Listen to the audio version of this post here.
We’ve come a long way maybe.
The subject line was “Real Blog Backlinks: Guest Posts.”
Everyone who blogs gets these emails. They show up in my inbox regularly from people who want access to you, without getting to know you, inviting you to connect with them, and nurturing that relationship.
Seems easier to just piggyback on someone else’s work cultivating a relationship with their readers.
And some marketers are selling their guest posts, claiming they’ll bring me new readers, expand my reach, and improve my standing with search engines. Sure thing.
As I said, it’s common. And … this pitch took the cake.
It came to a friend who was, let’s just say, unimpressed with the offer. Why? Check this out:
“Hi Dear,
I hope you’re having a productive and successful day!
If you’re serious about growing your online presence and dominating the search engine results pages (SERPs), you need a strategic SEO plan backed by high-quality backlinks—and that’s where we come in.”
Hi, Dear?!?!?! Is this guy kidding?
Apparently not. He went on to quote his prices for those “high-quality backlinks” and to suggest a quick chat to work out a deal.
Somebody needs to tell him it’s 2025.
Getting this kind of message is like being transported back to the days of Mad Men. Of course there was no e-mail then, much less any strategic SEO.
There was, however, plenty of ogling, fanny-patting, and men calling women “Dear,” “Hon,” and “Sweetie.”
And that kind of sexist business behavior lasted well past the 1960s. Surely, it’s in the rearview mirror by now, though?
I’d just been thinking about how much our interactions at work have changed.
Cleaning out a drawer in the dining room buffet the other day, I came across a sketch by a long-ago colleague, Larry Lujack. On the back of a page from the commercial copy book, he drew an image of my co-anchor in, let’s just say, a compromising position.
I can’t imagine why I stashed it in the buffet, but the memory of that morning is clear as a bell. All three of us cracked up about the whole idea of Jeff doing that.
The recollection stands out because it was funny. It wasn’t all that unusual though.
It was guy stuff. And although I wasn’t a guy, I worked with a bunch of them throughout my radio career, and I was right there with them when it came to what’s often called “locker room talk.”
That’s how it was in the early 1980s.
Discovering that relic from my radio past, I pondered how much things have changed.
That kind of carrying-on would never fly in a workplace today, would it? I can’t imagine a guy drawing a picture like that—and if he did, it would invite HR investigations and lawsuits and public embarrassment.
We’ve come a long way in terms of treating each other with respect.
And just when I was thinking how enlightened we are …
I read the email from a marketer to a blogger greeting her with, “Hi Dear.”
Okay, it’s not vulgar like the souvenir sketch from my radio days. But it is patronizing, and sexist, and strategically stupid for someone who’s hoping to generate business.
A caveat here. I’m all for terms of endearment between friends. Pet names can be cute when people know and like each other.
Tossed out in a random email to a woman running a business, they don’t land well, do they?
