I am writing this post just to have the link to refer back to, but you’re welcome to read along if you like. 🙂

Occasionally I get requests to promote someone’s site or product on my blog. I almost never do this “blind,” meaning if I have had no contact with you or your product before.

There are several reasons why.

1. I am not here to provide free publicity to strangers.

2. I will not recommend something without further investigation because I have a responsibility to my readers, and usually I just do not want to take the time involved to check out your product, company, etc., the way I would prefer to.

2. WordPress.com blogs are not allowed to have paid ads in posts or on sidebars except under certain conditions which I do not meet at this time.

3. At this point in time I view my blog not as my business but as neighbors talking across the fence. I may mention a product, site, or person in the natural course of conversation in the same way I would to a personal friend, as something I found that I liked and they might, too.

4. Once blogs “go commercial,” they seem to take on a different tone, which is not one I want for this blog. If I ever go to a blog format or host that is not free, I may consider ads to support the cost of it.

5. It seems awfully presumptuous to me to contact me when we have never had any interaction before and ask to do a guest blog post here.

6. One exception to promoting other things for other people is blog tours of books, but I usually only do that when I have read the book and/or have read the author before. What few times I have looked at an excerpt of a book from an unknown author, it has not been something I wanted to promote. I might consider looking at your book if you have some excerpts from it online somewhere so I can check it out a bit beforehand, because I do like to promote good reading and authors, but, honestly, it’s not likely if I have never heard of you before.

7. Another exception would be when I have already read the book or mentioned the product. For instance, once after referring to a book I liked, the author contacted me, offered a free book for a giveaway to readers, and offered to do a guest post or interview. I chose the interview and I loved that. I felt I got to know the author a little better and I was glad to promote her book.

8. I also reserve the right to delete comments that are little more than self-promotion for someone else’s site or product.

9. I will occasionally promote a contest that I have seen on someone else’s site that may involve free prizes or host a giveaway or contest myself, but that usually does occur as a result of a blind e-mail requesting such promotion.