Yup. It's time for a little heart-to-heart. Have you ever really liked a blog and then suddenly IT happens? You know what I mean… all of the awesome eye candy in which you’ve become accustomed to and those amazing DIY projects [that are so clever and inexpensive they make you want to cry] you look forward to each week get replaced with… well, stuff [too many reviews, giveaways of things you’ll never use, and sponsored posts]. Yes, there are still amazing morsels, but now you must sift through the “noise” to find them. And as a result, the blog that you once read almost daily becomes the blog that you check-in with once a week.
Yea, well- I never want Salvage Savvy to be that blog. Which is why as I [attempt to] move into the next phase, I’m making you these promises today:
1. Even though I hope to monetize the blog [who knows if it’ll work, though!] I will never clutter it up with too many ads or sponsors.
2. I will only review products that I honestly believe you will want to know about, and I will always be 100% honest with you.
3. I will never put a sponsor above you for any reason.
4. I will only do giveaways for products that I would want myself [and I’m super picky- I’ve only entered two giveaways my entire life]. If you see a giveaway on Salvage Savvy, it’s truly something I love.
5. I won’t ever waste your time with “noise.”
So, if you notice a few changes around here please don’t push the panic button! Personally, I always resist change. In fact, I told myself I’d start this process at 100,000 pageviews and I just hit 150,000… so lets just take this nice and slow, shall we?! Well, thanks for the talk, I feel much better now :)
Oh, and I can't forget the eye candy for this post, so here's the obligatory beautiful moment via Garden View Cottage:
Oh, and I can't forget the eye candy for this post, so here's the obligatory beautiful moment via Garden View Cottage:
Ahhh. So gorgeous!
*BTW- if you are a blogger and have already crossed this threshold, I'd LOVE any advice/suggestions. Thanks :)
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I'm so with you! I hate sifting through silly posts from blogs I love to find the good stuff! I feel like I'm walking this fine line myself . . . as my blog has grown a bit lately, I'm getting more giveaway offers, product review offers, guest post invitations, etc. and am trying to be very selective of what I put on my blog. I hate reading fluff, so I don't want to write too much of it. One thing I got WAY in over my head with these past few months is guest posts . . . personally, I almost never visit another blog to read a guest post from a blogger I like. For whatever reason, it just annoys me to open my reader and see 20 "Visit me at such-and-such's blog today!" posts. And yet I got quite a few invites to guest post this fall and accepted ALL of them, which I really started to regret . . . but I hated to say no, especially to other ladies whose blogs I love and admire! I think I'm doing okay so far on the giveaway/review front (I'm with you--I'll only review it and give it away if I really, really love it and think readers will, too!), but I need to seriously calm down on the guest posts. Good for you for putting your readers and your style first and not letting your blog become a silly fluff forum ;-)
ReplyDeleteI've crossed that threshold, but I'm taking it slow too. :) No rush. I won't do google ads because so much of their content is "stuff" I would never support...
ReplyDeleteI'm gluten-free, so why would I promote regular pasta?
I hope to work more with indie sponsors, eco companies, etc. that make sense at the beginning of next year.
Best of luck with your situation!
I couldn't agree more. Although I'm new to all this, I'm really interested to learn from your mindful journey. Keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure i'll be dead before i get that many page views... so i probably won't have to deal with those choices... but i really appreciate and believe in your integrity. It is so cool... and your blog is amazing
ReplyDeleteCindy
I crossed over into advertising very recently. I was also approached by one of my favorite companies to do reviews and giveaways. I'm definitely going to do it, because I love their products but if I get approached by other ones I'll be sure to take your advice and go slow.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the info.!
Good idea to divulge this :) Definitely look forward to great posts and pics here.
ReplyDelete