I know I'm not the first blogger to receive an email from a company or a PR agency that contains information completely unrelated to the content that I write about. For those of you who haven't figured it out yet (and, yes, I'm being intentionally snarky), I write about food, namely recipes and restaurant reviews. Occasionally, I'll offer some type of commentary about food issues, but I haven't written a post of that nature in quite some time.
Well, I received the following email this morning:
Subject: New Blog Post Suggestion
Dear owner of http://www.tasteasyougo.com,
I'm the webmaster of [a website devoted to cycling gear and accessories].
We came across your blog today and thought that you might want to know about a cycling jersey we are selling that is stirring up quite a buzz at [our website]. We are also the owners of [another website devoted to selling cycling jerseys], jerseys that send a message to aggressive drivers.
If you decide you want to write a little something about us for your blog, let us know and we will reciprocate a link back to you!! Or, if you just want to trade links, we'd love to do that, too!
We also own [website devoted to selling cycling jerseys already mentioned in the second paragraph] and have a fan page of over 3500 cyclists. We could give you a shout there and surly drive some traffic to your site.
Best regards,
[Webmaster of website devoted to cycling gear and accessories]
[Email address of aforementioned webmaster]
PS. We also own [website devoted to cycling gear and accessories mentioned in the first damn paragraph], a company that does full custom clothing with prices lower than [one of their competitors] and better quality.
Issues with this email?
- The sender did not review the content of my blog before contacting me.
- The sender did not take the time to actually figure out what my name was so he could address it properly.
- The sender has actually contacted me numerous times about me writing a piece about their cycling jerseys. I've patiently responded to the previous inquiries with an email explaining that I do not write about cycling. Either this guy doesn't check his email or he seems to think his eloquently phrased message will be enough to change my mind.
- I will only link to another website when I feel it is appropriate within the context of a blog post. Clearly, linking to a cycling website does not make sense. Unless I start writing about cycling. Which is highly, highly unlikely.
- There is a huge difference in meaning between the word "surly," which was used in the closing paragraph, and the word "surely," which is the word that was intended. If the sender doesn't want to take the time to proofread an email before it goes out...
As annoyed as I am about having to deal with this person again, I am grateful that they gave me something to write about on a Monday.
PS. I don't write about cycling.
PPS. I also don't write about college gambling. A few days after I received the above email, someone else contacted me about writing a piece about the National Center for Responsible Gambling. *shakes head* (ETA 3/31/11)
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