Making it Big


Blog / Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

Yesterday was an interesting day, as far as my website went. I had two different “Oh, hey,” moments that I want to share.

The first came from the contact page. I had the first person ever send something through it. Not only that, it was a business inquiry. I was asked to do a sponsored post and to possibly host a banner/link back to a site. As I mentioned in Stupid Ugly Flashy Things, I really have no intention of having advertising on my website. If I want to make money from what I do here, it will be through my content, not the promotion of other content. You’re welcome.

Anyway, here’s the email I received (edited to avoid unnecessary promotion of the site):

Hi,

I’d like to inquire about doing a sponsored blog post – about 150-300 words that talks a little bit about fashion and links back to our site http://[a women’s fashion site].com. We sell womens casual clothing in Berkeley and Los Angeles, Califonia and are looking for more exposure on http://sassyhacksaws.com.

Here’s a list of some blog post titles we’ve done in the past:
– What is Indie fashion?
– The Latest Styles In Vegan Purses
– Cute Indie Dress Styles For the Perfect Occassion
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:
http://postimage.org/image/[link to a banner image]/

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,

Jeff

My response was as follows:

Jeff,

Thank you for your interest in a sponsored post on my website. I have looked into your offer and I feel I must decline. My reasons are as follows.

  • From what I can tell, http://[a women’s fashion site].com is women’s fashion. This is not a topic I have ever written about on my blog and feel that the content would be out of place. I’m more likely to write about men’s fashion.
  • I cannot remember a time that I have written about fashion of any sort, and again I feel this would make the post out of place.
  • Finally, I’m not in the business of sponsoring posts at this time. My website is for my own pleasure and to develop my writing voice.

Again, I thank you for your interest and I hope you have a good day.
Sincerely,
Danny Zawacki

I think I handled that well. I’ll let you know if there is any followup.

The second thing that came as a surprise was a sudden influx of traffic on Calvin Inspired Peanut Butter Dilemma. The post is three months old, for Pete’s sake, and it must be buried in the archives of my website. But there were about 30 hits more than usual on the post. Naturally, I had to investigate. As it turns out, someone posted something about peanut butter on Reddit and then someone posted a link to my post as a response. I think I’m being discovered.

If you want to check out the Reddit link, you can find it here. Just know, if you see it now, you’ll have seen it before I become the next big thing.

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