Lately, I have been receiving a lot of email; quick questions about a trim colour there, a wall colour over here, requests for on-line consultations, other bloggers asking for advice, advertising, etc. All of these emails require a response, and I’ve noticed that sometimes it takes me a day or two to respond, and other times I wake up in the night wondering which ones I’ve missed or forgotten to hit reply. Why do I wake up in the night you ask? Because I really care about anyone who takes the time to send me a note.
Case in point, yesterday I received this note:
Hi Maria, I was just on your blog and wanted to run an idea past you. I’m looking for ways to get more entries into my ugg boot giveaway and I was hoping you might consider writing a short paragraph or linking to my competition? 
What do you think of the idea?
This was my response:
Hi Alicia,
Well if my blog was about fashion it would be a great idea, however, it doesn’t really fit in to what my blog is about. I do appreciate the offer though!
There are some big blogs that are all about fashion, I would approach them. You can link to a couple from my side bar, here and here and then they’ll have a huge blog list on their sidebar as well.
Good Luck with it.
Warm regards, Maria
And then her response was:
Ok, no problem, I understand, thanks for letting me know so quickly.
Best wishes,
Alicia
The reason I’m telling you this little story--other than the fact that I am now promoting an ugg boot giveaway on my design blog (am I clever or what? :) is this little exchange got me to thinking. . .
We would never ignore a customer that walked into our store. And a blog could be considered a type of store. We are either in a business we are trying to promote or if we are doing it for fun, it could still potentially turn into something cool with paying advertisers, etc. Just like in Julie & Julia.
So why is it okay to ignore another blogger? Such as someone who is asking for advice, or an email like the one above, which may not necessarily fit in with your blog?
When I first started out, I emailed big blogs that I admired, asking for advice, etc. One I repeat, one big blogger emailed me back and answered my question and you know what? Every time I go over to her blog, I feel warm and fuzzy just looking at it.
You wouldn’t ignore a customer that just walked into your store would you? If you did, they might tell ten people and that wouldn’t be good for business would it? I for one, wouldn’t shop there. Nor would I want to follow a blog knowing that every time I go there that blogger ignored my email, or after posting several comments NEVER posts a comment on my blog!
Do you remember that video I posted on my blog a few weeks ago? This is a guy who cares, and continues to respond to every single person who sends him a note. And he is now a celebrity in his industry!
Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman
When someone acknowledges you or takes the time to respond or is courteous, it makes you feel good right? Alternatively, we feel ignored or not important. So it’s not about being famous or big as much as letting people know that they are important enough to receive a response from you!
Bottom line, if you sent me a note and I didn’t respond, it somehow got lost in my piles of email so please send it again! And thank you to all of you who read my blog, I love you!!
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