Advertising, backlinks and sponsorship

An immeasurable amount of time, effort, passion and consistent commitment goes into creating this blog so that I can communicate with my teachers, colleagues and friends.

So honestly, when major corporations write asking for random link privileges without expecting to do anything in return, they lose my respect.

Please pay attention to the following rules before sending in such a request.



You are non-commercial / You're a micro-preneur

• Write a nice email explaining why I should link to you and do not use the words "passionate about my products."  Do not any circumstances attempt to sell to me.   Tell me why the thing you have is good and why my readers want to know about it.  Again, do not under circumstances try to sell to me.  Tell me the truth. Above all, I want to know that you are a human being not a marketer and that  the reason you are genuinely contacting me is because you simply can't afford the marketing costs involved in sharing something you spent a lot of hours creating. 

• If you spam my blog and my readers you will not receive a response.  Take the time and the courtesy to approach me properly.

• Also, obviously, are you going to link back to me? I may not link to you via this blog (I have another) but I will certainly add you to the link list on my website or via delicious.

You are a fellow blogger:

Do not ask me to put you on my blog roll.

Attract my attention instead by being a genuine reader and commenter.  If I see you around enough and follow your name (linked url) then, if I like what I see, I will eventually either put you on my blog roll or I will include a posting of yours that deserves a wider audience.





You are commercial / You are a corporation / You are entrepreneur newly entering the English Teaching Industry:

• Does your product or service match my blog - i.e. is it about conversation, Business English, software for learning English or teacher training?
  

• Will it provide a tangible benefit to the teachers or learners I talk to?

If yes, please do contact me with a full description of your product.

Please do not ask me to spend hours downloading and reviewing your product, do this for me.

Include references and recommendations from real users.

If your description intrigues me and if I have time, I will check your stuff out.

Note that I juggle many tasks and it may take me months to do this.

I am not interested in being paid to write reviews of your product. 

I have no interest in creating buzz for you.

If I review a product it's because I genuinely like it.

I am also not interested in affiliate links unless you have a tried and true product (i.e. the Amazon links on my page). It is not my responsibility to get you hits or conversions. Blogging in ELT is niche blogging - it is not blogging about gadgets and gizmos, or how-to-start-a-business.

Do not expect 100,000s of hits a month but do know that obviously I reach a very large global audience and therefore, if you are looking for a 'connector' or a 'sneezer', and if I like what you have genuinely, then I am happy to share this information - however you must note that have a strong ethical code and under no circumstances will I do this sort of marketing for you "undercover"    

Your details will be marked as being sponsored.

And obviously, it goes without saying that if you still want to advertise on here, after reading all the above, then please think of this page as a magazine or a newspaper.

Please consult your marketing budget before writing me as I am only interested in receiving genuine offers for:

• monthly or yearly advertising
• sponsorship of my blog
  

If you would like statistical details about my blogs and website you can find this out via various sources including Alexa.

I don't have time to do this for you.

Once you have approached me, however, I will check you out and I will look into your investor relations and recent press releases.  If I find that you have a lot of venture capital behind you yet you're approaching me with peanuts because you think you can take advantage of me then I will not respond.

In fact if there's anything that I don't like your offer, I won't respond.

If I do like your offer and I accept it then it goes without saying that I will automatically send you regular updates and reports - you will no doubt have noticed by now, that aside from being professional I am thorough.

I guarantee, on this, you will be satisfied.

KEalert

Best,
Karenne