Let’s think about something for a moment. If someone were to come up to your car and try to sell you something while you’re stopped at a stoplight, how inclined would you be to buy it?

Now let’s think of a different situation. You’re over at your friends house, a place where you’ve been visiting lately. You hang out with your friend for a while, he helps you out with something you need done, and then before you go, he asks you if you want to buy something he thinks you may be interested in?

Now be honest here. Who would you be more likely to buy from? Chances are, you’d buy from your friend rather than a stranger.

The same kind of idea can be applied to selling products online, whether it be your own product or an affiliate product. People drive in their cars to get to places they need to go, places that offer them value. In the same way, people go to a website to seek out information, not to be hammered with a sales page. See what I mean?

Local businesses do this as well. Think about all the people you do business with on a regular basis. The store clerk, the owner of the gas station, the girl at your local cafe. They build relationships with you as a consumer. They present themselves in a friendly manner, converse with you, and the best ones even remember who you are.

And what happens? You keep going back. Would you do the same if they constantly started screaming “buy this!” at you? I doubt it.

You want your audience to trust you. You want your audience to value your opinions. You want your audience to want to buy from you.

So how does this happen? It’s pretty easy, actually.

Show your personality in your writing, or throughout your brand! Keep producing high quality, informational articles, for free. Give value to them. Allow your audience to get to know you through your articles. At the same time, let your audience know your name, and show off a picture of yourself. It’s much easier to connect with a picture of someone’s smiling face than to some random person behind a person labeled “Administrator”.

Connecting with your audience and building relationships with them is the number one way to eventually generate sales. Screaming “Buy This!” at them is most definitely not. So always, always, always, focus on building relationships first. You’ll thank me later.