What I Think About Bloggers Who Ask For Freebies

So… Alvin asked me whether I have any gossip (regarding the blogosphere) to share. Honestly, I’ve not heard of anything juicy, scandalous or vaguely blog-worthy recently, that involves bloggers at war with each other. However, this week, my bag sponsor asked me whether any of my friends had inquired about his company. And I thought that was such a weird question. He saw my frown then revealed that a blogger had emailed him to ask if he would sponsor her some products for a giveaway.

I suspect she may have done some name-dropping (i.e. used my name in her email). But when he told me her name and blog URL, I had no recollection of any such blogger friend.

Now, as I’m writing this and looking at her blog, I spot a picture which I find familiar and tah-dah, recognize her from a Ben & Jerry’s event previously. We didn’t even chat much that time!

I’ll just call her X here.

I have told my bag sponsor that I know no such person, and also CSI-ed her blog online for him. Her blog’s ranking on alexa.com is a rather dismal 7,131,191, which means she gets little blog traffic every day. On the social media platform that she is supposedly most active on, she has 396 followers (Instagram).

What sort of value would she be able to add to my sponsor?

And besides, she seems to blog about food and beauty more than anything else.

I guess I should be flattered she seems to be following in my footsteps, on her faith, hope whatever blog?

~

I don’t know how long X has been blogging for – I didn’t bother to check because her blog doesn’t interest me one bit. But I think many bloggers have, at one point or other, requested for some form of sponsorship.

I know I did.

Very early on in my blogging journey, I saw Casio sponsoring watches for some bloggers, and immediately I recalled how in primary school, I used to wish I owned a pretty Baby G watch. My parents did not want to splurge on a watch that cost over a hundred dollars back then.

I wrote to Casio and asked if they would consider sponsoring a watch for me too. But I did not get a reply. Bummer.

–

Fast forward to today… and I am the owner of 5 watches. Actually, why does a person need so many watches?! In my defence, two were gifts from my fiance, one I won from a lucky draw, and the remaining two were sponsored – the companies approached me:

(1) Aries Gold – I was sponsored the black-and-gold watch, did a blogpost for them, won the blogging contest, and received a cash prize. Not too shabby eh?

(2) Lazada – Lazada.sg partially sponsored the Baby G watch. I was given a voucher which I could not use till I had fulfilled a minimum expenditure (@_@). Anyway, I shall be grateful for the sponsorship. 😉 *Note that your purchase may take much longer than what is stated on the product page. Mine was “2-3 business days”, which eventually came up to almost a month before I saw the watch. The only consolation is that the prices are lower than what you find in brick-and-mortar stores.

~

So, what do I really think about bloggers who ask for freebies? Actually, I have some tips for them:

1) Work on your blog and get it to that level whereby companies ask if they can sponsor you this and that. And yes, there are companies and agencies which write to me regarding sponsorships and I turn them down if it’s not something I’m interested in. And yes, again, I have been in that position whereby I’d jump at the opportunity to attend any event, review any product, relish any goodie bag… but I’ve gotten over that phase now. 🙂

2) If it’s not a good fit with your blog, don’t ask for the sponsorship. Focus on your niche. If you’re a food blogger, do food reviews. Don’t think about bag reviews, even if my bag looks good, ok?

3) Don’t name-drop. Ask your (actual) blogger pals for referrals. That will get you more “goodies” than if you claim to know me. It’s not really nice, you see, especially when I don’t even remember your name (or blog URL, for that matter).

[And note to Alvin: nope, no blog war starting any time soon. :P]