Ask a Trini : Do you accept guest posts? F#$% No!

This is a travel blogger rant. The question … “Do you accept guest posts”
Answer : No!!! See that … I emphasized the “No!!!” with three exclamation marks and bold.

I’m so sick and tired of getting emails from SEO “firms” and “Travel Bloggers” who want to write content or a guest post for my site. I don’t mind being pitched from real bloggers at all. In fact, most times I’m asked for a guest posting spot from a real travel blogger, I’ll happily give some space to them, especially if I think their blog is entertaining and informative.

The people I hate are the SEO firms and professional link builders. Take a look at the following emails, they’re so typical of these “link builders”.

1
No name, no personalization … just lazy shit email
Thanks for spamming my form email. Asshole!
Thanks for spamming my form email. Asshole!
This person couldn't even match the names on their subject and ending
This person couldn’t even match the names on their subject and ending

I’ve been blogging consistently for the last 8 years and I put hours and hours into it. My blog might not be a world beater but it’s the blog and message I want to craft. What irks me, is that each of these requests lead to, is then asking you to post their content with a link or two to some other commercial website. This is what my mailbox looks like, when I look at advertising.
4

What drives me a little nuts is that people seem to think there is some magic formula for getting your blog out there.  Since I don’t accept advertising or have banner ads, I can be as honest as I please on my blog. My readers trust that if I give something a “Thumbs Up!”, then that recommendation counts for something.
I’m in no position to criticize how someone makes their money or funds their travelling. If someone can sell tons of ad space on their website to fund further adventures, then I’m all for it. In fact, I encourage anyone who wants to travel to look into those types of revenue generation.

There is no secret ... don't believe this Indian!
There is no secret … don’t believe this Indian! Seriously!

I also don’t really accept guest bloggers because people usually come to this blog to read what I have to say. If I don’t have anything particularly interesting to say, then I don’t write anything. Other blogger have guest bloggers to ease the pressure of posting and keeping a schedule.

Here’s another reason that I don’t have guest bloggers is that it might annoy followers who came to the blog to read whatever thoughts I came up with.

So what do you think? Should I be more accepting of guest posts here?

About Rishiray

Rishi Sankar is a Cloud HRMS Project Manager/ Solution Architect. Over the past 15+ years, he has managed to combine his overwhelming wanderlust with a desire to stay employed, resulting in continuing stints with 3 major consulting firms (IBM, Deloitte, Accenture). He documents his adventures around the world on "Ah Trini Travelogue" with pictures and stories from the road/tuk-tuk/camel/rickshaw. You can follow him on Twitter at @rishiray and on Facebook at "Ah Trini Travelogue . He doesn't like Chicken Curry but loves Curry Chicken and is always trying to find the perfect Trinidadian roti on the road. He also doesn't like cheese and kittens ... and definitely not together. E-mail from his blog is appreciated like a 35 yr old Balvenie at rishi@rishiray.com

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