The Wardman Wire

I’m looking for a blogger (or potential blogger) interested in writing about UK consumer rights issues for my main blog, the Wardman Wire .

I’ve been prompted to post this request after a consumer rights issue of my own; I became “collateral damage” a dispute between the “wholesale” service provider and my own ISP when my Internet Service was cut off without warning . My article went straight into the Top 10 on Google for a search on the name of the provider, and has triggered a good debate.

I’m interested in covering particular cases and general consumer issues, which may feed into political comment and potential reform. I think there is an interesting opportunity for campaigning at the junction of the politics and consumer niches – especially as the blog form is well suited to longer term, tightly targeted, coverage.

I’m looking for someone with a knowledge of, or interest in, consumer rights and protection, willing to contribute roughly once a week for at least 12 months.

I’ve included details below, but you can find out more about the blog from our about page .

What material am I looking for?

• There is quite a lot of leeway to pursue your ideas. I’m proceeding from the thought that it is an interesting topic to be covered on a blog in the politics/media niche, and that there are a lot of interesting possibilities to have an input into wider reforms in addition to commenting on particular cases.
• There is potential for giving advice and writing about the law, writing about or taking up individual issues and cases, and campaigns – and also for anything else that interests you.
• The blog form is well suited for longer term coverage and campaigns that do not fit properly into other media.
• You would be welcome to contribute to other areas of the site.

Who am I looking for? You need to:

• Be a decent writer.
• Have enough knowledge of UK consumer rights / protection law to be able to cover the subject sensibly.
• Know the limitations of your own knowledge, and which areas you should avoid/ask advice about. Ideally you will know who to ask as well.
• Have enough knowledge of the law to avoid both of us sued by saying the wrong things, or the right things in the wrong way.
• Be able to demonstrate these points (that means I need to see some form of track record, however short). That could be published writing, an established position giving advice, or previous postings on a blog or forum.
• Be willing to come on board for an initial trial of a few weeks, then for 12 months if we are both happy.

Who is this suitable for?

• Someone writing about consumer issues online who would like the opportunity to write for a different audience.
• An adviser who would like to try their hand at writing.
• Somebody with an existing interest in consumer issues who would like to gain experience writing in the blog form.
• It is not for someone wanting to make a living now.

What do you get out of this?

• A platform on a prominent blog (we are usually in the Wikio.co.uk top 30 for all UK blogs), without the need to spend 18-24 months building your own site.
• A new audience.
• A chance to try something new – as far as I am aware no one has covered the consumer rights/protection niche on a UK political site before.
• The opportunity to build your own profile.
• Mentoring/advice from the existing contributors, and myself.
• I will work with you to create your own “Microbrand” on the blog, and I am quite happy for you to develop that as a brand for your own use elsewhere. One of the deliberate aims of the Wardman Wire is to encourage and develop new or young bloggers, and to do coverage across different blogging niches.
• I am quite happy for articles to be cross-posted to your own site, and for you to link back from each article. I try and go out of my way to promote contributors.

What you don’t get?

• This is not a paid role. Beer money is possible from time to time, but the blog is a long way from generating any significant income.

Wrapping Up

I’ve tried to give as much information as I can, but this always risks daunting people: I’m keen to hear from you even if this detail seems intimidating.

Please email me anyway if you are interested on mattwardman AT gmail DOT com.