely other thing for YOU to write a post for MY blog!), which also helps. And every now and again, maybe once or twice a year, they involve me getting something free that I want in exchange for a post, so I can’t complain too much about that! It’s maybe not the best return rate (one or two free things for 50+ unsolicited pitches), but I’ll take what I can get, especially considering my…lack of big blog-ness. Haha.
I think it’s odd to ask to write on someone else’s blog, for a pitch, anyway. It used to be common to have “guest” posts. I did one once and the people wanting to pitch things would reference that and say “I see you allow guests posts, can I write about xyz?” Sigh. No. That was a FRIEND writing about an interesting race. LOL.
Ha! The return rate is not great, but it does pan out sometimes, I agree!
I wonder what it is like for the big bloggers, trying to weed through the real vs spammy requests.
Thats annoying! Even instagram is becoming annoying now. I get requests all the time about either being a coach for/join in a fitness group thing that seems to be all SAHM (nothing wrong with that) but it seems like such a pyramid scheme.
My snis was just bitching to me about that re: Instagram yesterday! She said this post reminded her of it. It’s annoying to be bombarded with requests and ads ALL THE DAMN TIME. UGH. Do you get the requests at both accounts?
Ugh, I know the feeling. I get so many requests about sharing an infographic or adding a link. Once, I responded, “Sure. Here’s my price for that,” and they quickly backed away. They want you to do all this stuff with no compensation (not that I would do it WITH compensation, ha, but I always like to see what they’ll say). I get a lot of “I’m so inspired by your weight loss journey!” and I’m like, “Uh, I haven’t written about weight loss in YEARS. Get with it.” SIGH.
I should try that one! I know some bloggers do actually have a media package or whatever so they have prices in mind. Of course they don’t want to pay 😉
Isn’t that annoying when they say stuff like that?! Just read a month or so to get an idea, it won’t take THAT long.
The online world is quick to find just about anyone these days.
They sure are! Happily, spam is a bit lower, and I haven’t gotten as many stupid requests!