Sell Yourself Before You Sell Your Products
09. May, 2010 
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One of the biggest turnoffs I’ve come across in my blogging endeavors, (and even in the offline world) is when folks are willing to put their product before their integrity. When watching the Twitter stream, I constantly see offers on products and services from other bloggers or online marketers with nothing more than a forceful, “BUY THIS PRODUCT, NOW!!!” or, “YOU WILL NEVER BE SUCCESSFUL UNLESS YOU SIGN UP FOR…”. Not exactly the most elegant way to attempt to gain momentum or reader loyalty if you ask me.
OK, So WHO are You and Why Should I Buy From You?
Interests are piqued because the author may have used a very enticing tagline or bait title to get you in on their sales page to begin with. Great, they can think up clever lines to get you hooked, but the question still begs…”Why are you and why should I trust you or your product?”
More than likely, if you do a little research on the individual, there’s not much going on under the hood. You’ve seen the Twitter accounts that are following tons of people, but very little followers or the profile has the default birdie image and no real bio, but they claim that the one link in the stream will make you a Twitter rockstar or online millionaire.
I’m not one to ever go out and buy something that is being pushed by an individual without really understanding who that individual is and why they are selling something to begin with. I follow some of the big name bloggers and sure, I haven’t purchased anything from them, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t down the line. I spend a lot of time reading their online material and sign up for their mailing lists and let them sell themselves to me before I ever consider trusting their products first.
Yes, I Follow My Own Advice
The last thing I’m ever going to as you is to buy something from me without asking you to invest your own precious time in getting to know me and trust who I am, first. Sure, I promote the products of others, but I refuse to do so until or unless I trust the individual that I’m linking up to. How hypocritical would it be of me to simply push down my next product down your throat without telling you to, “Trust the person first before you buy, except for me, that is!”?
Unfortunately, the subject of Internet Marketing and bloggers making money online have indeed picked up a bad rap only because too many people see the Internet as the solution to anonymous income generation. In other words, since the Internet is obviously the place to be to stay informed, MLM and other “get rich quick” schemes have popped up all over the damn place and people are buying into them, only to regurgitate the same scheme over and over again. Guess what…other people buy in and this vicious cycle remains and only strengthens adding a stigma to bloggers and IM’s.
Gaining Trust and Providing Value
The first step to being a successful entrepreneur, blogger, marketer…well, anything for that matter is to persuade others in trusting you. Whether it be just the free information you put put on your blog or an information product, you must convince your readers that you actually care about them and not their PayPal account. Even if they don’t buy, give them enough information to where they know that you are trustworthy and you really do care about the subject matter that you are writing on, regardless of your niche.
Building that trust and providing as much free value as possible, prior to going for the sale, can only help your overall business. When you reach out to your readers looking for the monetary commitment prior to reaching out looking for a connection to help them solve their specific problem, your readers will see that, immediately.
Readers find your blog because they are running into a challenge that they may not be able to solve on their own. You may have the solution to that challenge so there’s the potential immediate connection when they show up on your domain. Sure, some people are looking for the quick fix and will buy something without any research or emotional investment. Other readers need to know who you are and why they should trust you over the next guy in the search results, so make sure you’re selling who you are first before jamming them for the sale. Otherwise, break out the Aviator sunglasses and the hair grease and get to work honing your gun finger action and good luck with that.
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