Inexperience is no excuse for being a jerk

Some of the people who are interested enough to visit your website and read your blog will also care about what you’re selling, some of the time.

Yep – even if a reader is compelled to visit your website and read your post, he might not be interested in what else you offer.

Don’t worry about the guy who’ll never buy – he’s not one of your people.

You’re good for each other…potentially

Your people are the ones that could benefit from what you have, whether they know it or not, and are in a position to trade value for value with you.

But even though they’re your people, they don’t want to hear you droning on all the time about yourself or your products or services. You’ve got to give them reason to pay attention to you. Which usually means being interesting to them in some way.

It’s kind of like dating and marriage. Be worthwhile. Be nice to spend time with. Be helpful, reliable and consistent. And have a delightful surprise every once in a while. Then, when you need something, you’ll have that person’s ear and possibly their help.

Happily ever after
“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

Don’t be a marketing jerk

Too often, people who lack marketing experience don’t think about looking at things from their prospective customers’ perspective. Their outreach is about like asking the object of their affection for the contents of their wallet instead of just a phone number.

Think about your people as you contemplate what to post on your blog, or to your business’s Facebook page. What’s their struggle? What do they like? And – only occasionally – how can you help them?

(but don’t obsess, either)

Don’t get too hung up trying to write an epic post every time or all you’ll do is think yourself into epic paralysis. Speaking from experience here. If you need help figuring out where to start, I’ll share some helpful ideas in tomorrow’s post.

p.s. – If you like this post you might like the simpler web’s Facebook page.