If you are a member of our forums, or attend our Friday Night Lives, you know we discuss the power of Mom Bloggers in todays advertising, marketing and purchasing world. Before I was a partner here at MomDot, I started my own product review blog, The Not-So-Blog, almost a year ago. I have learned so much this year about all things blogging (mostly to the MomDot Forums credit), and I am quite proud of what I have accomplished in a short time.
The Not-So-Blog is my baby from the ground up, and I love it! I have made some great new friends and formed relationships with many companies who trust my skills as a blogger. Like any review blogger, I come up with a theme for a new giveaway series and pitch several companies to see if they are interested in being featured. Unfortunately, I have run into one company (I guess I am fortunate to only have one) who thinks my little blog is not worth their time.
Let me be clear: I know I am still a small blog in the bloggy sea, and some companies choose to ignore my emails. But, this time, I am insulted. Instead of explaining it all, I will just share the emails…..
May 14: The Pitch
“Thanks so much for getting back to me!
“Please clarify: This would require 2 wagons? Are you going to give one away? Or do I? “
May 21: Answers
May 29: The Insult and Counter Offer
“Hi Bridgette,
I’ve reviewed your offer from a marketing & Seo perspective. We see that your home page is a pagerank of 3. Also, a 1-month link to our site will not help us long-term. And since the profit margins are so low (about 7% for us on that item), it is unlikely to help us ‘during’ the giveaway promotion nor be worth it if done in the manner you proposed.
Here’s a counter-offer:
The only way we’d be interested in sending you a wagon for review would be a permanent link on your home page to that item, with the HTML of our choosing for the A/href tag & title text. This would be counted as an incoming link. In addition, we’d like a review, but no giveaway.
Other conditions for doing the above would be:
a) I’d need to see your site stats for 9/08, 10/08, 11/08 and 12/08 . (these are the months we really sell) The # of visitors would be the best number. If you could show a Google Analytics report or similar screenshot, that would be fantastic.
b) We’d like you to post the review in September 2009 and keep it up through 12/31/09.
c) The link on your home page to our site would be permanent, and I could provide you with $40/year for compensation for the link.
With your response, I can approve/disapprove moving forward with a plan.”
May 29: Accepting the Counter Offer
“Hi Bridgette,
After consulting w/ my SEO person, it seems the only thing we’re interested in is paying you $40/yr for a link on your home page to our site. If you’re in agreement, then I’ll have my SEO person write-up the exact HTML code for the link.”
June 4: My Rebuttal
Its just not worth it to send you the wagon. I do feel that $100 per year would be fine for a home page link, if the site were a pagerank of 5…but PR of 3 is only worth $40/yr to me...if you change your mind, please let me know.”
I have not responded. At this point, responding would just be perpetuating the argument, but I feel the need to defend myself and my “worthiness.” My blog is REAL. I am not just some chick out for a free product. I work hard on each and every post and take the trust of my sponsors quite seriously.
I am insulted that Classic Red Wagons, after wasting almost a month of my time, pulls out of the review because (from what I can tell), my Google PR was too low. What about those incredible blogs that the Google Gods have penalized and still remain at 0? This company needs to jump on the social media band”wagon” or be left behind! Major companies think my blog IS worth their time and are getting real results from a simple product review!
I just feel like my blog and I were belittled and I don’t like it.
And for the record: Classic Red Wagons has a PR of 2.
So, now I have to pick myself up and start over. Shameless pitch alert:
I have a spot open in my Summer Giveaway series for any outdoor toys for kids (wagons, sandbox, etc) if any company out there does believe in the power of the Mom Blog and would like a product review or giveaway on The Not-So-Blog, please feel free to contact me!
~Bridgette
WOW!!! GREAT article! I agree – GREAT! I am speechless as to why companies think they can USE us. Hell, we are cheap advertising for them, in a round about phrase of words. Your reply was great!
I guess people really don’t understand the value of getting the word out there. We are moms who do most of the buying, and we listen to other moms. Both in the good and in the bad! Look at all the people who are now going to avoid their company because of this one little thing. Word of mouth is a powerful seller!
I think they need to hire a new SEO guy who has done his research about the influence of mom bloggers. Great post, Bridgette. Looking forward to your summer giveaway series!
I can’t believe that they would be so ignorant! Not working with you will be their loss!
$40 a year?? I’m laughing at that one. I’m glad you didn’t give in. How ridiculous!
Thank you for sharing this! It’s amazing how stupid these companies think we bloggers are. Sure most of us are women and moms, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t given brains when we were born. And people with Page Ranks of 2 shouldn’t throw stones at blogs with Page Ranks of 3.
I’ll be ordering a Step 2 wagon now for my kids. What these companies fail to realize is we talk with each other and THIS is the sort of thing that is more likely to sway my opinion of their company and product than any coupons, giveaways, or reviews. The other stuff means squat when you have imbeciles running the company. If this is how they treat you, I can only imagine what their customer service is like. Thank goodness for capitalism. They’re not the only toy and wagon makers out there.
I think you handled it remarkably well! I can’t believe he didn’t see the wonderful deal. $40/year is NOTHING.
So silly. This guy has no idea what he’s talking about- sad, sad, and funny
You rock and would totally do a great job with a wagon- but obviously from someone else.
Don’t let them get you down B! They obviously know nothing.
Their loss Bridgette. Anyone who thinks pagerank is more important than breadth of influence is missing the boat and obviously has not visited very many mom blogs.
It is a shame that you wasted your time – which is WAY more valuable than $40/yr.
Wow, I’m sorry you spent so much time with someone who didn’t value what you have to offer. Companies thinking of working with bloggers need to realize that we aren’t “just” moms in bunny slippers typing away on computers. We had (or still have) careers in business, marketing, writing, SEO, web programming, and sales for examples. Some of us are architects and lawyers. Our skills are endless really.
We know what we’re talking about and we talk about it with each other and we take it seriously.
When someone works with a blogging mom – they are working with their whole network! I know when I’m working on a project I pop into the forums here and chat about it with all of you. I’ll hop on twitter and talk about it there. The actual blog post is really the tip of the ice berg and that’s what’s so sad about his lack of understanding. Your ‘little’ blog was just the beginning of how far his brand name could have traveled.
THANK YOU for posting this, Logan wants a Radio Flyer My 1st Scooter for his 3rd birthday so he can scooter around with the big kids and I’ll make sure to order somewhere other than Classic Red Wagons! Some companies have no idea the power of a PR 3 mommy blogger!
This guy is a dork. His SEO is a dork (and apparently knows nothing). Larger companies (Hoover, Keurig, VTech, etc) know the benefits of reviews, giveaways and blogs. So this guy apparently makes enough money without needing our help and must be content with what little business he does. I say ignore him.
I would have been so miffed!! Very well written. You held your composure through all your emails and stayed very professional. Sorry that I can’t say the same for him. Hopefully he wises up and gets rid of whoever is steering him in the wrong direction.
Bridgette, I am so shocked to hear this happen to you. Luckily this SEO person’s opinion is not reality. I can see how a company might default on an agreement for a giveaway due to low inventory, but for this retailer to back out of an agreement for a review completely is very unprofessional. It shows me this company does not value your time or recognize how much power one mom’s opinion can hold. As a company whose main customer is a mom just like you, you would think Classic Red Wagons would choose to show support and respect to SAHMs, especially one who wants to work to promote their website and product. This certainly puts a bad taste in my mouth about this retailer.
How ignorant. It sounds like this guy really needs to do some research. LOL that their PR Is only a 2, and they were bashing yours? Definitely not right. I sure hope you find something fabulous for your summer giveaway. Good luck!!
Unbelievable…I read the post with my mouth hung open. I would be insulted too, and they have a long way to go in realizing our influence, and how to work with us. I’m so sorry they wasted so much of your time. I hope another wagon company will come through for you!
I cannot believe this company was so ignorant to you and your blog. They need to realize that sidebar links are worth much more than they think, your primary audience consists of moms-POTENTIAL BUYERS-is that really not worth that much to them? They obviously could use the extra traffic if they’re not even showing up the first page of google!
If I had personally seen your review of the wagon, I probably would have bought it, from them nonetheless, not anymore of course. There have been at least 2 occurrences where I have bought an item that you have reviewed. I know I can trust your opinion. Plus I need a wagon.
i totally LOLed at the $40 a year for the PR of 5. Um. No thanks. I would sell someone a year on my site for $40. I have more respect then that.
Great article B!