What's Your Perspective on My Blog?

I need your opinion again...

I recently contacted an advertising website hoping that I'd be able to carry some of their ads on my blog. I had heard good things about the company too. Like BlogHer and Logical Media, they vetted my site. But unlike the others, this company turned me down. Here's their explanation...

Content issues: We look for posts with original content and audience participation. When examining your site, we found that it appears to have one or more (not necessarily all!) of the following issues: sponsored "review" posts, posts with content taken from third parties such as other web sites or Wikipedia, posts with little original material, and so on.

I'm guessing that they had an issue with my book reviews and thought they were "sponsored"? The book reviews would also cover the "content taken from third parties" because both First WildCard and CFBA post "About the Book" and "About the Author" on their blogs for reviewers to copy. Not sure how my review of a book would qualify as little original material since a review is my opinion. :)

From my perspective, I try to post about a variety of topics - farm life, writing stuff, book reviews, living frugally, our pets, photos. I know I don't do all of those every week or even consistently. And sometimes there's a string of book reviews simply because that's when the tour dates are, but I try to do no more than 3 reviews a week.

To me, blogging is all about life as it happens. That's why I really don't do sponsored posts about products, companies, or other sites. (By my definition, "sponsored" is when I get paid to write about something.) I've only done 2 sponsored posts in the last year and a half. And personally, I dislike reading blogs that are filled with canned reviews and have little substance.

However, if I like a product (Reynold's Handi-Vac) or have an experience with a company (Enterprise), I'm going to share that with my readers. If my post can help one person come to a decision about a product/company, then I consider my post a success. It's not about making money but helping someone else.

Going off topic here... Enterprise never responded to my letter about our experience. When I submitted it, their message said that the regional manager would be in touch within a few days. I also got a survey call about our experience where I told the lady what happened. The lady promised someone would call me to get details. Two weeks later, no such phone calls have happened. Hmmmm... Okay, rant is over. :)

One thing I found interesting about this advertising company's response was they weren't specific about what the problem was. Essentially they said, "It could be one of these things, but we're not really saying." Further down in the email, they say that if I fix the problem, I can reapply. Um, how can I fix the problem without knowing what it really is? LOL

So, what's your opinion? What would you like to see more of on this blog?