(or where I consider how to ask)

So, I don’t know about you guys, but I got an email yesterday asking me to write some articles for a “new” site called dev grow.  I’m not linking it up, because.  Well I’m just not.  I suspect a fair number of you also got the email because I would be surprised if these guys found me through a search engine given that my blog is so new and all.  So I rekon at least some of Upstart Blogger, Clog Money, The At Home Couple and Avon Blake got a similar email.  A form email toboot.  There’s no “Hey, I’ve read your site and particularly like the blog you posted on blaa blaa blaa, would you consider expanding on the topic bla bla bla”.  Nope, they obviously hit me up, strolled over to my woefully inadequate about the underdog blogger page, grabbed my email and left.  So I snoop around a bit.  Seems devgrow used to be a web 2.0 social application that didn’t make it.  May as well re-launch eh?  It’s a nice enough domain name.  So what are they flogging?  They want me to write them an article related to designing, developing and growing a website…..they get free content, I get a free backlink.  Sounds like article marketing to me.  Just in a blog format rather than an article directory.  I checked the code and so far the backlink isn’t a nofollow (I’m such a suspicious asshole aren’t I?).  Now I’m going to go all primadona and rant a bit.  I think they would have done better to leave some pertinent comments on one of my blog posts to pique my interest…..I haven’t seen any comments on anyone else’s blog either so I don’t think these guys are too much into caring and sharing here….more of a sneak night time hit and run, fire and forget tactic.  The way they’ve approached it is “come and leave stuff on our blog and contribute to our community, but we aren’t gonna extend the courtesy of joining in the debate on your blog”……which is a bit of a wanker way of going about it.  Unless of course you are already well established with huge pagerank.  I mean, let’s not kid,  if a prominent blogger with good pagerank invited article submission, with or without hitting up my comments, I would be all over it.  I would work with them to make sure it met the tone of their blog, and that the content was relevant.  But these guys?  I should feel privileged to write for them with a big fat pagerank of 0?  That’s the same as my pagerank.  Pfffft!

So it’s a nice looking site.  I sniff around a bit more.  Read the site.  Nothing groundbreaking, but what the heck, I’ve got nothing against the content that is up there already.  But the underdog smells some shit.  Monetisation.  Of course they are going to monetise the site.  It’s all set up.  There’s a little link inviting you to advertise on the blog.  You can contact them for rates.  Not even pretending to have a courtship with their readers before milking the mooolah.  So I shoot them back an email asking for a bit more info.  Like if they plan revenue sharing with the authors (ok, a bit cheeky, but what the heck), what advertising they plan to allow and how they plan to promote the site.  Fair questions I think for a new site.  I mean you want to know what kind of bedfellows you are lying down with right?  I think a day’s grace is enough to respond to an email expressing interest in the site, you know to take into account time differences and such.  But nothing.  No response.  At least they could make an effort and pretend they like me before they fuck me.  So I’m going out on a limb here and calling bullshit.

One thing for sure, I figure dev grow got themselves a nice spike in traffic.