Is there a Yellow Pages for blogs?

May 21, 2008 11:09 AM

What's an easy way to efficiently find and contact many different bloggers at once?

I have a web app/site that may be of interest to bloggers/sites, both to write about and to use on their respective sites. I'd like to let them know about it, but I'm not sure how to get the information to them. I'm familiar with Technorati's Top 100, but I'd like to find a scalable way to reach them and the next 900 or so on the list.

posted by Kibbutz to technology (16 comments total)

Don't forget to try here.
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 11:16 AM on May 21

I think that any attempt to email 1000 people who haven't asked to be on your mailing list is going to be considered spam.

I'd start by having personal conversations with a few that you think will be most interested in your product. If your product is exciting to them, the news will spread.
posted by winston at 11:20 AM on May 21

It sounds like you may be describing spam. Mathowie has had much to say on the subject of being on the receiving end of unwanted contact by PR people... it might not be in your best interest to pursue this. Anyway, if the top 100 are interested, the next 900 will hear about it and follow. If the top 100 aren't interested, you probably annoyed them. Better to blog about it, submit it to software update tracking sites, review sites that explicitly invite submissions, etc.
posted by mumkin at 11:24 AM on May 21

Nthing spam. I would suggest not spamming people.

Other than just hoping the site will get popular through word-of-mouth, you could put your URL in your profile/signature/homepage link in various websites/forums/blog comments. Those are places where you can promote yourself and your site without coming off as an evil spammer.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:28 AM on May 21

Mathowie has had much to say on the subject of being on the receiving end of unwanted contact by PR people

Recently: Dear PR people: How to Pitch Bloggers
posted by kirkaracha at 11:36 AM on May 21

Yeah, contacting people "efficiently" for you generally means increasing the chances that you're wasting _their_ time.
posted by amtho at 11:38 AM on May 21

I have a web app/site that may be of interest to bloggers/sites, both to write about and to use on their respective sites. I'd like to let them know about it, but I'm not sure how to get the information to them.

What you are talking about is called "advertising." Buy some ads. See what happens.
posted by dersins at 11:45 AM on May 21 [1 favorite]

As dersins says, the only scalable approach that isn't spam is advertising.

The less scalable approach involves manually finding appropriate sites, finding out enough to understand the author and audience, then getting in touch with a single polite, useful email that's tailored to each site. 95% of the promotional emails I get related to my sites (pushing a service/product, pointing out an article or requesting information) are spammy nonsense, but those that have seemingly been written by a considerate human being sometimes merit a reply (if only to say no thanks).
posted by malevolent at 12:20 PM on May 21

No, no, my apologies--I guess I didn't phrase the question correctly. I didn't mean that I would contact them all at once (a la spam). As a matter of fact, I've had some good luck contacting dead-tree media people on a one-by-one basis, who have been a little easier to fine. And I intend to make the same one-at-a-time reachouts to the bloggers, if only I could find a place that aggregated the contact/subject matter of a large assortment of them.
posted by Kibbutz at 12:24 PM on May 21

I mean: "a little easier to find."
posted by Kibbutz at 12:25 PM on May 21

Most bloggers have contact information on their About page.

But I would consider advertising or posting it in Mefi Projects or going to a blogger conference and networking, etc.. I'm a blogger who is by no means on the "A List" or the "Technorati Top 100" or whatever, but I get about 5-7 emails per day from well meaning people looking to pitch me something, or start a conversation about something they want to show me, or asking me for feedback, etc. If an email is unsolicited, I tend to ignore this type of email because I just don't have the time to respond to them, even if it is addressed only to me and not to some huge long list of bloggers.
posted by jeanmari at 12:57 PM on May 21

http://thanksno.com
posted by cgomez at 1:55 PM on May 21

First off, make a link to your web app /site in your Metafilter profile, because now I'm curious.

Go to bloglines or stumbleupon or some such and make a profile there, with your link. There may be a group that fits very well into your particular niche.

If you think this is something that would appeal to professional bloggers, you could try approaching Problogger or Scoble, for suggestions on how to reach out. You could also try looking up tech conferences.

If women might like it, go to BlogHer.

That's all I got. Try the veal.
posted by misha at 1:56 PM on May 21

Oh, and seconding jeanmari's input on all the unsolicited proposals bloggers receive.

I have a submissions policy on my blog, and if you follow it, I will respond (not necessarily accept, but respond). The unsolicited pitches generally get ignored.
posted by misha at 1:58 PM on May 21

I used to be in the Technorati Top 100. (I think that at one point I was #45.) If there was any contact list such as you're describing, no one ever told me about it.

And if I'd found out about such a list, I would have moved heaven and earth to get myself removed from it. I received far too much spam as it was that was sent to everyone on the Top 100 list.

If I were still in the Top 100 (I'm not, and haven't been for about four years), the last thing I would want is to be on some sort of yellow pages list such as you describe where people like you who "have something they think I might be interested in" could find my email address easily. Others I knew who were in the Top 100 felt the same way.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 2:07 PM on May 21

Okay--thank you all for your time and help. I guess it's going to take a little longer for my earthshaking product to, uh . . . shake the earth.
posted by Kibbutz at 3:36 PM on May 21