As a blogger, you should know how busy you can get. And I’m sure blogging is not the only thing you’re doing as a hobby or a job. So, I heard this theory from reading various blogs that these A-list bloggers won’t give you the time of day. Have you ever thought about that before? Matter of fact, would any up and coming A-list bloggers even give you a minute of their time? Well, I tested out this theory on my own.
Pic of Darren Rowse
Let’s start off with how I got this idea. Well, during my entire blogging experience I have always heard about these big name bloggers that won’t return your e-mail and more than likely your message ends up in their trash right after the first sentence.

Now, I’m not saying I believe this or it’s even true but it did raise my curiosity a little bit. Of course, usually “curiosity kills the cat” right? Eh, you only live once I suppose. Plus, what do I really have to lose? My dignity?

So, I decided to test out this theory by myself to see if the rumors were true or not. I contacted two separate groups of people – the well known A-list bloggers and the up and coming A-list bloggers.

The A-list bloggers I decided to contact were Darren of Problogger.net, John of Johnchow.com and Maki of Doshdosh.com.

The up and coming A-listers I contacted were Tyler of Tylercruz.com, Tina of thinksimplenow.com and Carl of carlocab.com.
Pic of John Chow
So, how did I determine who’s an A-list blogger and who’s an up and coming A-lister? Well, I based it on how much they make each month based on my research from their “advertise here” page and/or their monthly revenue reports, how many RSS Feed subscribers they have and their Alexa ranking.

Below are their following stats (excluding how much they make monthly but you can imagine just how much based on the following stats below):

Darren of Problogger – 40K+ subscribers and ranked 3,406 in Alexa
John of Johnchow – 16K+ subscribers and ranked 4,415 in Alexa
Maki of Doshdosh – 12K+ subscribers and ranked 9,109 in Alexa

Each of the A-lister’s were in the top 10K in Alexa and had over 10K+ subscribers.

Tyler of Tylercruz – about 1,400 subscribers and ranked 29,244 in Alexa
Tina of Thinksimplenow – 4K+ subscribers and ranked 36,444 in Alexa
Carl of Carlocab – almost 1K subscribers and ranked 33,724 in Alexa

These up and coming A-listers had around 1K to 5K and ranked around 30,000 overall in Alexa.
Pic of Tyler Cruz
I think all of the above have a similar niche (marketing, blogging tips, making money online) except for Tina but I included her because, well, she’s unique and she a very interesting blog. Plus, look at her stats! And she only updates her blog twice a week!

So, how did I approach them?

Instead of spamming their e-mails with various messages, I tried to include them all into one. So, I approached each individual with a personal message but I tried to include some sort of business-related bit with it.
Pic of Tina Su
The business approach included anything from interviewing them, guest posting, collaborating on some projects, etc.

The personal message could have included anything from sucking up to them telling them I’m not a crazy fan, introducing myself, or simply telling them that I wanted to see if the rumors were true if they would even take a second to reply back or not.

The results…

Surprisingly, 5 of the 6 returned my e-mail. And no, John Chow was not the odd person out. Actually, the only person that I have never heard back from was Maki of Doshdosh.com. Update: Maki responded and he never received my e-mail in the first place. So now EVERYONE has taken the time out of their busy day to reply back to me. Thanks!

Darren – I actually heard a lot of very nice things about him and he just backed up the rumors. He politely responded to my e-mail simply stating “thanks for the e-mail Jay – appreciate it!”

Now, that’s not saying much but if you think about it, he probably gets hundreds of e-mails everyday and he took a few seconds out of his busy schedule to actually reply back.

John – I was actually a little surprised on this one due to all the rumors I hear about him. He took his time to respond back telling me I have a good overall blog and suggested signing up for his advertising website.

Okay, I know some of you guys may think he only responded because he wanted me to sign up for his advertising company, but if you think about it, he didn’t have to respond at all. Matter of fact, he came to my blog at least on two different occasions (based on Mybloglog’s widget) and even dropped his Entrecard in my inbox.

Maki – I actually never really heard rumors – good or bad – about him, but I never gotten a response. So, I guess he never gave me the time of day, huh? Update: Maki responded and never received my original e-mail.
Pic of Carl Ocab
Tyler – Very professional, pretty funny and honest. We had a couple e-mail exchanges, matter of fact, I guest posted on his blog. Thanks again Tyler for that opportunity!

Tina – the most down-to-earth up and coming A-list blogger. Very sweet, friendly and definitely helpful!

Carl – received a response because he was interested in letting me conduct an interview. After e-mailing him the questions and also following-up with an additional e-mail (about a week later), I have yet to get another response.

Conclusion:

I’m sure if I was already an accomplished blogger, then I would probably get more attention from these folks but I’m still a little guppy in a big pond of sharks fish. But this experiment went a lot better than I thought it would have.

I went into this experiment thinking no one was going to give me the time of day – either the accomplished A-list bloggers or the up and coming ones. Well, it was a little surprising that the majority of the bloggers I contacted did give me the time of day. That just proves to me that these A-list bloggers are just like anybody else.

Though, I’m not saying everyone will get the same type of response/results as I have gotten but this experiment has definitely taught me something. It just backs up the theory that you should not believe everything you hear from rumors. So, don’t believe the hype and rumors until you have experienced it for yourself.

*Comments on this post will give you TWO entries in the weekly cash giveaway!*

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The other day I mentioned the good and the bad things about guest posting, and at the end, people should at least consider taking a shot at it if you’re looking to get a little more exposure for your blog. Not only will you exposure yourself to a potentially larger audience that may have never heard of you, but the chances of your readership growing increases as well.

But here are some quick things that I have learned in my guest posting experience:

You need to have a thick skin – I probably mentioned this a bunch of times before, but not everyone will like you. Matter of fact, I’m not too fond of you. (That was a joke, I love all my readers!)

More than likely, you will have a lot of people criticizing your post, knowledge, writing, etc, but that’s a given. Are you perfect? Well, neither am I. So be prepared for the criticism!

Guest Posting Will Bring You Traffic – Yes, and don’t forget that. The larger the audience, the more exposure you have for yourself.

You Will Get Noticed – I made this separate from the traffic point because getting “noticed” and receiving a bunch of visitors are different.

For instance, if your guest post gets published on an A-list blog, not only will you be exposed to all their readers but you just increased your chances of getting in good with an A-list blogger. Do you think the owner of that A-list blog will never check out your blog? I don’t think so.

If you’re lucky, he/she may become a regular reader and potentially give you a shout out or two… or even better, collaborate with you on some project.

So, still considering guest posting? Well, here are some of the things you should think about before submitting a guest post:

1. Is this my best written article? – Well, it may not necessarily need to be but that’s the mindset that you should have. See, there’s a big difference besides publishing a post on your own blog and on someone else’s’.

Now, don’t get me wrong, if your article is not the best written, more than likely it won’t be approved for publishing anyways. And if you don’t think it’s the best, don’t even bother submitting it to begin with.

2. Will I Receive a Backlink? – Almost all bloggers who accept guest posts will give you a backlink. But it doesn’t hurt to double check if they will. And if they do not give you any credit, then don’t bother with submitting it.

3. Stay on Topic – Don’t bother submitting a guest post about models and lingerie to a marketing/making money online blog. You want to stay on topic with the blogs niche.

4. Do NOT Bullshit; Know What You’re Talking About – You may potentially fool others that come to your blog, but if you’re guest blogging for a very large audience, you think they won’t know that you just BSed your way onto an A-list blog?

Matter of fact, I’m going to make that as a separate point to reiterate the importance of it.

5. Know What You’re Talking About and Research! – Even if you think you know what you’re talking about, it doesn’t hurt to do some additional research to prove your point or just support your thoughts. Again, if you bullshit or there’s a slight chance you may have mistaken a point, there will be a lot of people out to get you.

So, if you haven’t gotten a chance to guest post, you should at least try it out to experience it for yourself.

Quick shout out to our friend Patrick of Piggybankpie.com for getting me into guest posting.

BloggingGuest Posting

The obvious reason why you would guest post on another blog is the fact that you want to get your message across to (potentially) a larger audience or quite possibly the fact that you want to gain a larger readership for your own site. Sometimes you can also offer your services for a price too, but usually for an exchange of traffic, the guest post should be free. But whatever the reason, is guest posting good or bad for you?

The obvious choice would probably be that it is good for you. I mean, what do you have to lose besides time? And some people do say “money is time” but let’s not go there. Well, you can lose more than just time; you can possibly lose creditability before you gain it.

I have guest posted on a couple of blogs and I have to admit, I have gotten some decent traffic. I did not guest post on blogs like Problogger.net (with a readership of over 40K daily and guaranteed traffic) or anything but a readership of at least 1,000+ and I had mixed reviews. A bunch of readers liked the post(s), while others tore it up. Either way, it was a learning experience.

Like I mentioned, I have gotten some pretty good traffic from those sites but for those who did not like my post, I already lost their trust. Yes, they may have come to my blog to give it a chance but my first impression obviously wasn’t good. And I can guarantee that I lost creditability from a bunch of those readers that will never give me the time of day ever again.

On the other hand, it was a learning experience and negative comments are not always a bad thing. It can motivate you to step up your writing and blogging skills. Plus, if you think about it, the blog owner wouldn’t have published it if they didn’t think it was good to begin with. So, there’s at least one person who liked it (besides yourself).

So, is guest blogging a good or bad thing? Although, there might be some bad to it, the majority has to lean towards the good aspects of it. Yes, you will spend extra time that you may or may not have. Yes, you are not going to please everybody with your post. And yes, you have to have a tough skin to take in the criticism.

But at the end of the day, you exposed yourself to a larger audience that may have never heard of you in their lives. You know what they say, “you could be the best writer in the world, but if you don’t market it, no one will know it.”

So, if you think you’re an excellent writer, why not try submitting a guest post to an A-list blogger?

Stay tuned because I will discuss some things you should consider before submitting your first guest post.

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As you guys should know, last week I started a new weekly giveaway to reward those who take their time to actually comment. If this continues to be successful, I will continue this and quite possibly add new prizes.

Because this is my first official giveaway, I decided to make a separate post for it even though I said I wasn’t going to. I said I was going to list the winners at “NEW Weekly Cash and EC Giveaway” which I will each week so that’s where you want to check if you are a winner (or want to hate and be jealous of the winners).

Don’t worry though, I will also try to contact you via your contact information you have left on the comment(s) you left for the week. Though, if I do not hear from you within one week of the drawing (which is usually Sunday night or Monday) then I will be forced to move on. Or maybe even just carry over that amount to the next week, who knows?

All drawings are randomly picked and generated by random.org. I am not favoring anyone so if you are not a winner this time around, blame random.org LOL! But don’t worry; I’m doing this every week so you have a chance to win from each comment! Matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if people win quite a few times because their regular commentators.

But without further adieu, I present the first DM Weekly Giveaway of $10.00 USD and 150 Entrecard credits simply for commenting to Rome of incomeforeveryone.info.

When you have a moment, feel free to congratulate him.

But keep on commenting, subscribe to my RSS Feeds, oh, and remember to help get the word out on my contest that ends THIS Friday February 29th!

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It’s funny because I wasn’t going to write about this but since a couple of other bloggers brought it up, I could not resist. But apparently, there are people who will contact bloggers to pay them to insert a paragraph (indefinitely) at the end of specific popular posts with 5-8 text links in each. Well, I didn’t do it and neither should you.

I was inspired by Darren of Problogger.net and Jordan of MarketingPilgrim.com because it seems quiet a few people have been offered these text link paragraph deals.

Here’s how a standard exchange would look between the text link seller and a blogger:

- They will contact you to offer to put “custom written” paragraphs that include 5-8 text links on some of your most popular posts (and emphasize it will NOT be site wide).

- They will offer you a deal and sugarcoat it. (Example: $20/paragraph for 6 paragraphs equaling $120 but will give you like $150)

- You will tell them that you are not interested.

- They will up the price.

- You will tell them that you are not interested.

- They will up the price even more.

- You will tell them that you are not interested.

- They will either 1. Offer you a “final” deal or 2. Ask how much you are looking for?

Darren wrote about this and included their conversation which was almost exactly like how mine went. If you haven’t already read it, go here. It’s pretty funny.

I’m not going to lie, I was almost tempted to take the deal but I did not.

Why not you ask?

Well, in the long run, it will probably hurt you more than it will help you. And although, cash upfront definitely sounds good (especially in a lump sum) these text link paragraphs will be on your site for as long as your site is up and running. And you never know how big your site will get and then you’d be stuck with those text link paragraphs at the flat rate and there’s nothing you can do about it after.

But say you DO decide to take this deal, this I what I would suggest:

Whatever you currently charge for text links on your site (on a monthly basis), multiply that price by however many text links are included in that paragraph. (For example, if you charge $10/month for text links and they have 5 total links in each paragraph, then charge $50)

Wait, I’m not done yet.

And although you should NEVER accept ads that will be on your site FOREVER (there should always be a reoccurring payment), there may be an exception. As Jordan mentioned, you should charge about 24 months worth. (For example, take my $50 example, now multiply that by 24 which totals $1,200 and that’s what you should charge.)

Or if you don’t want to go through this entire hassle, well, you can always just ignore their e-mails and they will eventually leave you alone.

Hope a lot of you guys didn’t fall into temptation!

*Comments on this post will give you TWO entries in the weekly cash giveaway!*

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