How do you promote yourself?

I will have a crack at this, and i can only use a story my old pop taught me many many years ago when he was alive.

i asked him one day about how he saw himself, or words to that effect, his reply was along the lines of this

"Son I am unable to tell you what is good or not good about myself, what abilities i have mastered or any other form of self promotion or analysis"

To me this was strange because this guy was a true talented business man he was extremely wealthy and admired by many.

He then went on to say this "A person can not judge himself nor promote ones abilities, You can only be judged by those around you and they will be the people who decide on my abilities, worth and value to their lives"

He always used to hit me with stuff like that, many days i would scratch my head with his cryptic clues, but here what he was saying is that you can not judge or promote yourself as you say, others must do that and in a sense they will then promote you based on the outcome they find.

So my answer then is not to look for self promotion in your field but to instead offer to help those in your field, use your skills to improve and develop further the methods and outcomes in your field of endeavor and over time the people around you will be attracted to you and your work giving all of the promotion you seek and more.

Short version: always produce the highest quality you're capable of.

The rest of it takes care of itself.

John

Be honest. If you are promoting yourself in a niche you are not an expert in, admit the knowledge you do have. say you are an enthusiast. One of my best sites, I promote myself as a total idiot on the topic. I share what I learn and all my mistakes. It builds more trust with people that way. When you hit a question or topic you don't know admit you don't and lead them to someone who does, with an aff link of course.

Here are a few ideas:

Write an article.
Make a blog.
Create videos about your topic.
Create a Squidoo Lens.

But personally, I'd say the best things to
do to really establish your credibility in the
niche that you are focusing is....

Write a book
Do a launch

Launches are not just about the money, like
many people think they are good to create a
legendary status in the mind of the market.

Book help to do that too.

Well,I think the most important is to let others see your value of existence.If you're not valuable to the people around,then it's not necessary for you to promote yourself for you will definitely fail.So try to do something beneficial to others and then your influence will be enhanced naturally.

Thanks for the info everyone! I will definitely take it all.. Great advice from all. Sorry it took a while for me to reply, just got back from spending Thanksgiving with family.

I actually found some great advice over at Mashable.com (under jobs) about promoting oneself.

Never Sleep on you tube.

The more you can just be yourself, genuinely, and help others
with your areas of expertise, the more you will 'promote yourself'.

I reach out and share what I know, even if not a complete expert,
when I see someone has a question.

I don't comment on blogs or Facebook with a link to my product,
or use a rancid script on Twitter to trigger an @reply every time a
keyword is mentioned.

If you were the local hardware store owner,
helping folks with thousands of practical answers,
you'd be known for it, and folks would shop with you.

These days we're in a rush to "grease the funnel".
But we already have the internet; a tool entrepreneurs for generations
before us could only dream of.

-Let quality friends know that you're open to referrals.
-Pay it forward with folks of integrity, even withing your general niche.
-Ask people (potential buyers) within your niche exactly what would help them.