The Ugly Duckling House blog was created in April of 2010 as a way for me to share my crazy house stories with my close friends (Fingernails in the fridge? Dog on the roof? Sheesh!). Not long after, it turned into a passionate hobby to share the DIY lessons I’d learned about first-time homeownership and grew a loyal following – which continues to this day.

Who I Am

Sarah Fogle

My name is Sarah Fogle. I crack jokes about the good, the bad, and the very, very ugly truth of what my experience is like as a homeowner. I’m still learning the ropes of DIY remodeling, woodworking, etc. and I’m not afraid to show the grit and share my new vocabulary as I fumble around this house.

Want to know more about me? There’s a whole page on that right here.

Social Media & Reach (updated May 2020)

I’m regularly active on the blog, YouTube, and social media platforms for a total reach of over 13.6 million every month.

  • Monthly pageviews: 340,000+
  • Pinterest followers: 3.4 million, 10+ million monthly reach
  • Instagram followers: 18,900+
  • RSS readers: 17,700+
  • YouTube subscribers: 13,100+
  • Facebook followers: 5,300+
  • Twitter followers: 2,600+
  • Tiktok followers: 24,300+

Who Visits This Site

The majority of my readers are DIYers with a passion for learning how to do things they may not have done before. They desire thrifty finds, clever ideas, and home remodeling inspiration. They are interested in products or services related to home improvement, power tools, and decorative items.

Taken from Alexa web analytics: “Based on internet averages, uglyducklinghouse.com is visited more frequently by females who are in the age range 25-34, have children, are college-educated, and browse this site from work.”

Love from Peers

In addition to studying it from an academic perspective with my MBA, this blog has worked with recognizable home improvement brands. After a while, other sites started noticing the Ugly Duckling House – and they have some really nice things to say!

Top Blog Lists

Website Features

Bob Vila feature

DIY Blog Features:

Events & Speaking Engagements

Television/Video/Radio Appearances, Interviews

Brands I’ve worked with

“Guest Posts” & Article Submissions

Sorry, but generic home tip articles, infographics, freelance submissions, roundup posts are not permitted as guest posts on this blog. The reason for this is simple: readers are smart and typically don’t like these kinds of posts because the article isn’t consistent with the usual tone and content of this site. If you would like to promote your brand, product, or services, I would instead recommend sponsorship. There are several options available, and I am happy to explain if you have any questions.

I do have regular contributors to this blog, but they are usually hand-picked by me because they MUST follow these guidelines:

  • You have a personal blog or are a regular reader of the Ugly Duckling House and have no commercial website that sells goods or services
  • You share their own DIY project or tutorial with original photography (and why wouldn’t you? I’m sure it’s great!)
  • There are no promotional, paid, or affiliate links.

I love to feature hard work and give kudos to a job well done, especially when it’s from another blogger or one of my readers showing off a project they’re proud of. If you have tried one of my tutorials and want to share your completed project, I’d be happy to add your photo to the post. Feature requests can be sent via my contact page.

Again, because I get thousands of “guest post” requests each year that are marketing and PR emails asking me to link: sorry, NO. I don’t advertise websites or promote products for free, no matter how cleverly it is disguised in a home improvement article. Please instead look into sponsoring a post that I WRITE and are about the projects at the UDH.

Advertising & Sponsored Posts

I LOVE working with brands: trying new tools, creating a project out of a new product, or simply offering my own POV on a hot topic or current trends. However, I value my time and charge for these services. Please see my Advertising page for sponsored posts, social media partnerships, etc. Sorry, text link ads and embedded links within existing posts are not offered.

Reviews

Got a great product that you would like me to try out? Fantastic! I’m especially interested in new products or sneak peeks at events that others may not know about. Please keep in mind:

  • If you want to send me a product to get my feedback privately, I usually do this for free. However, if your aim is not private feedback and you’re looking for it to be featured in a blog post, video, or social media campaign, it is considered advertising and requires paid sponsorship. You can find out more on my Advertise page.
  • I am interested in reviewing products or services that are the right fit in terms of this blog and it’s content as it relates to do-it-yourself home improvement, woodworking, crafts, recipes, outdoor, camper renovation, etc.
  • I do NOT review samples; if you want me to endorse a product or service, I want to test exactly what a normal customer/client experiences. In other words, I will not review a sample/swatch of flooring or siding and write up a post about it. I would need to actually install and use it myself.
  • If you do decide to ship something, there is no guarantee that I can or will use it within a specific time frame — DIY takes time, as does do labor hours of recapping my latest projects, editing videos, sharing on social media, etc. However, I will do my best to provide you with info on the type of project I have in mind and keep you updated on its progress.
  • My honest opinions are what you’ll get, but I make no guarantees to ever link to your product. I may add it to my favorite tools list or include it in my gift guides at my discretion. If I don’t like the product, I will let you know via email why it didn’t work. This includes paid sponsors — if I didn’t like it, I will let you know and offer the option not to post about the product or service (there is often no point in talking to my readers about a product if I don’t think they should buy it). Items that were used or previously mentioned in a post will not be returned. See this post for an example of one of my partnered reviews.

Giveaways

If you are not a regular sponsor of Ugly Duckling House but are interested in promoting your product, please note that I charge a fee to host giveaways (email for rates). As with product reviews, the giveaway must be for a product or service relevant to the typical content of this blog (I like the boxer brief as much as the next gal – but unless you strap a laser level on it, I’m not sure I can work it into a post about my bathroom remodel, k?).

Giveaway winners are handled by the company I’m working with (the giveaway sponsor handles shipping & such).

Discounts

If you would like to offer a discount for my readers in addition to your sponsorship, please let me know (ex: enter offer code “UDH” for a 10% discount at checkout). This is optional, but it may help increase traffic to your site. After all, my readers are on the lookout for great products at a great price!

Disclosure

This blog is the personal blog of Sarah Fogle and follows FTC best practices. I disclose ALL material relationships and do not allow “black hat” marketing links or “guest posts” that hide paid links. If you haven’t already, please read my full disclaimer page.

In selecting sponsorship, I try to select only those related to the content that you’ll find on this site and that which will appeal to my readers (i.e. home improvement, crafting, pets, decorating, woodworking, tools, etc).

Changes

The Ugly Duckling House reserves the right to modify or add to the above policies at any time.