Subtlety doesn’t always work, but in certain blogging circles, it’s a must. How do you sell without selling? Promote without promoting?
- Influence
- Inform
- Invite
Influence
“the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways.” — See Merriam-Webster.
How do you cause an effect in an indirect or intangible way?
Tell Stories
Stories are incredibly powerful. Telling a story is a powerful way to invoke emotion and develop a connection between your reader and yourself, and also between your reader and whatever you are trying to promote. If done well, you will be able to create a link there, such that your reader says to herself or himself, “I can relate to this.”
When writing for a blog, a site like HubPages, or an article directory, you can write well without being overly promotional by communicating a simple story. It will work best if it is coming from you. Write in first person and just tell it like it is. Talk about the circumstances that were going on in your life/career/blog/etc. and what happened.
When linking, link with anchor text instead of “Click here to find out how this awesome product worked for me!”
Inform
When your goal is simply to inform, you cannot be overly promotional. Instead of informing people about the product/service, inform them of situation – the circumstances that create a need for it. Talk about what is going on.
This is a great way to approach video blogging as well, especially if you are being paid to promote something with video (like a paid review). Open up the discussion with factual information.
Be Helpful
Present solutions that cost nothing – your content should be helpful regardless of whether or not you make a sale. If you’re trying to write about a WordPress plugin and you know that you are going to include affiliate links in your text, why not write something specific about how to resolve some of the issues the plugin is resolving?
Or, for example, if you are introducing a new movie blog theme, write a post on movie blogs in general, such as, Five Ways to Promote a Movie Blog, and then introduce the theme at the end.
Using more than one link in the text is unnecessary. If the link you use is placed appropriately, one is enough.
Invite
Try inviting people to get their issues/problems/situation resolved rather than telling them that they need to.
A good rule of thumb is to simply wait till the end of your message to invite readers to find out more about what you’re trying to promote.
Here are some tips to doing this well in various publishing circles:
Your Own Blog: If you’re reviewing something or promoting an affiliate product, use just one to two sentences at the end of your post that invite people to find out more about it and/or buy it at such-and-such a price. Make it clear that this is NOT the entire reason for your post.
Guest Posts: Never link to the product/service that you’re trying to promote within the body of your guest post. Instead, use the author bio that you usually get to do so. One sentence will do.
EzineArticles: You may use up to two self-serving (that’s what they call them) links in your author resource box. With EzineArticles only, I suggest being as salesy as you need to be. It works. People reading EzineArticles on their site are looking for specific solutions and information. If you’re promoting a weight loss product in an EzineArticle, then you probably want to say specifically – “Are you trying to lose weight really quickly? Try such-and-such, because it works best and we can prove it.” And then link “such-and-such” to the page you want them to visit.
HubPages: If you are promoting a product that is not a blog: Focus on the influence and inform part for the majority of the hub. Then, use a text box at the end (above comments) and just let people know they can find out more about that product and include an anchor text link. Do not use that link anywhere else on the page. HubPages is very particular about being overly promotional.
If you are promoting anything that has a blog with an RSS, here’s what you should do: Influence and inform as I’ve described above, and then add an RSS box for the blog’s feed, with 3 latest posts. In this way, you are letting the feed do the promotion. The feeds are dofollow so long as you are a reputable hubber.
Squidoo: Similar to HubPages, except that you can be a bit more promotional on Squidoo. I would not recommend it.
Other Ways
Have you been successful in promoting a book, or a theme, or some other product or service in your blogging? If so, what strategy did you go with?
About Tia Peterson
