How does it make you feel?

Turned off, maybe a little used because you know all that site wants or sales person wants is your money? There isn't that feeling that someone has a vested interest in what you really need. There is no content to help you along way or give you a few insider tips.

If you don't like it, then what would lead you to believe that YOUR potential customer would react any differently??

Yes, I know you are a good person and that you have only best intentions at heart and your program/product or service will help. However, your customer doesn't know you or your intentions.

But instead of "hard selling" if you took time to help your prospect make a good informed decision and let them get to know those intentions by providing good, quality information, yup providing good CONTENT... that changes things greatly.

Not only just for customer, but it creates a huge win in many ways for your business.

Let's look at four WINs you create when you go route of content vs hard sell.

WIN #1 - Your Customer

Your prospect is looking for information, kind of info (content) which will help them make a good informed buying (or participating) decision. Give them that information and your a enabling them to build trust in you and from that trust they are more open and will accept your recommendations.

Go route of a hard sell however and your visitor is turned off and they are off to someone who will give them what they need. Not because their product is any better necessarily, but because they went that step further in giving them information/content they needed to help them.

WIN #2 - Search Engines

Your goal is to get your site listed in top 10 or at very least 20 spots in a search engine. Search engines are in business as well, just like you. They are in business of giving people best quality sites based upon their search criteria. They look for content.

Help a search engine and they turn around and of course help you by ranking you. You are concerned about traffic, right? Well ranking in a search engine can mean difference between getting a good quality visitor and not. You can have 1000s of hits a day, but it isn't quantity that counts, it is quality of prospect. If you are in ranking where that quality prospect can find you, then you have a quality visitor and someone more apt to buy. However, to get that spot you need content it's a Scratch a Search Engines back and they will Scratch Yours. Give Search Engines QUALITY CONTENT and when their spiders come around to index your site...you get stand to get a good positon.

WIN #3 - Your Affiliate Program / Merchants

There are some hurdles but if you are open to learning and applying what you read, then of course some of those hurdles won't have such a heavy effect on your business.

The other hurdle of course is getting so wrapped up with what is going on, on-line, that you forget that there is another world besides on-line to consider.

Taking time and working your off-line market does a great many things for you.

Things, like:

1. discovering new markets that can drive your on-line sales in a huge way. Placing ads in your local newspapers and in community newsletters is a great way to gain exposure and hits to your web site. Hits from people who might not necessarily know that you existed otherwise.

2. finding and building alliances with off-line business owners is another way to leverage your marketing efforts. You could find an off-line business owner who compliments your products and services and co-author a newsletter together. You both promote newsletter and market to each other's client base.