First there was a Man. Then a Woman. Then in quick succession, two cats, a confused dog beast, and two kids. I stay at home with them. I'm the Man

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Little Help Here, Please

I have a conundrum that I need un-conundrummed and it is the sort of conundrum that my intelligent, attractive, and witty bloggy friends are most qualified to help me solve.

It's not medical.  Or anything gross.  I take care of that stuff myself through meditation.  I meditate when I should be at my doctor appointment.  They always say awful things.  Things that lead to exercise.  Who needs that?

I got an email from a company called csnstores asking me if I would like to do a giveaway or a product review.  I'll publish the email further down.

I emailed them back and I said, "Huh?" Basically.  I've yet to hear back.

I hesitate because I sometimes see sites that do a lot of these things, and it gets very annoying very quickly.

I also wonder, "what's the catch?"  Like if I agree and they want me to do a positive review of a combination label-maker/baby-scrambler, I won't do it.  I'll give the things away, but you won't get me to say anything nice when I do.  Except "you're welcome" because I am polite.  Mmm, scrambled baby would be good right now.   With cheese and caramelized onions.

Another thought I thunked was, "is it selling-out?"  And I don't know, maybe it is.  I would hate to do that to my ones upon ones of readers.  But then again, I like free things.  So does my wife.  My kids could give a shit.  To them, everything is free.

Let's get ahold of this post.  My questions are:

Has anyone heard of/done business with csnstores?

Has anyone done this sort of thing before?  How did it go?  Would you or did you do it again?

If you chose not to do it, why not?

If you've never had the chance to do this, would you if you did?

Is there a catch I'm not seeing?  Like if I agree to do this, do they own my blog's content in perpetuity?

Are there any questions I am not asking that I should be asking?

Thanks to everyone who reads and answers in advance.  I really appreciate it as I am a bloggy babe in the woods.


Sincerely,

HM

Good Afternoon,
My name is Sean and I’m part of the Promotions Team here at http://www.csnstores.com .
We have been seeking out high quality websites and blogs, gauging interest in doing a giveaway with one of our sites.
We love the look and feel of your blog and think that your US and Canadian
readers might be interested in a giveaway with our sites www.cookware.comwww.allbarstools.comwww.allchildrensfurniture.com,
www.allmodern.com .
Have a look at a couple of our sites and let me know if you think that this might be
something you’d be interested in.
Perhaps we could give away a selection of our home decor or kitchen accessories .
I’d be happy to brainstorm some other ideas with you if you’re interested.
Alternatively you could do a review of something from our site.
Please let me know if you have any questions for me. I hope to hear from you to further
discuss the details of the giveaway.
Kind Regards,
Sean
**Please note: If are unable to reply to this message for any reason, please email my alternate email address atCSNPromoTeam@gmail.com and I will get back to you. I appologize for the inconvenience.

20 comments:

  1. I think as long as they don't force you to say something about their stuff or site that you don't want to say it's all good & you should go for it. I have actually found some good products that way, too (they are all sex related so you see what type of blogs I read...) I am also a kitchen product whore, so I will be crossing all my fingers that you are giving away something like an All Clad 3 qt saucepan and no one enters but me. GOD that would be cool!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I get contacted by quite a few people to do product giveaways or reviews. A few websites just wanted to pay me to put their link up in my sidebar.

    Unfortunately I'm a lazy piece of crap, so I have yet to follow through on anything.

    One time I did a sex toy giveaway with the understanding that I was going to get some free loot as well for my trouble. Bastards never did follow through on that, so I ended up giving them what they wanted (free advertisement, because you know, my blog has like a million viewers a day...) and I was left with a bad case of blue balls?

    What? You think ladies can't use that excuse? I beg to differ.

    Do your giveaway and rig it so that I can win.

    That's my final answer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you're interested in the products they are offering, go for it. If not? Don't.

    IMHO blog giveaways or reviews can be fun, until they become like the parsley.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I find scrambled baby is best the day after. Yum.

    As for your dilemma, I get it. I've turned advertisers because I feel it would cheapen my blog. Plus they wouldn't agree to buy me four cases of dynamite.

    I've bought stuff from CSN baby before and have been happy. But if you feel like you're selling out don't do it. Otherwise go for it and try something new!

    I know. I'm no help at all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. If you end up winning Candice I will hunt you down! You were supposed to rig yours so I won that and you kept it honest - no way you get the kitchen stiff from Homemaker. I am bigger than you you know ;) Hmmm - maybe a tie in opportunity here between kitchen stuff and girl fights?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I wish someone would contact me and offer to pay me to advertise on my blog and do a giveaway. Then I maybe could justify the hours I spend here everyday! lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've never heard of the company, so I googled it and came up with bad reviews! They seem to just go around getting bloggers to refer customers to them.
    My advice would be to steer well clear of any adverts that appear on your site.

    ReplyDelete
  8. As long as you don't lie and say the stuff is great when it isn't, I see no problem. People like free stuff. You're selling out when the company pays you to say nice things about them.

    Also, I think you have to have a larger readership to qualify as selling out, right?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for the help, everyone. I've yet to decide. Let me sum up what I've got so far:

    Peg and Candice say Yes as long as they get whatever it is I'm giving away.

    Viv never eats her parsley and possibly does not enjoy green herbs or veggies as a rule.

    Amanda is a cannibal. A horrible, horrible cannibal.

    Eve says "Yo, send some of that swag this way, biatch!"

    Alice says this company has bad mojo.

    S.C. Says my personal integrity is my own problem, and why don't I stop being such a self-aggrandizing baby.

    I think that gives me a nice cross section of info. Everyone please return tomorrow for the First ever All-Clad Unclad Girl Fight Invitational. Candice Vs. Peg.

    I do not approve.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Unless it's something you are personally interested in or you want to become more a product-review oriented, I'd say no. These come-ons are a dime a dozen -- the longer you blog, the more and more you'll get pitched like this. I've only done one giveaway/review on my personal site and it was only b/c it was a new product from a company with a good rep whose products I had used and was satisfied with in the past.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Peg, I'm going to totally fuck you up!

    Prepare yourself.

    Does this company sell the slap chop? I've always wanted one of those.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've gotten a few of those emails (from various companies) and here's my policy: If I believe it's a product or service that my readers would be interested in, I'll do it. The only one I've agreed to thus far is the "Sticky Life" company that makes personalized magnets, stickers, etc. It's great for blog promotion, and since they offered me a ton of free stuff with my blog logo on it, I'm happy to display their logo. Visit their site, mention my name, and you get a discount.

    I'd hesitate to just fill my site with random stuff that I (or my readers) would have little to no interest in.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh - am I supposed to be scared of a "bottle blond" from the south who doesn't even post her own pictures? oooooooh I am SOOOOOO frightened - not. Nice try C. This Yankee might just be the one to shut that trash mouf up!

    What are you going to use that slap chop for anyway?? Run out of batteries?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Holy Moly. My blog has turned into a bar fight. Best time ever.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Homemaker Man- No worries, Peg and I are actual real life friends.

    *ahem*

    However, I'm not against hair pulling. I say we vote to see who thinks who could kick who's ass. (WTF??)

    I've done my research on how to rig the votes, so you're SO going down, and not on Mark either biatch!

    ReplyDelete
  16. yeah we might be friends but I am serious about my cookware!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Not to make things worse, but I think that slap chop joke means peg's winning.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've gotten these e-mails before too...and I'm too damn lazy to go look at the products. PLUS, I did a giveaway once for a kids' computer game thingy and nobody cared. NOBODY. I felt like a complete tool. So, yeah, um...I guess that's all I got.
    Except, I'd love for someone to pay me to put something on my sidebar. As long as it wasn't geriatric suppositories or something.

    ReplyDelete
  19. That slap chop thing was weak, which is why I never dignified it with a response.

    Besides, Peg knows I would NEVER run out of batteries. I get my AA's by the truckload sucka!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow, I think you would be an awesome reviewer. You are so funny that you could make us laugh at even the worst products!! Totally should give it a try--just don't give them your password or credit card number ')

    ReplyDelete

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