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Are you selling too much on your blog?

Guest post by: Bonnie Harris

Article Overview: A few weeks back, I wrote about the top mistakes that business bloggers make that can hurt rather than help their business. After quite a bit of discussion in the comments from readers wondering what constitutes overselling, I thought it would be a great subject to dive a little bit deeper into. The thing is, it is kind of a touchy subject, because the promotional limits of one blog may not be the same as another. At the end of the day, it's all about what appeals to your readers and that can lead to big variations in strategy from one blog to the next. There's no way to give you a guidebook to avoid the potentially fatal mistake of overselling on our blog, but here are a few things you need to think about.

Are you selling too much on your blog?

A few weeks back, I wrote about the top mistakes that business bloggers make that can hurt rather than help their business. After quite a bit of discussion in the comments from readers wondering what constitutes overselling, I thought it would be a great subject to dive a little bit deeper into. The thing is, it is kind of a touchy subject, because the promotional limits of one blog may not be the same as another. At the end of the day, it's all about what appeals to your readers and that can lead to big variations in strategy from one blog to the next. There's no way to give you a guidebook to avoid the potentially fatal mistake of overselling on our blog, but here are a few things you need to think about. 1. Why do readers visit your blog? Every little thing you do when blogging needs to appeal to your target market. And that means the specific target market of your blog, which may be a niche group of people within the market your business is trying to appeal to. If they're visiting your blog because it's a great informational resource about a specialized topic, over-promoting will just be irritating. How would you like it if in every single post I wrote a paragraph about my business' services? That's what I thought...you'd also probably question if the information I'm providing is actually accurate or useful if I seem to only have "sell, sell, sell" on the brain.

2. Is the promo on your blog actually providing value to the content or to your readers? This point is closely linked to the first one. It's about appealing to your readers..and in some cases, some direct or indirect promotion may be okay. For example, dropping a quick mention of your business while providing an example that supports the topic you're discussing is perfectly appropriate. If you blog is about the fashion industry and you're writing about trends, a link to a product you sell to illustrate what you're talking about is also good too. Before you promote, ask yourself if in some way you're supporting your point, or providing your readers with much needed information.

3. Are the products and services you're plugging something readers could simply find on their own? Your blog is linked to your website, so think about it this way: if your promotion doesn't add value to your blog post, you're kind of insulting the intelligence of your readers. If they want to learn more about a product or service your offer, they'll just click on the appropriate tab.

4. How blatant is your advertising? When you self-promote, a quick link will go over a lot better than a three paragraph essay about why your business is so awesome. Throw in an in-text link, for example, to that website page that describes a service you're appropriately mentioning. But just hyperlink the appropriate keywords. Hey, you never know; despite what I said above, some readers may need to be pointed in the right direction.

5. What industry are you blogging about? If you're offering a professional service, blatant self-promotions in your blog posts is less likely to have a place. But, if you're selling a tangible product, it might be more appropriate. Take the fashion example above; it can be applied to all sorts of retail sites.

Remember, your blog may be designed as a promotional tool for your business, but the beauty of it is that it's not in your face like conventional advertising. When promotional efforts take a backseat on your blog, you'll find greater benefit.

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Article Tags: blog topics, blogging small business, business blogging, promoting small business with a blog, small business marketing, small business promotion, starting a blog, writing a blog



Related Forum Posts
Site promotion and Blogging - Just starting a blog is a terrible waste of your largest asset, your time. Blogging works well when selling stuff that can be bought online, to a demographic that visits blog. Even then the blog has to have content these people want and acquiring and posting it takes a very large amount of time out of your day.
Re: Email marketing - Also, don't make every message a sales message. I've found that sending out a weekly "blog report" is a good way to give information without selling. I talk about what's been happening on my blog and link out to it. It does wonders for my blog traffic stats and helps to build a good relationship with my list, providing the subscribers with valuable information and helps me to brand myself as an expert. Use your blog to build your list. Use your list to build your blog.
Use of Blogging For Promotion - If you do simple SEO stuff to your blogs, they seem to get more traffic or ranked higher or something vs simple SEO stuff to a website. Just starting a blog is a terrible waste of your largest asset, your time. Blogging works well when selling stuff that can be bought online, to a demographic that visits blog. Even then the blog has to have content these people want and acquiring and posting it takes a very large amount of time out of your day. Like any strategy, it works when it is appropriate and the person doing it get the functionality and has some relevant skills.
Re: Blog sells for up to $15 million - I think selling a blog for $15 million is insane. It must have been generating tremendous traffic, and have an intricate backlinking network. I wonder how the content will be revised with new owners on the site. Most blogs' content is derived from some individual. To extract that individual and replace them with someone else would essentially mean the flare of the blog in the first place may be gone. Maybe I'm overanalyzing it.
Re: Which is the best for beginners? - Hi Apu, I think one good way for Internet beginners to start is to experiment with selling stuff on eBay. In my own case I began by making a website about Japanese mahjong and then tried selling some mahjong goods on it. It worked! Actually, I remember that before I tried selling mahjong goods I experimented with selling other kinds of thing such as Japanese comics on eBay and things like that. I only got into affiliate marketing later on, and used the money I was making selling goods to fund my experiments with affiliate and network marketing.


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