Please don’t fall for this kind of crap, you’d be surprised the people that do
“Hi Alex,
I recently discovered your blog, and I have become a frequent reader. I recently published an article “50 Facts You Never Knew About the English Language” that dovetails well with your audience. Perhaps you would be interested in sharing with them? Here’s the link to the article if you would like to take a quick look for yourself:(LINK REMOVED).You can also simply go to our homepage and check it out there.
Thanks again for the great content, and I hope the article I’ve linked primes your interest.
Regards,
Hannah Wood”
The real telltale sign is links to blogs which aren’t actually TEFL ones, especially online courses, study abroad and universities. Ditto for almost identical emails offering guest pieces that are just lists of links. If anyone spots a blogger who has fallen for one of these, can you please leave them a message asking them to take it down?
Thanks
TEFLtastic 
Alex,
I got the exact same message and I really wasn’t sure what to do… as I checked out Hannah’s link and the article is actually very well written, funny and informative…
It’s definitely not TEFL and it’s definitely not uncommercial – is it an original piece is one of my questions but also why are they writing these form-mails to us? You think it’s for the in-link?
Why do they work so hard at this – I mean writing the “b.s.” about following our blogs (this is not the first email that starts like this and drives me nuts – not just from these online study people but actually anyone who wants something from me like basically me selling their work for them, lazy fools)
hmmm
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Thanks Karenne. There’s always the slightest doubt that it might be genuine, so thanks for telling me that you got the exact same message. I say don’t even click on their links, because that is also something that encourages them.
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I get this type of thing landing in my inbox quite a lot, and wouldn’t say it is anything particularly new.
It’s one of the reasons I stopped tweeting ‘101 best tools’ type links, as whenever I did, I always seemed to get an email suggesting I should share some fascinating link farm article or other ‘for my readers enjoyment’…
Call me perverse if you like, but should I ever feel the urge to feature that kind of article on my blog, I’m skilled enough at using Google Search to put together my own list, thanks ;-)
I’m sure they do it for the link juice and in a way, I suppose we probably should be flattered – I seriously doubt that they are going to get many takers for it though, to be honest.
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Yes, the “latest” bit wasn’t really accurate, but hadn’t seen anyone writing about them before…
Maybe I should feel less flattered that I rarely get these emails!
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PS Have seen two recent takers in the TEFL blogosphere (one of each of the types of post I mention), hence this post
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Got the same exact message a couple weeks back. Weirdness.
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The number of pea-brains who spend their time on this kind of thing would be mind-boggling if pea-brains could boggle minds. Not just on blogs but in forums and several other venues they attempt the most hopelessly obvious ruses to get their garbage through. If it walks like spam, sounds like spam, looks like spam or even vaguely smells like spam it IS spam – 100%!
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That’s definitely annoying. I sometimes click on the link to see where I’ll land, but only if it’s a verifiable link. I guess we all agree that most of the times it’s just spam. I’m actually glad I don’t get that many spams, which means I’ve been able to delete them with akismet and always checking the comments.
What about those messages in Russian, or any other language you’ve got no clue of? I find these a bit more annoying, actually.
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Here’s the latest. Pleeeeease don’t anyone take him up on the offer if you get the same email or comment
Dear Alex, My name is Brett Hillman and I work for [EDITED].com. I have spent some time looking over your blog, and I would like to offer a guest post that would mesh well with your blog’s subject matter. Our staff writer, Brian Jenkins, is an expert on career and education topics, and he would like to contribute a guest post discussing TEFL program options for educators. BrainTrack has been providing useful information on colleges and careers to our millions of annual visitors free of charge since 1996. We offer over 10,000 pages of information on colleges, universities, and careers, both domestically and internationally. Additionally, the New York Times, the Library of Congress, and hundreds of well-respected, global universities and colleges have recognized BrainTrack as a valuable resource by linking to our site. Thank you for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have. Best regards, Brett Hillman
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