You Blog? So You’re In Sales, Right?
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Beyond the ideas and the thoughts and the knowledge, what is it that you’re really selling? Benefits. You’re not even selling “features”, you’re selling “benefits”! People read your stuff only because it’s beneficial for them to read it. You provide them a solution, a point of view, and you help them get better (and they help you in return).
Why not market your ideas just like you would market a product?
Just like when writing a new ad, people tend to list features and features. People sure are interested in that, but they’re way more eager to know what the benefits are. Same with blog posts! If you provide a solution or an interesting point of view, people will most likely return, bookmark, subscribe, comment.
Think of your next blog post a a short sales page, list some features, but don’t forget benefits are far more important! Give readers and visitors a good reason to read. A blog post is sorta like a sales pitch. You have the opportunity to gain or loose a reader. If people see your post as beneficial, they’ll be back for more the next day. Every single blog is a “marketplace of ideas“.
You’re a salesperson! Even if you don’t make a dime from blogging.
Ok so let’s talk about it, how do you see your blog? What benefits do you provide your readers, and what makes them want to come back day after day, or week after week?
“Do what you love in service to the people who love what you do.” - Liz Strauss, SOBCon07
This should be interesting! :)
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26 Responses to “You Blog? So You’re In Sales, Right?”
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Hi!
You are right in every word. I think you may write book and you will have a lot of readers, like J.Rohn and etc..
Drew, welcome to SmartWealthyRich! wow thanx a lot, i appreciate your kind words very much!
Hey Jon, good question.
I think I focus on two things mostly:
1) I try to take the stuff that’s textbook for business and leadership and make it interesting and thought provoking. Or look at it from a different angle and throw in some humor.
2) I also try to put together a list of actionable steps someone can take to do something.
Trying to meld both those things (creative and analytical) together can be tough …
But better than just trying to inspire someone into believing they can fly is a blueprint on how a good head-wind and a lot of flapping can really make that happen. :)
Shane, you know how much i like your blog, well i enjoy reading your replies to my posts just as much! :)
Throwing in some humor is always a good way to get a message across, especially if the topic is more “serious”, and i think you achieve that really well. It’s all about the benefits your provide your readers.
I provide them a healthy dose of “nothing”… which is extremely valuable in this overloaded web 2.0 world :)
Hey Goldy, hehe a good dose of random stuff is always nice, and usually fun to read, sometimes the most off-topic posts are the ones that reveal the most about the author :)
Interesting perspective I’d never considered before, but of course you’re absolutley right.
Hey Daniel, thanx a lot bro, id’ like to ask you something, what is your perspective? :)
Good post Jonathan. Although I’ve been covering different areas, I try to help people to think about different aspects of their blog and blogging, that they may miss. It’s not easy though.
Hey Armen, I always find it interesting to challenge people and try to make people think. It’s one of the aspects of blogging i enjoy a lot, and inviting people to join in the discussions :)
I guess my gardening blog is about sharing my experiences without hitting reading over the head with a sales pitch. That’s why they keep coming back and commenting.
But that doesn’t pay the bills so I need to figure out how to walk the line between storytelling and selling. Good question.
Nice blog you’ve got here, I’m glad I found it.
Hi Anthony, welcome to SmartWealthyRich, please make yourself at home, hope you find some useful infos on here (and also in the comments section, people leave some really useful replies)
Your blog looks really good, i think the idea of having a gardening blog is a brillant idea, i don’t think it’s a niche that is over-saturated so there’s definitely room for blogs there. as for going from “storytelling” to “selling” well you don’t actually have to “sell” stuff, just a couple of banners, affiliate programs, and it might do the trick and bring a couple sales a month, enough to pay for hosting and bandwidth, so it’d be a start :)
From my salesman experience in my background, I can agree with this 100%. Your return doesn’t always have to be financially. Like you said Jon your return may be with comments, emails, or even new subscribers.
Daniel, exactly, e-mails, comments, and discussions is what makes me keep on blogging, i love that! Return doesn’t have to be financially, i believe in creating discussions and conversations, but of course, in the eyes of advertisers, it’s great, so money sure is welcome :)
Haven’t seen you online in forever! I hope all is well. Miss ya.
Hi Tish, yeah it’s been pretty busy since a week or so, i’m at the “Millionaire Mind Seminar” for 3 days (back sunday night) right now, seems like the month of May is the month of conferences and seminars. Will post a “Millionaire Mind” seminar post/review soon, and thing should be back to “normal” hehe
No question. If you are working you are selling your services somehow or another. Whether it is for immediate gain, attention, etc. It is selling.
Hi Dave! exactly, we’re selling our services (blogging is kinda like a service)
Our ideas and thoughts, most of us are selling them for $0 though. I’m in the process of writing a post on “moving from selling our thoughts/ideas for $0, to selling our thoughts/ideas for money, since it definitely has value“, to follow up with this post.
How can someone make that move? Is it possible to earn money “selling our thoughts? recognition/attention, of course is something we all want, but what about the financial side of things?
Can someone share some tips and tricks, and experience? :)
i didn’t realize that when i blog “i am in sales”. it was through my blog that i got to be known, gotten a number of projects for research and writing.
maybe, soon, i will also be earning money through my blogs, i still have a lot to learn, though.
Hi Sexy Mom! Well even if you don’t earn much money yet from your blog (it’s way fine i think, blogging is not about money) you’re selling your ideas and thoughts. You got known through your blog, that is great, so that means your ideas, thoughts and opinions got you contacts and got you involved in different projects, that’s is awesome! :)
Hi Jonathan,
You blog is an easy read, and I like how you come up with fresh topics to blog about. Also you reply to pretty much every single comment. That shows your appreciation to your loyal readers. Keep up the good work.
At the moment, I’m blogging about personal financial stuff for $0, but also feel the gratification when I see traffics and responses.
Financial Jungle Guy
Hi FinancialJungle! Thank you so much! I try to engage conversations and invite people to join in the discussions, i think blogging is about relationships! Relevancy, consistancy, and interactivity are (i think) key elements! :)
Just a quick note, financial, money, and investment blogs can usually sell links for a better price than a lot of other niches, i think the only niche that gets a higher text-link price are gambling sites. I mean, just to pay for the hosting fees and the costs of running your blog, you could consider joining text-link brokers like text-link-ads or something like that. Being rewarded by comments, replies, e-mails is what i love the most about blogging, it is the main reason why i blog! but if some advertisement can cover the costs of running the blog, why not go for it? :)
I agree with financial jungle. You right easy language. English not my native language ( i think u see, i have an awfull english)…but yr blog i understand very well and like to read yr blog. By the way i work on book at present moment. About relationships… :-) But i am really pity my english so bad, so i cant say all that i think at english. But in future i gonna corect this mistake. From next month i will go on english classes. So i will have possibility to say my thoughts.
And also, i hope one day my blog will be as popular as yours :-) I would like people go on discause .
Hi Drew! thanx a lot for the kind words! :)
Well, honeslty your english is not that bad! I checked out your blog, and i think you’re doing a good job! The key is to always keep learning and improve! Set some goals, timeframe, and try your best to get there! The most important part in your reply is that you are willing to learn! A lot of people don’t even think about that, but you do! keep it up! :)
That’s a really interesting perspective! When I first started blogging, I’d get really upset if comments were negative. I’d always think, “I’m just trying to write something helpful here, if you don’t like it you don’t need to rip my head off”. But if you think of it from the context of selling your ideas/knowledge, then your ‘customers’ have every right to let you know when they feel something isn’t up to par (as long as they’re reasonably polite, that is) :D
Great post Jonathan!!
Hi Cyan, thanx! I know what you mean, i got the same feeling a couple of times before, in a way everyone has the right to his/her owwn opinions, we can’t please everyone, and shouldn’t expect to anyway. For as long as peeople are polite and respectful, everything is fine i think :)