Writing-World - the site for freelance writers

When good brands go SPAM

...and I'm not talking about the spammer who keeps emailing Terry using the subject line, "Terry you're an idiot" and providing a pornographic image in the body of the email - although that's about as bad as it gets, to be honest.

No, the spam that's really annoying me at the moment is the blog comment spam that comes from large, legitimate businesses: businesses who should know better, in other words.

Today I've had to delete two spam comments from my blogs, both of which were promoting brands which are household names. When I looked at the email addresses of the people posting the spam, and typed the suffix of those addresses into Google, in both cases they took me to the websites of online marketing agencies who list these household-name companies as their clients.

Interesting. I wonder if the clients in question know their reputations are being systematically ruined by marketing companies spamming blogs in their name? And if they condone that kind of behaviour?

I know that if I was paying a marketing company to promote my website, I would be horrified to think that they were using comment or email spam to do it. I have no wish to be known as a spammer, and that's exactly what will happen to these brands unless they take steps to find out what their marketers are getting up to on their behalf.

This isn't the first time I've encountered this issue, but it has particularly annoyed me today because it so happens that both of the companies being spammed on my blogs are ones I have affiliate relationships with - affiliate relationships I'm now seriously reconsidering given that I really don't want to support spammers.

Needless to say, the spam has been deleted and the IPs banned. But I think the next time I'm contacted by representatives of the brands in question, I will be asking them if they're aware of what's happening...

Hello Magazine looking for bloggers (unpaid)

When people ask me how to get into blogging for a living (or even how to break into other types of freelance writing when you don't have any clips), my advice is always the same: start a blog. No one will take you seriously as a wannabe pro-blogger if you don't have a blog of your own, but sometimes the effort that has to go into building a readership can be really off-putting for new writers, who don't want to feel like they're writing into a complete vacuum.

That's why, even although I don't normally advocate working for free, I found hellomagazine.com's proposal to incorporate reader blogs into their website an interesting one.

You'll find Hello's advert here. They're looking for bloggers who "have a passion for the celebrity scene, a real flair for expressing yourself in words, and the ability to do so in line with HELLO!'s renowned approach".

There's no mention of compensation here, which makes me think there isn't any, but as the blogs will be part of the Hello! website, you will at least have a big name behind you, and that could give you a better chance of finding readers right from the word go than you would if you were to start a blog of your own. Plus, "Hello! Magazine blogger" will look good on your resume, no?

Of course, you could just start a blog of your own, and have the chance to earn some money through monetization - or you could do both. Up to you.

Find more about this opportunity at the Online Journalism Blog, who have interviewed hellomagazine.com's online marketing manager, David Witcomb.

Ask Writing World: What are the best and worst things about blogging for a living?

(image: stock.chng)

Remember Skribit? It's that little widget that lives in the top right sidebar and allows you to ask me questions to answer here on the blog. And here's the first of them! You asked:

What are the best and worst things about blogging for a living?

I'm going to give you the bad news first. When I think about the downside of blogging for a living, the first thing that springs to mind is the sheer relentlessness of it. I work much harder and longer hours as a pro-blogger than I ever did in a "regular" job - as an example, I'm writing this at 9:30pm, and sometimes I feel like I never stop. As soon as one day's posts are written, I'm busy thinking up posts for the next day, queuing up articles to cover holidays, answering emails, trying to keep up with RSS feeds, analysing stats, you name it. Holidays are almost impossible, because I'm still currently a one-woman band. Weekends are a thing of the past. Every day I have to force myself to be creative, even if creative is the last thing I feel like, and I also have to be all things to all people: writer, editor, marketer, advertising executive, saleswoman, search engine optimisation expert, cleaner... The list goes on.

Then there are the blog trolls.

Freelance Tees - helping freelance writers get hired. Maybe.

How far would you go in a bid to find freelance writing for work? Would you, for instance, walk around with an advert for your services plastered on your back? Or on your front, for that matter?

The people at Blackbird Tees think you would. Their t-shirts for freelance writers (and freelancers in other disciplines, too) come with your entire resume printed on the back, and one of the slogans above printed on the front. Don't like the slogan? That's OK, you can write one of your own - after all, you are a writer, aren't you?

These are $20 each and you can buy them here. I'm interested to hear what you think of them, though. Is this something you'd consider doing?