Build Stronger Relationships with Your Market by Writing Articles About Yourself

Build Stronger Relationships with Your Market by Writing Articles About Yourself by Denise Willms

You have probably heard the cardinal rule of writing articles for the Web: "Don't promote yourself!" Self-promotion (writing articles about you and not much else) is one of the main reasons I decline articles in my article directory.

First of all, I don't want a directory filled with advertisements instead of articles.

Secondly, I'm thinking about your and my readers... I mean, how can articles about YOU help THEM? I'm sorry to say, most people reading your articles just aren't interested in how wonderful you are, or what great things you've accomplished.

Instead, they want to know how you can help them solve their problems.

But there is a fine line between promoting yourself, and sharing enough information to build a relationship with your reader. Many article writers are so afraid to self-promote that they won't reveal anything about themselves in their articles. That can also be a grave mistake.

As an article marketer, you need to reveal yourself in your articles because:

- you need to show your reader that you're a real person
- you need to make your reader feel that you identify with their problems
- you need to convince the reader that they can trust what you have to say. What kind of experience do you have that they should listen to you?

Here's an example of the kind of writing I'm talking about.

Let's say you're writing an article to help your reader set up her home office. In your introduction, you'll probably identify a problem your reader has with her home office, or questions she has about setting one up.

Most article writers open with that kind of introduction, then launch right into their solutions. But your article can be more effective if you add one more step and reveal something about yourself.

You can begin to build a relationship with your reader by writing a short paragraph about how you had a similar problem, how you dealt with it, what your results were. So, you may have written about yourself (shame on you!) but you've also shown your reader
- that you identify with her situation, and
- convinced her that she should read the rest of your article because you know what you're talking about.

When we say, "Don't self-promote," we're not saying, "Don't ever talk about yourself." Writing articles is one of the most powerful ways there is to build relationships with your market. But being in a relationship means letting the other person see who you really are.



Denise Willms is a professional article writer who specializes in creating content for moms. Visit http://www.WAHM-Articles.com to download her free ebook, Get Started!! Making Money by Writing WAHM Articles and learn how you can tap into this lucrative market.

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