Video: How to Evaluate an Opportunity (when you aren’t getting paid)

by Sister-Diane on February 23, 2010

in Biz How-To's, Crafty Community, Videos

Evaluating an Opportunity (when you aren’t getting paid) from Diane Gilleland on Vimeo.

If you’re a craft blogger (or really, any kind of blogger), chances are good that sooner or later, someone will contact you and ask you to contribute something to their website. Sometimes, it’s a corporate website looking for free content, and sometimes, it’s another blogger looking for a guest post.

Some of these opportunities are great – in exchange for your time in producing content, you’ll get more exposure, or reach a new audience. But other opportunities… not so much.

How do you tell which is which? This video offers some simple tricks. Hope you find it useful!

Resources mentioned in this video:

• Google Reader

• Domain Tools/WHOIS Lookup

• Alexa.com

• Compete.com

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  • Thank you for the useful information. As a new blogger, everything can be very overwhelming. Posts like this really help. I bought my copy of the Handmade Market Place too. Can't wait to read it! Thanks again!
  • SisterDiane
    My pleasure! :-)
  • geekxnerd
    Very interesting...not that I get contacted to do anything for people, but I used these tools to check out my own stats. I have crazy inconsistent stats! My site visits were more than double what they are now for the months of October/November...I wonder what was so thrilling about my content then. Weird?!
  • I was just pondering this earlier as I'm just starting out. I have to admit I'm way too obsessed with alexa, but it does make me strive to work harder. I haven't heard of make + meaning yet I'm excited to check it out! Thanks :)
  • SisterDiane
    My pleasure, Cynthia! Thanks so much for your comment.
  • Prior to reading this post and watching your video, if another site contacted me to contribute something to their site, I would have probably jumped right at the chance without doing the research. You've provided really great information here and a lot to think about for future opportunities should they arise. I didn't know about Alexa and Compete, and I use Google Reader but had no idea you could check the stats of the individual blogs...thanks for that little tidbit of information :)
  • SisterDiane
    You're so welcome, Jen! I'm happy to be of help.
  • mandibeads
    I feel like many of us jump at the opportunity for more exposure, unless it is a site asking for our most prized tutorial. After doing research such as this, you might be surprised to find out it is totally worth it, or not :) Good stuff to know!
  • SisterDiane
    Thanks for the comment, Mandi! There are quite a few times in my past
    when I wished I'd done this "due diligence" before accepting a request.
  • Great post, Diane! I always learn something from your posts, and as a newer blogger who's anxious for exposure, it's great to have this resource to refer to before I say yes to an offer that may come to me in the future. Thanks for putting this together.
  • SisterDiane
    You're so welcome, Jill - and thanks for the comment! I learned a lot of this stuff the hard way, so I hope the info will help others avoid that. :-)
  • wow, i didn't know about any of these tools! i will definitely check them out. thanks for walking us through it all, diane!
  • SisterDiane
    My pleasure, Jenn! Hope you find them useful!
  • These are some great tools! Thanks for putting this tutorial together.

    (Also, it's nice to see some good quick typing on a tutorial. Don't you just hate it when half of the run time is watching someone else fix typos?)
  • SisterDiane
    Hahaha! Thank you so much, Leah - I'll totally admit that I had to
    type several times to get a nice quick version! Luckily, when editing
    still screen shots, it's easy to hide this. :-)
  • Thanks for the tips...I think it helps everyone to do even a little bit of detective work before putting in lots of hours on a project or contribution. I think it's also good to research for advertising as well!
  • SisterDiane
    Very true! This same research can be useful in evaluating lots of different opportunities.
  • Great video Diane! Very informative; I'll keep this in mind the next time someone asks me to contribute to their site.
  • SisterDiane
    Thank you, Kaye! I hope you find it useful.
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