Peter, great seeing you here, as well. 🙂 I don't think anyone would accuse you of any of this, including shilling. 🙂 Actually, I find the way you handle promotion something to emulate. And I've had plenty of feedback from other writers who say you're always happy to reach out and help.

I do agree with you on contests. If you're raising awareness and asking for a vote if someone has found value in what you provide, great. However, I've seen a few examples of people I respect begging for votes. Worst part is one or two of these contests aren't based on votes at all, but on arbitrary decisions by the person running it. So why vote? To drive traffic to the site.

It's brilliant in that it works, but I question why the arbitrary decision and not one based on the votes themselves?

I don't mind affiliate connections, either. I've yet to dip my toe in those waters, but I can see it as a mutual promotion, and that always appeals to me.

I remember finding my name on a Top Blog list, one I didn't know existed. It was Maria Schneider's list on Writer's Digest. She called this blog "the little black dress" of blogs. THAT made my day because it was out of her own feelings.

Anon, that sounds like a money pit. Multi-level marketing is just another word for pyramid. I've never gotten it, either. It makes one person rich and promises the others that they'll get there someday (and only a small percentage get close). You have to put way too much time and personal assets into it at the front end. Better, in my opinion, to do your own thing from the start.

This is a very interesting topic. I have a related pet peeve concerning forums and blogs.

Why is it that those with the weakest product and/or credentials are the ones who are so sure that there scheme will work.

My son recently was asked to "sell" life coaching. In order to do so he would have had to take online seminars and buy video discs. His friend, who has been with this scam for 6 months made ^16 this month – spent $65 on seminars and other materials.

I do not get MLM.

And boy, this can be a tricky one… As someone who’s promoted my own products, AND, yes, those of others, you really do have to walk a very fine line.

I agree with everything you and the others say here, and it can be tough to get that balance right. For starters, I don’t oversend to my list; other than the monthly ezine, I might send out two other emails a month. And by only sending that infrequently, I know I’m leaving money on the table. AND, I’ll still hear from a handful of folks, accusing me of spamming them!

As for asking someone to vote for you, I hear what you guys are saying (i.e., “If your blog is good, you shouldn’t have to ask/beg people to vote for you…), but let’s be honest: if people aren’t aware of some contest, how can they vote for you? Bottom line, I don’t see a problem with sending a single email making people aware of the contest, and inviting them to vote for you IF they get real value from your blog, ezine, whatever.

As for being an affiliate for other people’s products, another sticky area. I don’t do it very often, but I DO partner with guys like Ed Gandia, whom I’ve known personally for many years (we’re both here in Atlanta), and most importantly, is someone who creates excellent products. Does it feel a little funny sometimes, “shilling”? Sure, but if I believe in the quality of a product and in the person selling it, why not capitalize on my platform, and what I consider to be a good reputation in my field, to benefit?

But, all that said, I just will never turn into a carnival barker (and obviously hope most people don’t see me that way!). Not my style.

Great post!

PB

Cathy – I'm with you on the "top list" garbage. The people doing them do it for traffic. That's about it. They know it's easy to get others to rave about you and link to you when you're focused on kissing ass.

The lists in general have been a pet peeve of mine for years (and I've asked to have sites removed from several of the more obnoxious ones). But the people asking (or begging)for nominations and votes are the worst. If you deserve them, you shouldn't have to ask for them. And if you do push people to vote for you, a win doesn't do anything more than show you have the biggest mouth and the biggest ego.

Lori, you hit some big ones. You know how I feel about content theft. And writers especially should know copyright rules before getting into the game. If you can't write your own website copy, blog content, etc., then you don't deserve to be hired by any client.

Sometimes it's less that someone is promoting their own stuff that bothers me, but the affiliate and sponsor relationships. I'm more forgiving if someone's excited about their own thing. But when you shove the same product, service, site, or whatever down readers' throats all the time because you're paid to do so, you're just a shill. It's one thing if they're an evangelist because they truly love something. But if they're doing it solely or mostly for the love of the money they'll get, it usually shows.

And when it comes to scaring people, another example is the "you have to sign up now," "limited time," "limited space," garbage. It's usually BS. Sure, a sale can end. Products can come off the market (I removed one myself last year). But in most cases, those scare tactics make no sense. There's nothing to stop you from selling more digital copies of an e-book for example.

Some great examples here of what not to do.

I think you're right — too many times we want to trust people, so we ignore the red flags. It takes time, but eventually that BS meter will kick in. 🙂

Unfortunately, not enough people have a good B.S. detector. I know one person who's out at least 20K on products/mentoring for "get rich quick on the Internet" schemes.