How To Contact A Blogger

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

(Lorrelle) 10. Have No Expectations and Silence Is Not An Answer.

Just because you went out of your way to contact the blogger, don’t expect them to respond, react, or do anything. Expect nothing and be pleasantly surprised when you get something.

If the blogger has not responded, do not make crap up in your head about what they are thinking or feeling about your email.

Silence is not an answer. It is merely the sound of nothing. Honor nothing as nothing until you have more information.

I like Lorrelle’s Rule No. 10. Too many times people send an e-mail and get nothing back then think, “Oh, they hate me,” or “I guess that’s a no.” It could be that the person you e-mailed is on vacation or is thinking of a proper response. Maybe they are considering your proposal but haven’t made a decision yet. If you act too soon you could ruin your chances of getting what you want.

This comment was made in the context of e-mailing bloggers. First, I’d say don’t do it unless you know them. People don’t just spend all their time sitting around, thinking up things to put on their blog so you can read it and enjoy their musings. Well, maybe some of them do, but they’re probably making a lot of money from it or they wouldn’t be doing it. Truth is, most bloggers aren’t making money from their blog. Their blog may market their business or it could be a hobby, but it isn’t making them a full-time income. So, at best, a part-time occupation is only going to afford them so much time to respond to e-mails and if they have a popular blog, how many e-mails do you think they get?

I would suggest the first thing you do, before you ever contact a blogger, is to subscribe to their RSS feed. The second thing you should do is comment on some blog posts. It’s real easy for a blogger to see if you’ve done either one of those two things and if you haven’t then you haven’t really given them any sufficient reason to respond to your e-mail – even if you have something good to say. That said, should you ever ask a blogger to help you promote your book, music CD, widget, or what-not? Sure, but do subscribe to their RSS feed and comment on some blog posts before you send that e-mail.