I am not a journalist.

Following another marathon session of wading through dross e-mails that don’t get spammed, my annoyance level can get high.

At this point, it’s fair to say that I’m slightly perturbed by the level of contact from some of the more unscrupulous people trying to secure links and fake guest posts.  It’s like all those calls you get to your house from people doing market surveys and free trials, but are never trying to sell you anything!

Don’t get me wrong, I am more than grateful for the nice e-mails that have bothered to find out my name, or clearly state what they’re asking me.

What I’m not so keen on, are the multitudes of e-mails from chancers who want a freebie link and offer me their posts for free, with an every so kind link back to the website (or their author bio that happens to link to another business) that they’re paid to promote.  There is nothing, and I repeat nothing in it for the blogger.  Why would we post it, unless it’s something that is a must have for us, and one we would be happy to post anyway?

It usually goes something like this:

Dear Blogger
(Insert almost any name, or one that they cut and paste from somewhere else, often not even my blog.  The laziest have to be the simple: Dear Mum)

My name is xxx  xxxx.  I am an experienced writer, who is in constant demand by blogs around the world.  I would like to work with you to create genuine content for your website, and I won’t even charge you for it.
(Interpretation:  You tell me what you want me to write about and I’ll create masses of blog posts for you to promote for me, so I earn mega bucks in commission.)

Please find samples of my work below at the following links.

Post 1
(Interpretation:  Linked to a brand, but you’ll have to read the post to find out where I’m linking to.  Sucker, you clicked a link I get paid for you to click.)
Post 2
Post 3

Non committed sign off.
Friendly Writer with no business e-mail.
(Interpretation:  I won’t send you an e-mail from a business account when you ask for it, as if I send you my business e-mail, you’ll know I get paid to contact you and ask you to post a link to the business that pays me.  You will do it for free because you’re so stupid that you don’t know I’m trying to scam you.)

See where that difference lies?  They get paid….  We bloggers only get paid if we accept sponsored content, or goods in exchange for a review, which they then have to take a chance on whether we like or not.

Unlike a journalist, constantly on the hunt for new stories, who gets paid for submitting them, what’s being asked of us is completely different.  It’s one reason that I am constantly frustrated by the streams of businesses that add me to their press releases, filling up both my e-mail account and my time.  I very much doubt that I am alone in finding this frustrating.

I’m not talking about those lovely PR’s who ask if I would mind being added to their mailing lists.  If I say yes, then I really am happy to get them.  If I say yes, it’s because I like the brand, the PR, or the SEO who asked and I’d love to see your press releases to decide if I’d like to use them on my blog.

Rant over.