Why you don't want to have a blog or newsletter for your business

Are you sure you understand what I am talking about?

Your goal is to make money with your products. Then you heard that you needed to have a blog and you needed to have a newsletter for which you had to have good content. And by good content people don't mean product information but something about the niche you are in.

Then you share information about your niche for free and people consume without buying your products.

PS: MeTellYou, you are not Kern. You don't know what he's doing that brings in money. I saw some information by him and frankly, he is the most retarded person I have seen so far. Retarded people don't sell. Smart people sell.

PPS: NicoleBeckett, if you are so successful, why have I neither read nor heard about you? I don't distrust them. I just don't buy from someone just because he has a great writing style.

You are right, but it also depends on the business model.

I think the OP is confusing his own ideologies with that of everyone else on the planet.

Am I the only one who has this song stuck in my head right now? lol

Hi Steve B.

"The way to build a profitable, long-term business is to sell your
offers based on what the customer wants and will be valuable to
him."

I could not agree with you more.

There has been much talk about relationship marketing, as we
move further into the 21st century of business operations. There
is much truth to that idea.

Even new comers to the internet scene has quickly learned to watch
their backs, and keep their eyes open wide looking for IM sharks who
would not blink an eye to take them to the "cleaners" of poverty street.

And by "IM Sharks" i really do mean that in a good way. :-)

Every one understands that IM is a survival game. Only the fittest will
survive. But it is also very true that a lot of new comers are getting wiser,
faster. And good for them. I wish I had their presence of mind when I
first came onto the internet. I would have saved myself much heartache,
and literally thousands of wasted hard earned cash.

But it seems everybody, including myself, is in a great rush to get rich.
And "we" seem to think it is okay to get rich anyhow we can, even at
the expense of bringing hurt to struggling marketers.

But there is always a reckoning. And it is called "boomerang."

We all have a lot to learn.

alodie

What they do is create a need which can seemingly only be met using components they sell.

Don't sweat him, Jenny...

I've been fishing for better than half a century now, so I recognize trolling when I see it.:p

You were...

Thanks a lot for the ear worm...

Wow MissTerraK, passive-aggressive much?

SEO for those people that actually want to buy. People enter "Where do I find X in city Z" into Google. My goal is for them to find me there. If you have a blog or newsletter all you are saying is: "my products are not good enough, I need to bait people into coming to my page using more or less unrelated content".

Yes, as I mentioned I enjoy that free content. But thinking back I have never bought anything from anyone.

I buy most things from amazon. Do they have a blog? I don't know and I don't care because I wouldn't read it. Same with newsletter. I go there to buy.

Sometimes I let a local store which also has an internet representation deliver beverages to my house. I found that service on their webpage. I found their webpage neither through a blog nor a newsletter.

Also, no person who is putting effort into creating his products has time to write a blog about similar topics or send a newsletter to people for free.

I am writing this for you not to waste your time with creating a blog or newsletter.

I have an audio blog. I talk about what matters to me anonymously, ranging from relationships to computer games. I get money from ads. But I would also do it without. Because I like the interaction. But those people would never buy anything from me. The money I earn using the service is low. About 30 people listen to my podcasts each day.

So I do it because I enjoy doing it, getting to know people from all over germany who happen to share my views.

But to emphasize it again: this is for fun. This doesn't really help me having bills paid.

Anonymous Affiliate, well put.

Hmmm,

I'm not quite sure that I agree with this.

Isn't what you describe as "Free content for the sake of free content (aka blogging) for the blurred purpose of "branding" or "building rapport with the community" is a very inefficient use of your time.", a means to develop a stream of income?

You can ask anyone with a list and they'll tell you that not everyone will purchase something after the first email. It may take several before someone on your list becomes a buying customer. Isn't the content you put in your emails free and building a rapport with your community? Isn't emailing your list a form of blogging so to speak?

I think that connecting with your readers by blogging develops a trust that some potential customers need before they buy something. What do you think the purpose of branding is? Is it not to get your product/service known and trusted for the purpose of more sales?

Certainly everyone would love to have an immediate sale but in reality, a lot of potential customers won't take the immediate action that you desire without that trust and once that trust and relationship is developed, word of mouth referrals abound causing more sales.

I honestly can't see how it could be an inefficient use of your time.

Terra

AA,

This is one strategy for running a business. Some owners are successful with it because the type of business they run caters to impulse buyers and already established brands that need no introduction or explanation. It minimizes the importance of having a list of devoted customers but is better suited to heavy bursts of new traffic. Word of mouth marketing and referral traffic is critical as "new" prospects are always needed; hence, the importance of constantly generating leads and immediate sales. Often new products must be presented in rapid succession to sustain a somewhat constant flow of generated income.

That's one strategy. But it's only one . . . and not the best one for other types of products and business models.

AA, that's where I think the OP and you have gotten others a little excited with this thread. The direct and immediate sales model, in my experience and testing, is not the most profitable way to build a business for some other products and especially some high-end services.

Building a base pool of interested prospects that may not be in a position to purchase right now, but who could be able or willing to purchase at a time in the future, is more conducive to long term business for certain types of sales.

Here's just one example: high end software. Do you think that type of product is going to be purchased directly at first contact? Of course not. The eventual buyer is going to shop the market, compare brands, features, benefits, and maybe ask others (before purchase) about their opinions. It may take quite a number of "contact points" the the brand and product before a sale is made; hence, the reason many companies employ account and sales managers who are trained to make frequent followup calls to "shepherd" a prospect toward a decision.


Yes it is for the impulse buy selling model.

But again, that model is not the most efficient way to sell products and services that are new, complex, and that need further explanation.

I don't know of a single serious business owner that publishes free content "for the sake of free content" as you have stated.

It goes without saying that all content, blog pages, free reports, guest posts, articles etc should have some type of resource box, signup form, link to the author's site, etc so that the content is leveraging the author's time and business reach.

Just my thoughts,

Steve