It’s a common practice for bloggers to “reach out” to other bloggers in their niche. “You share my article with your audience, I’ll share your article with my audience” — usually the offer goes something like that.

I was recently approached by a blogger representing a popular website devoted to natural hair loss remedies. I’m familiar with their work. Their thesis, as far as I can tell, is that male pattern baldness isn’t genetic or “natural” and that it can usually be reversed with natural products. Of course they have an expensive book covering all the miracle herbs, lotions, and potions you’ll need to save your hair, complete with instructions on how to use those ingredients. They also have some detailed and well-researched articles available for free on their website, which may provide some value to hair loss sufferers.

Here’s The Original Email I Received (Links Removed)

“Hi there, [name removed] here, I was just browsing your website and was impressed by the quality of the content you’ve published on your site. I think you guys would be an incredible resource for our readers who love everything surrounding health and wellness. Likewise, I think we’d also make a great resource for your audience. We always make sure our blog posts are very comprehensive and well researched to ensure each topic is covered thoroughly. I actually wrote an article on Minoxidil side effects and 3 better natural alternatives which is why I wanted to email you to see if you’d be interested in adding a link to it from your article: www.hairlossdaily.com/top-affordable-hair-loss-treatments/ as an additional resource for your visitors. And in return we’d love to share your site across all our social media channels which have hundreds of active followers. Apart from that, you’d be priviliged to use any of the illustrations here [link removed] for free on your website. I really think the vision of your site is clear and aligns with our vision too. Let me know once you’ve added our link on your website and I’ll schedule your site to be promoted asap.”

My Response

What I Didn’t Say

I didn’t inform them that their offer was pretty weak! A backlink (that’s a link from my website to theirs, which could help their site rank better on Google, etc) for a Facebook link. I don’t think so. They have like 200 followers I believe, and who knows how many of those followers were legitimate. A backlink for several hits to my website, that’s a terrible deal as Donald Trump would say. On a related note, you can learn the top 6 shocking facts about Trump’s hair in this post!

Bottom line: I have your back. I won’t link to snake oils or websites promoting natural cures for hair loss, even if they offer me an incredible deal. Hair loss sucks. And even though promoting sketchy products may yield monetary benefits for me in the short-term, it would negatively affect this blog in the long-term — and more importantly, it would be wrong. So I refuse to do it.

Our visions most definitely did not align (and yes, the email they sent me was obviously taken from a template of some kind!)  They did have some cool illustrations though, so I’ll give them some credit there. Our visions did not align, and accordingly I won’t be sharing their article with you.

Robert Price

Robert Price is a writer, consumer advocate, and hair loss researcher with thousands of hours of experience in the field. His goal is to keep you out of the hair loss rabbit hole, underworld, or whatever you want to call it. He founded Hair Loss Daily, the unbiased hair loss blog, in 2016. You can learn more about Robert in the my story section of this website.