Don't call it a blog if it is a sales pitch!

I really have a hard time with this one, and maybe I am just being bull-headed, but I don't think blogs shoud be a glorified marketing campaign that just keeps getting longer. I realize that 'Internet Marketing Gurus' know all about writing great copy, capturing your email address and building huge lists, and I think thats great! But when I go to visit their blogs, I am a bit dissappointed because I don't know any more about them or how their systems can help me then I learned from their website whose sole purpose is to capture my informaton. I get that what they have to offer is 'a real secret' and I am not looking for them to give anything away. My point is, don't say you have a blog and give me a link to it if all it is is an advertisement. I already have that information from your other one page websites.

I think having a great blog and offering real, actionable advice is a great way to build trust and a ongoing relationship with prospects and clients, and you can still collect email address by offering a special download or article that isn't available anyplace else.

At the end of the day, a 'Heeyy Yaaa" Marketer and I end up with the same thing- a list of people who are interested and have given us their email information, but I feel better asking because I know I have given poeple a chance to learn more about me, and hopefully given advice that they find useful. I often wonder what is more valuable? A huge list of people who have never really experienced you, but gave you their name to get 'behind the curtain' or a list of 1200 people that actually know you, and when you send someting out to them, 65% of them actually open it up. I guess I am more of a quality than a quantity girl.

WOOF!!

Comments

[Rick]

Kristen,

I agree. Those 'Internet Marketing Gurus' you refer to are building a list and a reputation--a reputation on par with used car salesmen.

Worse are the ones that hype affiliate products under the guise of providing the reader with valuable information. My trust in a blogger plumments when it becomes evident that the content is a glorified ad.

I'm probably naive to think that it is a moral responsibility for the blogger to make a clear distinction between information and sales.

The only assertion you made that I question is the value of the list. (Again, my naivety is exposed.) Like junk mail those promotional emails are a nuisance and quickly disgarded. I guess with even a 2% response rate there is value in an email list when you have thousands on your list.

Could it be though that at the end of the day promotional emails are determinantal to the most ardent promoters because the recipient eventually will filter all email from that blogger/vendor and send it directly to the trash?

It's likely those promotional emails will be around for a long time; not unlike those flyers that are stuffed in the mailbox. Occasionally those flyers are read because they save the reader money on essentials. There is nothing essential in junk email. (I'm making the distinction between junk email and spam. Junk email being legit because an email was exchanged for something the reader wanted.)

I don't mind a blogger hawking a product that he believes will be of value. What I don't want is the junk email. All I ask is that in the blogger be clear in the if it is a sales pitch or a legit article. It all has to do with trust.