Jeff Herring writes:

Thanks Penny – The sad thing is that the folks that get promotional in their articles achieve the exact opposite result from what they want…

Marc – I watched the video and almost had a cow when you said to “steer” clear….

~ Jeff

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Dr. Erica Goodstone writes:

This a really clear explanation of the difference between promoting or offering value and education, showing true interest in your clients and customers.

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Jeff Herring writes:

Good points Erica – how’s biz?

August 20, 2012 at 10:32 AM

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Dr. Erica Goodstone writes:

Business has been good online. I’m in the 3rd week of teaching an online “Boost Your Blog” class. The attendees knew the other presenter or myself before signing up. It’s another reminder that people need to know, like and trust you. They don’t just come out of the blue because of some hype.

Also, when I provide education and information that my potential clients and customers are seeking, then they are more inclined to contact me directly for my services.

August 20, 2012 at 7:31 PM

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Daniel Hazard writes:

This is an excellent description of real content marketing vs. a sales pitch. Now, if you purchase my content marketing package for just $49.99… just kidding! I hate that kind of marketing and it turns me off instantly.

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Rahman Mehraby writes:

Thank you Penny. That was a helpful post. I’ve got a question for you:

Imagine you have a business website with a blog in it. At your blog,you publish posts providing information about your industry, services, etc. Will it be wise to carefully make a link and introduce your service from within your blog post? Or you prefer to say nothing at all inside that post and inspire your reader to surf around your website to find your service page?

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Vanessa, Editorial Manager writes:

Hi Rahman,

How you set up your website or your blog is completely up to you. We recommend ensuring that each page contains highly informative material vs. solely using promotional content. Providing your readers with highly informative, and well laid out material on your website will help continue to build your credibility as an authority in your particular niche. Readers will build trust in your program or product instead of taking one look and leaving if there is an excessive amount of promotional material.

~Vanessa

August 21, 2012 at 8:08 AM

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Rahman Mehraby writes:

What I’ve realized from your comment is the fact that conversion doesn’t happen right away and if the visitor stays long enough with a site/blog, he will find the link to your services and check it out.

I think this will be the answer and leaving a small note to mention the services in a highly informative content won’t hurt.

August 21, 2012 at 8:18 AM

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Patricia writes:

Very useful article. Tnx

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Franca F writes:

Great article!

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Randall Magwood writes:

Promotional content in articles don’t appeal to me. The efforts put into creating a bad article could actually make people money if they put the same amount of efforts into building a successful, LEGIT and LEGAL internet business.

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Matthew Morris writes:

Penny:

Interesting article. However, let’s say that in this scenario, the salesperson has access to a brochure about rakes. That brochure contains everything you could ever want to know about rakes: the various styles and uses of each style and the reasons why you might choose one over the other. Unfortunately, this brochure is printed by a manufacturer that makes garden equipment.

The salesman hands this brochure to the customer in response to their specific request for information about rakes. is this action a shameless promotion, or simply an attempt to provide the customer with the information they asked for? I’m very interested in your response.

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DVVSMURTHY writes:

It is true fact that providing an informative article is more important than promoting it for business purpose. As an informative article will be a foundation stone for a successful content writing business.

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google website ranking writes:

First off I would like to say fantastic blog! I had a quick question which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.

I was interested to know how you center yourself and
clear your head prior to writing. I’ve had a tough time clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out. I do take pleasure in writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted just trying to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or tips? Cheers!

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how to lower your bad cholesterol naturally writes:

With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems
of plagorism or copyright violation? My website has a lot of unique content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my authorization. Do you know any methods to help reduce content from being ripped off? I’d truly
appreciate it.

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Vanessa, Editorial Manager writes:

In instances like these, the first course of action we recommend is that you contact the owner/webmaster of the site and ask them to fix the oversight. This will normally accomplish the end result you are looking for as most webmasters just need to be informed. We expect publisher(s) to follow our reprint rules as stated in our Terms of Service: http://EzineArticles.com/terms-of-service.html

However, it is up to you to take action against those who abuse your copyright to protect your interests. Please see our author terms for more on this: http://EzineArticles.com/author-terms-of-service.html

~Vanessa

August 27, 2012 at 1:04 PM

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Phil writes:

We stumbled over here different website and thought I might check things out.

I like what I see so now i’m following you. Look forward to going over your web page again.

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Eva writes:

A motivating discussion is worth comment. I think that you need
to write more on this issue, it may not be a taboo matter but generally people
don’t discuss such topics. To the next! Many thanks!!

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Tony Parker writes:

Very well illustrated article! I wonder how you managed to come up with such a precise write up that nails the point so well. Very nice! Indeed a mix of informative and promotional content doesn’t work.

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Samantha Lais writes:

A good promotion strategy can leave customers a good impression on the brand and establish a long term relationship with the customers. A bad one is just the opposite.

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Tejas Solapurkar writes:

Wonderful article. It provided me all what I was looking for.

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