You know it's strange, I have to fight an almost antiquated system to work with companies offering reviews of products, services and books because they rely on statistics and arbitrarily chosen ones at that to determine if my blog is worthy of working with them...
I honestly don't care if I ever have a Google Page rank, my Alexa score or my Technorati rating move up or down, but I do care that my readers enjoy the product reviews and giveaways that I do here on Acting Balanced. I often sit and wonder if companies, PR people and others really understand what they are looking for - and whether the blog with the great stats is really drawing the readership they want to target...
I live with and love a 'Stats Guy' and know first hand that there's truth in the quote "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics" because there are definitely ways of manipulating both traffic to your site and your stats to be more favorable to those who are stats watchers... but the real question is - Who is reading my blog? Are they your target market? Can I deliver on my promises to you? Are 100 quality contacts who read what I have to say better than 10,000 who have subscribed but never actually read what is written - having only subscribed to get me to subscribe back, or to enter one specific contest, but then delete or bypass every other post?
I often wonder about the people who spend hours of their lives exchanging backlinks and worrying about how many sites link in, if they also have time to produce quality content and keep their readers engaged...
I do use the statistics I gather from google, alexa, feedburner, facebook, twitter etc to help get my foot in the door with companies, but I always end my pitch with - "The best way to know if my blog is a good fit for your product/service/book etc is to experience it, please visit www.actingbalanced.com to see if my blog would be a good fit for you. I am always happy to provide additional details and links to posts that may be similar to what I would write for you, please contact me for more information.", because honestly, I don't really want to work with a company who relies solely on stats to make their decisions.
It is my understanding that Google PR hasn't been updated in over 6 months, and may never be updated again... or it could be updated next week... but really - is relying solely on one statistical analysis that was developed years ago really going to tell you whether my blog meets your PR needs?
I'm linking up with Lindsay Socializes who started this conversation - please visit her blog and get her take on the situation... and add your $0.02 to the conversation if you are so inclined...
Or just leave me a comment here and help build the PR discussion...
Showing posts with label google page rank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label google page rank. Show all posts
Dealing with rejection... the hazard of pitching companies for reviews and giveaways
I have been working hard on setting up some great events on Acting Balanced... generating more giveaways and reviews to share with my readers... and because of that I've been pitching companies right, left and center...
Honestly, I expect to be rejected... if a company decides to work with me, I feel privileged ... they are sending out free products and have to justify their expenditures and giveaways. I figure that if I don't ask, I won't know what their policies are... and I have to say that even when rejected, I reply and thank them for their time and consideration and wish them well. It's their prerogative to choose what criteria they want to use - be it # of twitter followers, unique visitors, PR or alexa ranking... or some combination there of... they have a limited amount of product and want to get bang for their buck... and that's their right... I still have a PR of 0 and it's primarily because I am not a highly focussed blog... I post a whole variety of things and don't spend a ton of time worrying about meta tags, SEO and specialization... so if I don't qualify for a review or giveaway, I move on to something else... it may well be the company's loss, but there will be other opportunities...
I love that I am supplementing my world as a SAHM by testing products and reading books, offering giveaways and generally increasing my blog traffic that way - but I'm not going to complain or begrudge a company for having a policy...
Today was a unique experience though... I got a misdirected email from a company I cold called by email - the person that received my email to their general mailbox had been trying to forward my email to someone else in the company to ask how specifically to respond to unsolicited requests like mine that didn't meet their criteria... instead I got the email request...
I knew already that I had been rejected, so I emailed back politely and said that as a blogger, I appreciate when a company lets me know promptly and nicely that they are not interested in my opportunity. I also let them know that sharing criteria for bloggers, links to newsletters and social media, other ways to stay abreast of what is happening at their company are welcome, too!
As I said before, having worked in an industry where I spent 80% of my time cold calling companies, I expect rejection - I know my blog is small and similar to hundreds of other blogs out there... but if I don't ask, I'll never get bigger and I'll never know what opportunities I missed by not asking.
I will say one thing though - the combination of the embarrassment felt by the individual whose email was misdirected and my polite and cheerful response means that the company has offered me an opportunity to review one of their products on my blog in the next few months... and gets my foot in the door to prove to them that bigger isn't always better...
I'm also hoping that one day my blog will grow to the size where reviewing for them more regularly would be an option - I love their products and fully expect to try and pitch them again in the future.
This post was inspired by a discussion thread on a site I belong to where bloggers were taking issue with a company's requirement for Google PR to qualify to review products... my take on it is that I appreciate them being upfront about their need... because I don't have a strong PR - mine is 0 - I just didn't bother to apply... I know that there are other bloggers who will have the opportunity to review those products... and that's okay - someday I might get my shot...
Questions for my fellow bloggers: What are your expectations when you pitch companies? How do you deal with rejection? Do you have any interesting stories to share about pitching companies? Do you have a % that you are aiming for when you start to cold call or email companies through pitch/marketing sites?
Okay - this makes a second inspired rant today... I think I'm on a roll and should stop while I'm ahead.. or behind as the case may be :)
I am also participating in the following hops:
Honestly, I expect to be rejected... if a company decides to work with me, I feel privileged ... they are sending out free products and have to justify their expenditures and giveaways. I figure that if I don't ask, I won't know what their policies are... and I have to say that even when rejected, I reply and thank them for their time and consideration and wish them well. It's their prerogative to choose what criteria they want to use - be it # of twitter followers, unique visitors, PR or alexa ranking... or some combination there of... they have a limited amount of product and want to get bang for their buck... and that's their right... I still have a PR of 0 and it's primarily because I am not a highly focussed blog... I post a whole variety of things and don't spend a ton of time worrying about meta tags, SEO and specialization... so if I don't qualify for a review or giveaway, I move on to something else... it may well be the company's loss, but there will be other opportunities...
I love that I am supplementing my world as a SAHM by testing products and reading books, offering giveaways and generally increasing my blog traffic that way - but I'm not going to complain or begrudge a company for having a policy...
Today was a unique experience though... I got a misdirected email from a company I cold called by email - the person that received my email to their general mailbox had been trying to forward my email to someone else in the company to ask how specifically to respond to unsolicited requests like mine that didn't meet their criteria... instead I got the email request...
I knew already that I had been rejected, so I emailed back politely and said that as a blogger, I appreciate when a company lets me know promptly and nicely that they are not interested in my opportunity. I also let them know that sharing criteria for bloggers, links to newsletters and social media, other ways to stay abreast of what is happening at their company are welcome, too!
As I said before, having worked in an industry where I spent 80% of my time cold calling companies, I expect rejection - I know my blog is small and similar to hundreds of other blogs out there... but if I don't ask, I'll never get bigger and I'll never know what opportunities I missed by not asking.
I will say one thing though - the combination of the embarrassment felt by the individual whose email was misdirected and my polite and cheerful response means that the company has offered me an opportunity to review one of their products on my blog in the next few months... and gets my foot in the door to prove to them that bigger isn't always better...
I'm also hoping that one day my blog will grow to the size where reviewing for them more regularly would be an option - I love their products and fully expect to try and pitch them again in the future.
This post was inspired by a discussion thread on a site I belong to where bloggers were taking issue with a company's requirement for Google PR to qualify to review products... my take on it is that I appreciate them being upfront about their need... because I don't have a strong PR - mine is 0 - I just didn't bother to apply... I know that there are other bloggers who will have the opportunity to review those products... and that's okay - someday I might get my shot...
Questions for my fellow bloggers: What are your expectations when you pitch companies? How do you deal with rejection? Do you have any interesting stories to share about pitching companies? Do you have a % that you are aiming for when you start to cold call or email companies through pitch/marketing sites?
Okay - this makes a second inspired rant today... I think I'm on a roll and should stop while I'm ahead.. or behind as the case may be :)
I am also participating in the following hops:
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