Hello again, apparently i disappear for ages and come back in spurts, just yesterday i did a small blog post talking about a few issues i´ve encountered recently, you can read Skin Deep here. And today i´m at it again, writing stuff and things, tho it´s not my strong.

We are after all here to help each others and share info, and for the past two days i found a new trend that i find worrying to say the least, whilst going thru requests for review copies for the ongoing Skin Fair i noticed a pattern with some bloggers (see point 1), see besides blogging i do other things, like everyone else in SL i like trying new stuff and helping friends. And so i also do CSR and support for a friends shop, that happens to be in this event.

With that job comes the responsibility of accepting and reviewing all blogger applications, either for the shop regular bloggers list or event specific requests. And funny thing i´m not the only blogger who does it either, most shop blogger apps are not even reviewed by the creators themselves, at least not initially, there will be someone in charge of it either a csr/manager or a partner. So people don´t seem to realize that and apply as if talking to the owner, sometimes in even inappropriate ways.

But I´m not gonna talk about how you should fill in an app, I´m gonna talk about what i look at when i see your application.

1. I check your profile – I look at it for an idea of who you are and how you present yourself. Do you look professional and polished about what you do? Is your profile truthful? Would we be ok associating with it?

This seems pretty basic right? But sometimes i find the complete opposite of these simple things, today i saw the profile of a blogger, who in her picks thanked all her “sponsors” and in such list claimed several events also sponsored her, now this is a untruthful profile, because you blogged one edition of an event does not mean they sponsor or support your blog, btw most of the events i found on that list don´t even carry official bloggers, at all.

I get it you want to show your past experience when it comes to events, but put it down properly, say i officially blogged for: X event in 2103 and link to their list of official bloggers if available, trust me it’s not worth lying about, google will give an answer that is correct in seconds.

2. Your blog, i get that blogs are very different, we all have our own style and way of showing it, and believe me that goes into consideration, different audiences look for different things, and yet so do shops, why apply to blog poses if you don´t credit poses? Why apply for casual clothes if you only do RP related blog posts?

Some people do mix up styles and love going out of their comfort zones, SL is about dressing up and god knows i´ve been casual, sci-fi, goth and fairy, but not all bloggers do that, some are very specific in their style and maybe they should consider their style when they fill out applications.

3. Your extras, how diligent are you, with other platforms, are you on flickr, plurk, tumbrl, facebook, twitter or any of the others 10005 social media sites, for me that´s an extra means you´re organized and looking for new audiences.

A the end of the day these are things i personally look up when you present yourself to me, and i´m not even talking about quality of work or all the other small details that are usually in the app itself. How old your blog is, How often you blog.How is the overall quality of your photos and/or writing. How/If do you tag your posts If you add your pics to the store´s flickr groups, these are more subjective points or asked in the app itself, and trust me i will check to see if you answered truthfully.

Remember all bloggers are different and so are all store owners/csrs/managers and they all ask for different things from you as a blogger, but, being truthful, organized and polished are basic things when we fail at those, we give all other bloggers a bad rep, and it´s so easy to be all of those wether you´re blogging a street corner in a dark alley, or a runway on the finest built sim.