The Boy is due in August which seems ages away but i know will sneak up on us pretty quickly, so we're planning on putting the girls together in the same room from this weekend. Bunk beds are due to be delivered on Thursday, so swearing will be heard across the home counties from Saturday morning as i attempt to put them up.
And it's in a good time too, Number 2 has just started climbing out of her cot i say climbing out, more getting herself over the top of it and letting gravity do the damage on the way down. It's a thunk followed by a scared just under 2 year old crying...
The downside to them both going into one room beside having to decorate the nursery again, which has had much of it's wall paper peeled off around the cot... the little bloody ASBO monkey. What concerns me the most is how badly it could go with them keeping each other up all night, or number 2 escaping and running amok.
Only the other morning did number 1 go downstairs to be greeted with a "hello... How are you?" as number 2 helped herself to the breakfast cereal while Saturday we were woken by two child follow my leader/ conger line around the bed...
Any tips anyone?
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Neglect...
This blog has almost been neglected for almost as long as my golf clubs. Or if you want to over share as long as my sex life with my heavily pregnant wife
I'm amazing how people do it and keep it going...blogging that is
It's a full time thing for many, events, blogs, some of you guys are machines a blog post a day. Do you not watch TV or anything? I'm going to try and get back into the swing, but with longer evenings and being a little more financially solvent than i have been in a long while, it's nice to catch up with friends.
As work quietens down a little more i'm hopefully be able to get more involved in this blogging lark.
I'm amazing how people do it and keep it going...blogging that is
It's a full time thing for many, events, blogs, some of you guys are machines a blog post a day. Do you not watch TV or anything? I'm going to try and get back into the swing, but with longer evenings and being a little more financially solvent than i have been in a long while, it's nice to catch up with friends.
As work quietens down a little more i'm hopefully be able to get more involved in this blogging lark.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Reviews - Protect Yourself from Catching the Clap
I had my first approach from a PR agency this week. I won't lie i was incredibly flattered that someone had read my stuff, stuck me on a mailing list and offered me something to review.
But it got me thinking. I started to look around some of the other parenting blogs recently and was surprised at how much PR material was posted up as content, of how many freebies were handed out from large multi-nationals all in the name of 'grass roots' coverage.
Everything from lingerie, toys, buggies even test driving family cars were dished out, and with it came fawning reviews and 'look at me' tweets of piles of lots of lovely free stuff. All gaining lots of coverage for the PR agency, who are paid tens of thousands of pounds for this, to push under the nose of their client.
I shouldn't really be surprised, after all I see it from the other side in my day job in Marketing. I spend millions a year searching and courting evangelists for my products, desperate to drive word of mouth to seemingly spring up and positively influence people. So hopefully the following advice from a novice blogger might hold a little weight?
I'm going to start with a metaphor (technically i think it's a simile. Writing reviews and working with PR agencies is a bit like getting into bed with an attractive stranger... it might be fun but can also lead to catching an STD.
The single most important thing if you choose to review things on your blog is your audience. We marketing folk are not paying an agency lots of money to dish out products to bloggers to get a fawning review we're doing to to get access to your readers and your peers.
You might think that a positive review will get you into the good books with PR agencies, it probably will for a short period, until your readers realise you're nothing more than a stooge, a fraud that is writing positive things in return for free stuff. That your reviews can't be trusted... Bad news that handsome stranger you were romping with has just given you the Clap.
What you'll see next is your visitor numbers dropping off to the point where the PR agency is no longer interested, you're too small time... you've trashed your own reputation, destroyed your following and burned your blog for a 2 nights stay at Pontins in Great Yarmouth. Was it worth it? Sitt there with your antibiotics staring at your mobile phone wondering why they stopped calling?
So to avoid this just follow these simple rules. And please remember despite being an inexperienced blogger i've had 15 odd years of targeting people like you and me to write these reviews.
But it got me thinking. I started to look around some of the other parenting blogs recently and was surprised at how much PR material was posted up as content, of how many freebies were handed out from large multi-nationals all in the name of 'grass roots' coverage.
Everything from lingerie, toys, buggies even test driving family cars were dished out, and with it came fawning reviews and 'look at me' tweets of piles of lots of lovely free stuff. All gaining lots of coverage for the PR agency, who are paid tens of thousands of pounds for this, to push under the nose of their client.
I shouldn't really be surprised, after all I see it from the other side in my day job in Marketing. I spend millions a year searching and courting evangelists for my products, desperate to drive word of mouth to seemingly spring up and positively influence people. So hopefully the following advice from a novice blogger might hold a little weight?
I'm going to start with a metaphor (technically i think it's a simile. Writing reviews and working with PR agencies is a bit like getting into bed with an attractive stranger... it might be fun but can also lead to catching an STD.
You might think that a positive review will get you into the good books with PR agencies, it probably will for a short period, until your readers realise you're nothing more than a stooge, a fraud that is writing positive things in return for free stuff. That your reviews can't be trusted... Bad news that handsome stranger you were romping with has just given you the Clap.
What you'll see next is your visitor numbers dropping off to the point where the PR agency is no longer interested, you're too small time... you've trashed your own reputation, destroyed your following and burned your blog for a 2 nights stay at Pontins in Great Yarmouth. Was it worth it? Sitt there with your antibiotics staring at your mobile phone wondering why they stopped calling?
So to avoid this just follow these simple rules. And please remember despite being an inexperienced blogger i've had 15 odd years of targeting people like you and me to write these reviews.
- Don't write for the PR agency write for your audience - your audience is interested in your experiences and thoughts not reading what you think a PR agency wants you to say
- Write a Reviews Policy on your blog. Some of the best parenting blog have these, they explain your principles to both your audience and any potential suitors so there are no gray areas
- Don't be afraid to say what you think if it's the best product you have ever used say so. Like wise if you didn't like it explain why. Many PR agencies and companies know their product isn't perfect, and honestly will hold no grudge should these be pointed out
...are there any others that people would like to add? Or you think i've missed off?
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