How to use your blog to promote a product

Have you ever tried using your blog to promote a product or service?

I’ve had bloggers tell me that they tried, but they had poor results.

Looking at how they went about it, I can see some of the pitfalls they experienced.

Let me show you how to avoid those pitfalls.

And, of course, how you can use your blog to successfully promote a specific product or service.

What product or service are you promoting?

One of the big mistakes I’ve seen is that bloggers try to promote too many things.

If you’ve done this, you know what I mean.

You fill your sidebar, and even your blog posts, with links and banners for all kinds of different offers.

This confuses readers, who are not really sure what your blogging identity is.

You could, for instance, want to use your blog to get clients to hire you for freelance writing projects.

That’s your main objective.

And that should be your blogging identity.

People should know, when they visit your blog, that you are primarily a freelance writer, and your services are available.

Why would you hide what you should be promoting?

You hide what you really want to promote, by pitching other offers instead.

Let’s stay with the example above.

Instead of being clear about the fact that you are promoting your freelance writing services, you inundate readers with pitches for things like domain hosting, SEO search services and the like.

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Now, I know you tell yourself it’s a good way to earn some commissions while you’re trying to build your freelance writing business.

But you’ll never build it when you keep hiding it behind other offers.

Why do you do that?

One reason could be that you don’t really believe you can get clients.

So you defer to other pitches.

Rather than giving 100% effort to building your business, you work to build other people’s businesses.

Another reason, and I see this a lot… you might not know how to build a converting sales funnel.

And part of that is a good, strong sales page.

But rather than diverting people away from your main business, just get down to the business of learning how to put together a high converting funnel.

Then, simply introduce people to that funnel on your blog to promote your business or service.

If you don’t know how to do these things, my coaching service is available to help you.

Stop procrastinating, diverting and spinning away from your main business objective… promoting either your business or service, or key affiliate ones.

Promoting affiliate products or services

Now, if you’re not primarily promoting your own products or services, that’s okay.

But the same principles apply to affiliate product promotion.

Don’t throw everything but the kitchen sink at your readers.

Promote a few key products or services, specifically, ones that you use.

That way, you can build your entire messaging around how and why to use those products.

Then stick to that.

Stop promoting all kinds of random things that will only confuse your readers.

Have a theme to your blog that fits with the handful of affiliate products you want to promote.

Then build your content around how those products will benefit your readers.

And at the same time, introduce them to your sales funnel.

That’s how to really build an affiliate business.

Again, if you don’t know how to do that, get a coach to show you what to do.

Share content that promotes a product or service

Now, here’s where you have to really make things happen on your blog.

You must share content that makes people want to buy whatever product or service you are promoting.

Or whatever multiple products and services you are promoting.

Here’s how most bloggers go about that.

“Buy my product because it’s so great”

You write a blog post that tells people just how great your product (or your affiliate product) is.

They can’t help but buy it, right?

You just told them how great it is.

And you contrasted it to other similar products that aren’t nearly as good.

So, what could be the problem?

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It’s just this.

You’re telling people all the great features of a product.

And you could support that with images, even video demos to show them how those features work.

Here’s the thing, though.

People don’t buy a product for it’s features.

You’re bound to get very poor results if you just tell them how great your product is.

But there’s a better way to promote it.

And it’s also the better way to build your entire blogging business.

Don’t promote products, promote benefits

The way to promote products on your blog is to tell people how they will benefit from getting it.

You see, people don’t care about a product or a service.

They only care about how they will benefit from it.

So your content should not heavily promote a product, but the benefits people will derive from it.

Your blog should focus on benefits

To be successful at promoting a product on your blog, you have to preach it’s benefits.

Let’s say the product you really want to promote is your freelance writing service.

You can’t write article after article telling people what a great writer you are.

They don’t care!

You have to tell them all the ways they will benefit by hiring a freelance writer.

• Stop overburdening your employees
• Get professional writing done more cheaply than what amateurs cost
• Impress people with the quality of your work

These are just a few benefits from hiring a freelance writer.

Keep writing about all the benefits, and forget the features… how long you’ve been in business, how many clients you have, where you graduated and all that.

Again, people don’t care about all that.

At least, not nearly as much as they care about how they will benefit.

You could even build out content showing them how they can do their own writing.

Give them tips.

Tell them exactly what they need to do.

And you know what?

They’re going to see that it’s not as easy as they might have thought.

And they’ll be happy to hire you instead of going through all that.

So that’s just a tiny example of how you build your content out with a sharp focus on all the benefits of hiring YOU.

Don’t look like a billboard

A billboard is designed to get people to call you and hire you.

Nothing else.

That’s a fine for a billboard.

People only see it for a fleeting moment.

But on your blog, people will be reading lots of content.

You can’t make it look like all you want to do is get a new client.

Instead, design articles that teach, inform and entertain.

Sure, you can mention that you offer a great product or service.

But don’t make that the purpose of your article.

Let’s just say you have a lot of in-house writing to get done and you’re not sure where to turn.

Which article would you be more likely to click on…

“Why my writing service is better than all the others”
-or-
“The best way to bring your backlog of writing projects up to date… fast and effectively.”

I think you’re going to choose the second.

And the main reason is that the first one just sounds like a pitch.

It won’t be informative.

You’re not going to get real help… only sales talk.

But you want real help with a real problem you’re facing.

Right?

So you want to read an article that might actually help you solve your immediate problem.

And when you blog, that’s exactly the type of article you need to write.

Make it helpful, not promotional.

Of course, your blog post can promote your service, or your product.

But that shouldn’t look like the purpose of the post.

Helping people solve their problem should look like, and should be, the main purpose for writing it.

Only incidentally should you mention, “Oh, and by the way, I have a product or service that can help you do that. If you’d like to check that out, just click this link.”

When your content is designed to help people, then the next logical step will be for them to ask you to help them even more.

And that just might mean buying your product or hiring you to perform a service.

2 Big pitfalls

So, these are the 2 biggest pitfalls I see over and over again with bloggers.

If this is you, then go back through this article and see that you get it right.

Yes, you can (and should) use your blog to promote a product or service.

But don’t fall into either of these 2 traps…

You don’t promote your product enough

Are you afraid to be too promotional?

Would you do anything in the world to avoid sounding “salesy?”

If so, you’re likely to barely mention a product or service you have, or that you affiliate, that can actually help your readers.

Instead, you try to give great value, help people all you can, but never sell anything!

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Remember, what you are selling should be helping your readers.

If it doesn’t, then don’t try to sell it to them.

But go find or develop something in it’s place.

Something that will help them.

Then get down to the business of writing blog posts that promote it.

You promote your product too much

The flip side of the coin is no better.

You’re so convinced that your product is the best thing since sliced bread, that you never stop promoting it.

Your content is almost purely sales pitch and little substance.

People don’t want to read this kind of stuff.

And they certainly don’t want to buy your product if that’s all you ever talk about.

How to use your blog to promote a product or service

Whether you’re trying to promote an affiliate product, or your own product, your blog is a great place to do it.

But you have to be smart about it.

Promotion does not mean, “buy buy buy.”

Create great content that really helps your readers to solve a problem.

And let them see how buying your product can help them even more.

Publish your article, and see how your readers respond to it.

Are you talking too much about buying your product?

Or did you fail to mention that at all?

Are you getting good feedback that your article has helped people?

All this assessment will help you continually make your blog posts better.

Leave me a comment below.

Let me know how you go about promoting products on your blog.

Have I helped you understand a little bit better, how to use your blog to promote a product or service?

-Donna

PS:

Don’t forget to share this article on your favorite social sites.

Much thanks 🙂

• Bio
• Blogging Magic

Donna Merrill

Donna is a well known blogger and creator of "Blogging Magic" - an intensive guide to blogging. "Blogging Magic" is for beginners who are trying to figure out how to bring their blogs to life with tons of visits, comments and social media interaction. It's even for advanced bloggers looking to reach new levels of authority and engagement with their audience.