Once upon a time I wrote an article on how to host a blog giveaway. But with all the blog changes I have going on I began doing some research on blog giveaways and realized it is just not something I am comfortable with anymore. Lots of blogs are writing about the subject and I have had a few very smart conversations with friends regarding this topic. Let’s begin with why I personally choose not to run blog giveaways going forward.

• A month ago a ran a giveaway here on the blog to win a field trip with my family. I got ONE entry! Big ego slap! But I puzzled and I puzzled til my puzzler hurt and then I finally asked some friends why they didn’t enter. The biggest two reasons were that my friends see me all the time anyway and they are totally over blog contests. Fair enough. I realized my readers (friends and family) don’t come here for a chance to win something. That made me happy.
• I started having conversations with smart friends in social media who brought up the fact that blog contests may not be exactly legal. I did some research (easy to read discussions here, here, here, here, here and here) and found there is a lot of gray in this area. I don’t monetize this blog and don’t really care (other than my ego) how many readers I have so why would I risk the thin ice here?
• Whispered conversations of how some blog contests are faked. It’s scary to announce a friend won your contest because you are afraid everyone is going to say “its obviously rigged” but then how can you ask your friends to enter? Weird double edged sword there. While 98% (randomly made up number) of all bloggers are completely honest and forthcoming, I don’t want to be lumped in with the few that aren’t because mostly all of my readers are personal friends. I can see the disclosure now: “Entries open to US Residents 18 and older and who don’t know my real hair color“….which is gray, so now you are all not eligible. Sorry!
• I started getting statements from PR firms to the effect: Please clearly state that this is not our contest. We are just providing you with a prize for your giveaway. Bells went off here.

So after my above reasons some of you may be wondering what laws I am worried about.  Let me try to break it down as best I can and try to help you avoid some of the pitfalls if you run giveaways.  It’s important to understand the terminology used in a lottery (all definitions below from this link. I bolded what is common in blog giveaways.

Prize: Anything of value the sponsor awards in a promotion. For example goods/services with a monetary value or items of intrinsic value.

Chance: A process beyond the participant’s direct control determines the outcome. A few examples of chance are a random sweepstakes drawing or an instant win/collect and win game; ultimately luck is the deciding factor.

Consideration: Anything that requires a participant to expend a monetary amount or significant effort to participate. For example the purchase of a product, multiple store or internet visits, correctly answering trivia questions, downloading a file, or attendance at sales presentations.

So the first thing here is to avoid running an illegal lottery you have to remove one of the above. The easiest is consideration. Don’t ask people to visit another website and return to yours to comment. Make it as easy as someone leaving you a comment with only the contact info necessary to award prize. Eliminate “extra entries”.

“Sweepstakes are regulated by both state and federal law. Sweepstakes (typically random drawings for prizes) possess two of the three characteristics of a lottery: chance and a prize. Therefore, to avoid classification as a lottery, a sweepstakes promotion must not involve consideration.”-Contests and Sweepstakes

Use the third party draw service from random.org This goes beyond the little screenshot image that some bloggers post and keeps a record for winners and losers for 5 years. It documents that every entry was actually given a fair shot and documents date/time.

You could, also, run a contest. Contests remove the element of chance.

“Contests take a number of different forms. Anything where you can display a skill or a special attribute, from cooking and essay contests to cutest kid and bikini contests, is fair game”-Contests & Sweepstakes

My advice here would be to use another judging agent (the contest sponsor or impartial third party) to pick the winner. That way your best friend can enter and if her kid really is deemed to be the cutest by the third party, great. Always include rules! and remember that while the rules in the US are confuzzling enough, I have heard adding Canada into the mix can be really rough.

I have run giveaways doing pretty much everything above. I am not an attorney (not even close) nor should any of this be taken as legal advice. It is just a compilation of reasons why I am no longer comfortable running giveaways. It’s confusing stuff and just not worth it to me considering all the work involved. Before you run your next giveway please follow the advice here from the FTC.

…each state has laws that may require promoters to make disclosures, seek licensing, or post a bond. Since state laws vary, check with the Attorney General’s Office in the state(s) in which you plan to advertise.

Thoughts???

Last week I had a great lunch with some blogging friends and Chris Byrne, The Toy Guy. The topic of conversation eventually turned to moms and reviews and giveaways. We all agreed on this basic truth: Your reputation in blogging is all you really have. Being a somewhat anonymous venue it is hard sometimes to remember that everything you do and say contributes to that reputation whether positively or negatively. But at the end of the day and all the SEO and traffic tricks out there, if people don’t trust you the gig is up.

So, how do you focus on being trust worthy?

• Be consistent with your social media. Your personality on your blog should be YOU and YOU should be YOU across all venues. Don’t fall victim to multiple blogger personality syndrome.
• If you take a PR opp, DO IT! Sadly it doesn’t always happen. Communicate with the PR Rep if you are having issues getting an opp done. They are depending on you but they also understand that we are moms first. Communicating is really all they ask.
• Make sure any sponsored posts or ads fit into your value system and personality of your blog.
• Take giveaways seriously. Get your winner their prizes asap.
• Manage your offline personality. There shouldn’t be any separation in this day and age. Choices you make in real life will affect your online reputation.
• Being real doesn’t mean being nasty (unless you really are). Also, if you get a product to review don’t write something fabulous if you don’t mean it. Talk about the pros and cons of products. No one will be believe you if everything you write about is the most fabulous thing on earth.
• Write reviews about stuff you pay for too (I said too because there is nothing wrong with getting things for review).

Bottom line is that your readers (and PR reps) have a lot of options on where they can go. Be real, genuine, and trustworthy and you will be around a long time

Last week Tamara talked about why a newbie blogger should attend a conference. This week, I want to look at the nuts and bolts of how to attend a blog conference on someone else’s dime(s).

Let’s face it. Conferences are EXPENSIVE and if you are a mom making just enough to pay for your monthly coffee habit from your blog it may seem like a crazy way to spend your money. If you are serious about your blogging goals, the money you spend on conferences can be well worth it. If you are just trying to update your family on little Susie’s latest word, it probably isn’t. Either way, looking for conference sponsorship is a great way to make it do-able (doable?? hmm…..)

If you have been to at least one conference, you know it seems like everyone there is sponsored by someone. Sponsorship to a conference basically just means that a brand has helped you to defray the costs of attending the conference. I have seen all sorts of sponsorships, from a full sponsor who would pay for everything including your ticket, airfare, hotel and misc. expenses to those that partially cover your expenses or give you a product you may need for the trip.

The first thing you should do in looking for a blog conference sponsorship is put together a summary of the conference you are hoping to attend. Not sure which conferences are for you? Jyl has a great list here! What is the conference about? What do you hope to gain from the conference? What types of brands would benefit from having a presence at this conference? What are the benefits to a brand?

Last year I attended a conference and was shocked to find that one of the brands I work with was not represented there. They had given me a very small sponsorship to attend that conference without any strings attached (meaning I did not agree to promote them or report back). But when I came home I wrote them a detailed report of the conference and why I think their presence would be invaluable in the future. They agreed to fully sponsor me the following year (I did not ask) as well as expanding their reach year round into the mom blogging market. Win-win for us both!

Now that you know what your goals are with the conference and what brands may work well with that, it is time to reach out to those PR contacts that you have been building since we started this series. Start by sending them information on the conference. Point them to the conference website and past years the conference has been running. Don’t assume that they already know about the conference. Hopefully they will have a few competitors who are already involved Let them know that you would like to attend the conference. Remind them of successful campaigns you have worked on in the past with them. Your email should explain why you think they should be involved and what you are willing to do in exchange for a sponsorship. Let them know about your readership and stats. What is your reach?

Have a detailed breakdown of the costs you expect to incur at this conference. Let them know upfront if you are hoping to get a full sponsorship from them or if you are expecting to reach out to several brands for a partial sponsorship. Tell them why you are a much better choice than sending a rep from their company! This is an easy one….the answer is because you already live in this space and are a more natural fit to really learn what the most exciting trends are. You know the people attending already (if only by being their readers) and you are better equipped to understand the industry.

What do bloggers do in exchange for sponsorship?

Really, a variety of things. One of the most clever sponsorships I have seen was Jenn Fowler teaming up with Coldwater Creek for her wardrobe last year at BlogHer. Genius in my opinion how she handled that. Some of the more common things:

• hand out business cards
• hand out swag bags with brand merchandise
• run a live giveaway
• live tweet at the event
• live blog the event
• host a private party in your suite
• gather contacts for the sponsor
• give a detailed report on the conference to the sponsor
• exchange advertising space on your site
• list sponsors on a special sponsor page on your site

Make sure that you check the conference guidelines to see what you are able to do for the sponsor before offering. I know BlogHer this year is not allowing attendees to pass things out in the conference space or host private parties within the conference hotel. This is a big change from last year and will force people to get a little more creative!

Last but not least, don’t give up! You are bound to get a few no’s as you work through your contact list. That is OK. If it is a no because of the budget or so forth, DO follow up with them after the conference and let them know what they missed out on so they can plan for next year!

Oh, and one more thing, if any wonderful brands out there reading this would like to sponsor me for any of the following: EVO, Savvy Blogging Summit, BlogHer or IZEAFest this year, please feel free to read more about how we can work together! *shameless plug*

What are some successful blog conference sponsorships you have seen or had? What are some of the ways it doesn’t work??

Please welcome Tamara as our fabulous PR Mondays guest poster today! She has some wonderful insight on conferences for you. This summer I am planning to be at the following conferences: EVO, Savvy Blogging Summit and BlogHer. I wrote a beginners guide to BlogHer last year.Let me know if you are going to any of those and please leave some wonderful comments below with your own advice to newbies or questions/thanks to Tamara!

Tamara is the voice behind The (Un)Experienced Mom and Blog Conference Newbie. In addition, she is the co-creator of Our Mommyhood…where motherhood meets bloghood! If she’s not online chatting or connecting others, she’s probably working out, sleeping, or changing a poopy diaper.

—————————————————————

Why Newbie Bloggers Should Attend Blog Conferences

When people first get into blogging, it usually starts off as a casual hobby. Some people post when they can while others start off posting daily. But no matter how often you write, the realization that blogging is a bit addicting and can require a lot of time eventually hits us all.

In the short time I’ve been blogging, I’ve learned a lot about the craft. There are blogs for every hobby, topic, or stage in life. There are personal and professional bloggers. There are even blog conferences. I was actually very surprised to learn just how many blog conferences there were. Before I created Blog Conference Newbie, I figured there were a handful of conferences at most. But I have since realized that in addition to the bigger conferences such as BlogHer and Blissdom, there are newer conferences emerging each year, many of which are specific to a blogging niche.

What I’ve also realized since networking with newer bloggers is that many assume that these blog conferences are only for experienced bloggers or ones who are making money from blogging. My own experience and those that other bloggers have shared with me proves this point: blog conferences are beneficial for newer bloggers.

Still unsure if you should spend the time and money to attend one? Let me explain why I believe you should.

• Connections: Blogging is not just about writing; it’s also about connections. So many of us enjoy reading others’ blogs and get excited when others comment on ours. While it’s easy to make connections with bloggers online, you’d be amazed at just how much stronger those connections become when you meet those people face-to-face at a conference. Even if none of your online blog friends are attending, I can assure you that you will still walk away with those real-life connections. At Blissdom this year, I roomed with someone I had never met before. I felt comfortable enough to be her roommate without having met her and am so glad I did. Not only are we great friends now, but the two of us met three other gals that we are now close with as well. When a large group of blogging women are put together under one roof, you’re guaranteed a good time and new friendships.
• Knowledge: Of course, one of the main reasons to attend a conference is to learn, and blogging conferences are no different. The couple of days you’ll spend at the conference will be jam-packed with useful tidbits, helpful hints, and downright important information. Many conferences educate bloggers on topics such as finding your passion, utilizing social networking platforms, monetizing, increasing readership and traffic, and how to write creatively. Don’t want to earn money off your blog? Only blogging for fun? You can still learn a lot from a conference. For instance, the Casual Blogger Conference is geared towards those who blog as a hobby. In addition, many of the conferences offer various tracks, focusing on the topics you find helpful; you can pick and choose which sessions are a fit. Writing, business, photography, and creating communities are common tracks. There is something for everyone at these conferences.
• Confidence: Attending Blissdom this year renewed my confidence. My confidence in my writing, my purpose for blogging, and my passions in general. The mix of having a weekend away to focus on myself and spending time with those who understood my hobby are what impacted me the most. I think most new bloggers feel very anxious leading up to the conference they are attending and start to question why they are even going. But once there, they realize that this was actually one of the best decisions they made. There really aren’t words to describe the blog conference experience other than fulfilling, fun, and fabulously rewarding.

There are obviously other reasons to attend a blog conference and I honestly could write another couple of pages worth. However, the purpose of this post was to provide you with some food for thought and encourage you to at least consider attending a blog conference this year even if you are a newer blogger.

The next obvious thought after deciding to attend a conference is “How do I pay for it?” followed closely by “How should I prep for the conference?” I invite you to head over to Blog Conference Newbie to read tips on these topics, as well as how to save money on your blog conference trip and what to expect while you are there. In addition, the site offers a list of blog conferences, need-to-know dates, and interviews with conference coordinators themselves. Blog Conference Newbie is your go-to-guide for all things blog conferences, whether you are a new attendee or not!

And please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on Twitter also. I enjoy helping newer bloggers with general insights or blog conference-related topics. You can connect with me on Twitter (@unxperiencedmom) or by adding the #ConferenceNewbie hashtag to your tweet.

I reached out to some amazing bloggers that I am happy to have as friends on your behalf. I asked them, “What is the one thing you wish someone had told you when you started working with PR?” and boy did they deliver! From post worthy comments to some of the best one lines of advice, here is what those who have “made it” have to tell you as you start this journey:

Brands need you!… you don’t need brands!

Don’t be afraid to ask for a giveaway when you are doing a review. Keep it simple “My policy is only to do a review if I do an associated giveaway. Would you be able to provide one for a giveaway?”

Remember-your time is worthwhile-you should only do things that give value to you and your blog.

Its ok to not like a product- brands that do social media right, appreciate your honesty and try to use your feedback on improving their product… and if they don’t have that outlook with their reviewers, eh- Who needs them?

Your readers come back to your site because of the content you write about, if its not relative- its ok to say no. There will be plenty, and I mean PLENTY of relative pitches coming your way. Don’t get side tracked

Do not agree to review a product and then drop the ball. When you do, it not only makes you look bad- it makes the entire blogging community look like sample-whores.. which we are not.

More advice coming next week. What do you think? Agree with the above? Have some advice of your own? Speak out in the comments!

I know I promised you great advice from my blogging buds this month but I am going to break from that schedule due to some computer issues I have been having this past week.

Last week, my real life friend, Lori, held her first blog giveaway. She had lots of questions and I think that makes a great topic for PR Mondays.

Giveaways, hmmmm, lots to say. First off, I almost always charge to run a giveaway these days. Do a few and realize how much time they take and you will too. BUT, when you are first starting out your blog (or you are having a particularly slow month) running a giveaway at no charge can be a real benefit to you and your loyal readers.

There are two (at least) schools of thought on giveaways: keep them on the DL so that your loyal readers benefit only or go all out and use them to help promote your blog. I understand the point of few of both camps and have been in one or the other at various times but I am going to talk today about running a giveaway as a way to promo your blog.

So, if you are growing your blog and currently do reviews for free, you may want to consider running  a few well placed giveaway. If you are doing a review for something cool, just ask the PR rep to provide one as a giveaway. It is rare they say no.

I usually run a giveaway by first talking about the product (review) and then let my readers know I have one to giveaway. I ask readers to leave a comment for their initial entry. The comment question usually has something to do with the product (how you would use it, why you want it, visit the brands site and tell me what you learned are all ideas for the initial comment). Next, I offer ‘additional’ entries and here is the part where I get to use the giveaway to build my blog. It gives entrants extra chances to win. Common extra entry chances are:

• subscribe to my feed
• follow me on twitter
• tweet about the giveaway with my link
• add my link to giveaway linkys

I used to ask people to facebook, stumble or digg the post but that is against their terms of service and can get you and your site banned now. Anne-Marie wrote a great article on the Facebook changes.  Each extra entry needs to be in a separate comment to count. Looking at how this benefits me, the readers are promoting my blog, upping my feed and comment counts. All of these things allow me to better pitch my blog for future pr opps.

Before you post make sure you add the word “giveaway” in your title and tag it as well. Once my giveaway is running, I promote it on twitter and by adding my link to all the various giveaway linkys out there. I have a linky post that you are welcome to use any time. There is also an amazing list on MommySnacks site. People looking to enter giveaways check these lists often. Great, free link promo for you! Yee haw!

I usually let giveaways run for 1 week. I choose an end time that works for me and usually announce the winner within that week. In order to pick a winner I go to random.org and use the random number generator on the right side. If you have 100 comments you would put 1 in the top field and 100 in the bottom. Click ‘generate’. That is the comment number that wins. This is where having a theme or plugin that numbers your comments rock. I don’t have this so I have to do it the old fashioned way, count. I always screen shot the generated number page so that I have proof in case someone claims foul play (yes, people can get really emotional about some giveaways so protect yourself).

Announce your winner (if you want) or just contact them. State in your rules that they have a certain time to claim. I give 72 hours. Get their mailing address and pass on to the PR rep. Oh, did I forget to say that I ask all my pr reps to fulfill the mailing??? Postage can get really expensive. Leave this cost to them whenever possible. They don’t usually care because they would have to mail it to you anyway so most are more than happy to just mail to the winner.The others, I just don’t work with.

Post rules. Here are my generic ones:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

Promotion is open to U.S. residents 18 years of age or older as of  (date of giveaway) except employees and their immediate families of Chaotic Communications, LLC (my company) .

Void where prohibited. All federal, state and local laws apply. All taxes are the sole responsibility of winners.

Sponsor is not responsible  for any technical problems, malfunctions of any telephone lines, computer systems, servers, providers, hardware/software, lost or unavailable network connections or failed, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmission or any combination thereof. If, in the Judging Agency’s opinion, there is any suspected or actual evidence of tampering with any portion of the sweepstakes, or if technical difficulties compromise the integrity of the sweepstakes, the Judging Agency reserve the right to modify the sweepstakes in a manner deemed appropriate by the Judging Agency, in its sole discretion. By participating in this promotion, entrants agree to be bound by the Official Rules and the decisions of the Judging Agency.

JUDGING: Chaotic Communications, LLC (”Judging Agency”) will choose a winner based on a random drawing of all qualifying comments.   Agency reserves the right to disqualify any entry that, in the sole opinion of the judges, refers, depicts or in any way reflects negatively upon the sponsor, the promotion or any other person or entity.

SPONSOR: (name sponsor)

What advice do you have for a new blogger hosting their first giveaway?

I have been busy interviewing lots of amazing bloggers who monetize and work with PR well over the last week (in between being sick, house hunting with my mom and attending services). So, I am THRILLED to have Rachel back with us this week talking about her AHA! Moment in how to stand out from the crowd.

There are hundreds and hundreds of mommy blogs out there, blogs filled with griping, blogs filled with humorous stories, blogs filled with delicious looking food and recipes.  There are so many blogs out there.  How can we make our blog stand out?
This is the question I asked myself for a number of weeks.  I worked on my layout, on my fan pages, on interaction… and then I realized I missed the point!  What will make my blog stand-out from the masses is finding a niche and building in it.

To do this I first have to ask myself, what am I interested in?  What would be the easiest thing for me to write about.  I obviously picked my kids, that is why I am a stay-at-home-mom, right?  Now in the realm of kids – that’s a really big market of moms who are also interested in “kids”.  How can I narrow down the field of my “niche”, all mommy bloggers have kids!  Can I limit it by age range?  How about by a special circumstance (like raising a child with food allergies or step-children, etc)?  Can I narrow my focus in my presentation style (ex: mommy-goof ups, or expert tips, or photo documentation)?  Once you have an idea of your niche or what the purpose of your blog is going to be you should come up with several search-able phrases that fit your niche.  I like to think of myself as a blogger to moms of preschoolers.  The search-able phrases that I came up with are: “Fun learning activities” or “learning activities for preschoolers” or “preschool arts and crafts”.  Now is the fun part.   We get to figure out if people even care about that niche.  It is one thing to create a niche about “learning activities for preschoolers” but if no one wants to read it, I might as well just keep a private notebook at home, rather than maintain a public blog!

To find out if your niche has any value, check out the Keyword tool from Google Adwords.  It is free!  Type in your key phrases and add the cost per click (CPC) function.  Then look, are people searching for that phrase?  My keyword phrase “learning activities for preschoolers” is rarely ever searched and when it is the CPC is low, meaning it is not a valuable term for me to be investing my time and energies on – I probably won’t be able to find advertisers willing to sponsor my posts.  I can change it to “kids learning activities” or to “preschool learning games” and suddenly people are actually looking for the information.  For me, I blog so people can read it!  By tuning my blog towards a niche market I am able to get traffic that is looking for what I have to offer and will hopefully come back as I fulfilled their informational need.

The final step, once you have figured out what niche would interest you and what phrases you would target, is to come up with 50 potential posts.  Just brainstorm and fill up a notebook sheet.  Are you having problems coming up with 50 ideas?  Well, maybe you should change your niche to something more interesting to you.  Happy blogging!

Rachel is mommy to three preschoolers and blogs about their learning adventures, fun kids activities and tips that help her keep her sanity at Quirky Momma.  Have any blogging questions?  Feel free to contact her via twitter @quirkymommasite

Wrapping up February’s Straight Talk From PR series, I think it is important to hear how they see our future relationships evolving. One has to wonder with the statistic that Holly shared that 120,000 new blogs are created EVERY DAY, when does market saturation begin? Has it already? I think in a lot of ways, yes, it has. The old model of product review/giveaway is tired in my opinion. I think moving forward brands and bloggers are going to have to come up with more innovative ways to leverage our influence. But, alas, February is not about what I think, it is what actual PR reps think and so I will conclude this month with a few more great answers.

What do you want mom bloggers to most understand about your position?

I serve almost as a middle man between bloggers and my clients. It’s my job to bring both parties together so they can do mutually beneficial work and build relationships. Plus, I’m a nice, normal person, so you should get to know me and not think of me just as a “pr flack.” =)

Do you like being pitched (moms seeking you out) ?

I definitely like when mom bloggers proactively contact me to express interest in working with my clients or to even get to know me better.

I love it!

What do you foresee in the future in terms of mom bloggers and PR?

I think 2010 is going to be a deciding year for mom bloggers and PR. The relationship has evolved over the last few years and will continue to do so. With the FTC involvement and the upswing of “sponsored” posts, I think companies are really going to start analyzing how effective mom blogs are in relation to their bottom line.

As for the PR relationship, there will continue to be less “traditional” media outlets, and it will be interesting to see how much the lines between a “blogger” and a “reporter” begin to blur.

I think working with mom bloggers will remain very important to brands trying to reach moms. I hope that we can find more ways to work together that is mutually beneficial for both our clients and the bloggers whether that is with more paid spokesperson gigs or bringing bloggers in for counsel. It’s still a bit murky with the FTC guidelines, but I think the relationship between bloggers and PR people will continue to evolve.

What do you think? How do you see the relationship between mom bloggers and brands evolving?

Hi All! Continuing on from last weeks Straight Talk From PR we are going to talk  today about common mistakes and missteps that mom bloggers make in working with PR. Hopefully by hearing from them directly we can all avoid some of these and keep building professional, lasting relationships!

What is the biggest mistake mom bloggers make in working with you?

“I would say it’s being difficult to work with. Not answering emails, not meeting deadlines, or just not being nice. As a PR person, I often hear horror stories from my blogger friends about PR folks who are rude and unprofessional. It works both ways though. If I have a bad experience working with you, it’s likely I won’t include you in future outreach even if your numbers are high.”

“What a great question! Usually we only hear about the mistakes PR people make in communicating with bloggers.

One of the biggest mistakes is lack of communication. I understand bloggers are really busy (I am really busy too!) and that e-mails can get lost. However, when a blogger requests a product to review, then I send the blogger product, and then I never hear from them again – that is a big no-no. If you don’t like the product, let me know. If you can’t review the product due to time constraints, etc., let me know. All I’m really looking for is communication and feedback.

Also I think that bloggers should remember to always act professionally. If you have a conflict or issue with a particular PR person, you should take it up with them on an individual basis”

What turns you off of a mom blog?

It can be a turn off when I get emails from bloggers just to ask for free product or sponsorship without expressing interest in my clients, campaigns or even just me personally. It’s the same feeling I’m sure many bloggers get when PR people blast pitch them without any personalization or knowledge of their content/audience. Plus it’s hard for us because most times we don’t have samples laying around we can give out.

It’s much better for the bloggers and for me to email me or tweet me to start a relationship. Even just asking what I’m working on and what’s in the pipeline. Then when I’m working on an outreach plan for a specific program I can say “I should include XX in that school supplies campaign, because she mentioned her kids are getting ready for back to school.”

The only thing that turns me off is a cluttered blog. As an avid blog reader, I dislike going to a blog and not being able to find the actual content amongst all the blog flair. Whether it’s flashy buttons or advertisements, sometimes I find it hard to focus on the actual content of a blog amongst all the flair.

I work on a lot of family friendly campaigns so I tend to pass over bloggers that use foul language excessively or discuss r-rated or politically incorrect topics. It is not that I personally am offended by it but I could never sell that blogger to my clients.

So, there ya have it folks. Some landmines you can now thankfully avoid thanks to our fabulous PR friends.

I am curious, though. What about you? What turns you off of a blog??

Hey everyone! In Feb I am going to use this space to highlight straight talk from PR reps. I sent out a survey to some of the reps that I really respect and enjoy working with. In the interest of getting the most candid answers from them I am going to post their comments as anonymous. Lets face it, I can blab all day long about what I think but wouldn’t you rather know what they have to say?

So, here are a few questions and answers for them.

How does a mom blogger gain your attention? What puts them on your radar?

“If a mom blogger reaches out to me directly, I always make sure to check out her blog. I also discover a lot of great bloggers via Twitter. Whether it’s a new blog post on recipes or an industry-related article, I’m always reading everything I can (or that time allows!)”

“Honestly, someone who I know and interact with via Twitter, my blog or who emails me to keep a relationship going. If I know you, know you write great content and are fun to work with, I’ll likely include you in all the outreach I do for my clients and also recommend you to my colleagues.

Beyond that, bloggers who are regularly included in other high-profile campaigns (Walmart Eleven Moms, Lifetime Moms ect) it will catch my attention. It also helps us sell you in to our clients as bloggers we should reach out to.”

Check out this post if you are looking for the names of PR Reps that would like to work with mom bloggers.

How important are statistics in your campaigns? Can you give me the min. stats you are looking for?

“The quality of your content and how connected you are with other bloggers is most important. However, I do look at unique visitors per month to gauge whether to include bloggers into bigger campaigns like trips and larger giveaways.”

“Unfortunately, statistics do matter for the most part. In an ideal world, I would love to work with every single blogger. The reality is companies need results in the form of measurement. However, statistics are not the end all be all of working with a blogger. If a blogger has a niche audience (ex. coupons/frugal or cooking) and I’m working with a client that is relevant to that specific audience, then there’s more value in who’s reading the blog than how many people are reading the blog.
Keep in mind that just because I might not be able to work with you right now, doesn’t mean we can’t work together in the future. I love hearing from brand new bloggers; we all have to start somewhere!”

Looking to learn more about stats? Check out this post on Understanding Your Blog Statistics.

How important is a mom bloggers social media reach to you? What social media outlets are most important to you?

“Social media reach is pretty important. In addition to looking at blog outreach, we also look at how influential that reach is. Is the blogger on Twitter? Does the blogger enjoy going to events? Is the blogger active in the mom blogging community? Is the blogger active in his/her own community? Does the blogger contribute to other blogs/web sites?”

“It’s important for bloggers to be very well-connected to other bloggers and moms via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube ect. We typically will vet every blogger to see what their presence is like in those outlets. Plus if we know that your friends/followers are highly engaged with your content and will respond with comments, votes, entries ect. we’re more likely to reach out to you.”

As you can see from the above comments your social media (especially twitter) presence is very important to PR. If you are new to twitter, here is a post I wrote on Getting Started on Twitter.

If you are a PR rep and would like to participate in answering, email me and I will send you over the survey. Here is your chance to tell us mom bloggers what we need to know about you.