Sunday, March 25, 2012

Advertising on blogs: how to make me laugh

Almost every week I get unsolicited emails offering me money to place ads or "sponsored posts" on my blog. To be clear, I will basically always refuse such offers since my opinion is not for sale. Sometimes, however, the content of the offer make me grin and shake my head in wonder. I just received this email:

Hi,

I'd like to inquire about doing a sponsored blog post - about 150-300 words that talks a little bit about cars and automobiles and links back to our site [site address redacted]. We are a car dealership and thought we might be a good fit for your readers/visitors on
nothing-new-under-the-sun.blogspot.com*

Here's a list of some blog post titles we've done in the past:
- What To Look For When Buying A New Car
- 2012 Cars That Look Good And Saves You Gas
- Reasons Why Buying New Cars Is Better Than Used

Our budget is around $15 for the post. Is this something you'd be open to?

Also we might be interested in a small banner ad if the price is right.
Our budget is $40/year - something like this:
[banner address redacted]
Let me know if you'd be open to either or both of these.
Also if you have some other sites just send them over and we might be
interested in doing a sponsored post on there as well!

Regards,
Phil
*Note unnecessary line break to ensure form letter is easily spammed.

Normally, I wouldn't even respond to such spam in order to avoid attracting more through confirming the fact they found an active address, but on this occasion I made an exception:
Greetings Phil,

I can't help but laugh - have you ever even looked at my blog?

A quick check of posts tagged "cars" might lead you here. Or here. Or here.

Thanks for brightening my day.

Grace & peace,
Byron

2 comments:

Amy Dixon said...

LOL! I hadn't seen your previous posts on cars, but they make entertaining reading! I have neither a car or a licence, have one child and another on the way, and live *just* west of Parramatta. Buses are slightly problematic, but manageable once you have a working knowledge of the timetables of the local buses and how they can work in sync. We're also close to the train station. Nonetheless, travel at night / in the rain can be a problem, as others have pointed out in comments on the other blogs.

However, I have friends and family that are, at best, completely spun out, and at worst, think I'm crazy / must have huge problems, as a result of my regrettable carlessness (as they see it). They also seem to assume I'm making a huge political statement about the environment / consumerism. Really, I just never saw the point when we lived closer to the CBD, and am now able to work out what is admittedly slightly more complicated bus and train arrangements, having several years of experience at it. I find car owners often don't have the first clue of how to use the web to find buses that pass near a given address, for instance. (Not to mention they assume buses and trains are unworkable with a pram or stroller - knowing nothing of low-floor buses and lifts at train stations.)

Anyway... I suspect you won't be hearing from that company regarding sponsored posts again - at least if they follow those links!

Daily said...

Haha. I recall you previous posts about cars, because I live right in the heart of Sydney CBD and we have often pondered not having a car at all, especially with companies in Sydney like Goget. We still do have a car, but got a real laugh out of a car dealership wanting to advertise on a blog that it advocating no car (or at least less cars). Haha.