{"id":82717,"date":"2015-11-24T11:08:28","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T11:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk?p=82717&preview_id=82717"},"modified":"2015-11-24T11:08:28","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T11:08:28","slug":"the-dad-network-parenting-blog-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/the-dad-network-parenting-blog-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogger Spotlight: The Dad Network, a resource for every dad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blogger Spotlight with Al Ferguson, the dad behind top parenting blog, online fathers’ support hub , and nominee for the Best UK Parenting Blog at this week’s Vuelio Blog Awards<\/a>, The Dad Network. Al spoke to us about why the site is needed more than ever, working with PRs and best practices for successful blogger outreach.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What’s new on The Dad Network?\u00a0<\/strong>The Dad Network is currently going through a refurbishment and any day now, the brand new\u00a0look and feel will be launched. We\u2019re focusing on producing quality content that will be useful for\u00a0parents, but specifically dads, at the moment but also have a couple of projects in the pipeline.\u00a0Our private network, just for dads<\/a>, is growing every day and the activity within that group is\u00a0great. Our goal is to be a resource for every dad.<\/p>\n

What has been a fun\/interesting campaign you have recently worked on? What was different about it?\u00a0<\/strong>We recently ran a charity campaign called #dothedaddance. The campaign asked dads to get\u00a0their groove on and upload it to social media, tagging some of their friends to do the same.\u00a0Once uploaded, the idea was that they donated to UNICEF. It was a great campaign and I\u00a0personally had a lot of fun. You can see the promo video here<\/a>, I think you\u2019ll agree that it does\u00a0look good fun! (https:\/\/youtu.be\/rc_xr7fJuD4<\/a>)<\/p>\n

How do you use social media to promote\/share content? What are the challenges?\u00a0<\/strong>Social media is a fantastic tool to advertise yourself. We share our content across social media\u00a0hoping that new people will see it each day. We schedule tweets to share our most recent\u00a0articles at optimum times (for the UK & US) and then use our Facebook page to share and\u00a0engage with our readers in a more comprehensive way. It\u2019s also great for networking and\u00a0meeting people; whether they\u2019re other bloggers, PR, media contacts or just \u2018people.\u2019 Social\u00a0media has certainly made the world a smaller place and I really like the fact that the various\u00a0social networks all have their own unique strengths; they compliment each other well.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give to a someone who wants to start a blog?\u00a0<\/strong>My advice to someone wanting to blog would be this: Make sure you know why you want to\u00a0blog. Knowing this will shape how you approach it. How you approach it is critical in achieving\u00a0your aim. Blogging for income is difficult and there isn\u2019t a quick way of doing this; so don\u2019t think\u00a0you can make a quick buck! I\u2019d also say that working with other bloggers is essential. There is a\u00a0great community and if you\u2019re in that community, you\u2019ll be able to get help with almost anything.<\/p>\n

How do you work with PRs?\u00a0<\/strong>We work with PRs in a number of ways. Sponsored posts, advertorials, giveaways, gift guides,\u00a0social promotion, bespoke blogging, modelling, filming and even just seeking advice (both\u00a0ways). PRs are great to get involved with and can gove your blog a real boost. Bloggers need\u00a0PR companies more than PR companies need bloggers, but having a mutual relationship is\u00a0really helpful.<\/p>\n

Do you feel bloggers need to be compensated for the work they do?\u00a0<\/strong>This comes back to the reason you blog. If you blog because you love writing and take it up as a\u00a0hobby, then your compensation is the fact your blogging. If your aim is to earn some money\u00a0then by all means, ask for compensation for your time. I think that bloggers should be\u00a0recognised as valuable publishers and PR companies shouldn\u2019t be surprised if a blogger seeks\u00a0payment. They\u2019re giving up time to research and write and if it\u2019s a good blogger, the PR can\u00a0expect quality results. I imagine most bloggers charge less than they should, so more often than\u00a0not, PRs will get a good deal.<\/p>\n

What do you feel about sponsorship disclosure?\u00a0<\/strong>We have a strict view on this. If you\u2019re paid for a link, it has to be no follow and it has to be\u00a0clearly marked within the post that you were paid, sponsored etc. I like Google and I want\u00a0Google to like The Dad Network<\/a> so I\u2019m not going to do anything that might ruin that relationship.\u00a0Some PR companies will ask, and even offer more money for no disclosure and a follow link.\u00a0That tells me that I don\u2019t want to work with the PR company; despite the temptation! Some\u00a0bloggers may work more riskily, but not us.<\/p>\n

List three best practices PRs need to follow for better blogger outreach?<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. PRs should spend time reading a blog before contacting.<\/strong> Read the \u2018about\u2019 page and a few\u00a0articles. I get approached by so many who don\u2019t really have anything that fits my style or\u00a0readership. A waste of everyones time. Knowing about the blog you\u2019re approaching also helps\u00a0you personalise your emails. Bloggers like this (although I don\u2019t really mind.)<\/p>\n

2. Have a realistic view on budgets.<\/strong> Offering a large (ish) blogger \u00a325 to write an 800 article with\u00a0links, images and full social media promotion is wrong. Bloggers spend an awful lot of time on\u00a0their blogs and writing, so budgets need to reflect this. It\u2019s really good to open up a dialogue\u00a0about budgets though. Be open, honest and up front and a good deal for both parties can be\u00a0agreed.<\/p>\n

3. Have realistic expectations.<\/strong> Some blogs have a great readership, but is made up\u00a0predominantly of other bloggers, rather than the average Jo! Bloggers tend to not click other\u00a0bloggers links so be aware that you might have a great post written and published, but with a\u00a0low click rate. This is still valuable, but in a different way. I guess what I\u2019m trying to say is to\u00a0have realistic expectations about the fruit your investment will bear. (Does that make sense?)<\/p>\n

What will be big in your blogosphere in the coming months?\u00a0<\/strong>For us, we see a huge gap in vlogging for dads. There is so much potential to hear a dads point of view about\u00a0real life and I think that dads would be interested. This is the one to watch for me, maybe a YouTube channel\u00a0for dads? ;) (I\u2019m on it!)<\/p>\n

Editorial information on Al, The Dad Network, and thousands of other media contacts and outlets, can be found in the<\/strong>\u00a0Media Database<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blogger Spotlight with Al Ferguson, the dad behind top parenting blog, online fathers’ support hub , and nominee for the Best UK Parenting Blog at this week’s Vuelio Blog Awards, The Dad Network. Al spoke …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":82723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1449],"tags":[7089,7240,7242],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82717"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}