They say that controversy drives traffic and participation so we’ll see how people respond to this…

I was just going through Tweet Deck to see if I could find any content worth sharing when I found an article with a link to information on yoga for weight loss that I thought might be worth reading.  After reading the article the realization was that my time had been wasted.  My immediate impulse was to unfollow the person who had sent this Tweet.

Much of the information coming through Twitter anymore (depending on which topics your are following of course) is either blatant spam or glorified spam. A reputation as a weight loss spammer (or as a spammer on any subject for that matter) will result in the loss of followers, damage to your reputation and lack of revenue through your blog.

Glorified spam is content created for the sole purpose of feeding the reader bullsh** in trade for a response to advertising on their blog or website.  A click on AdSense, a product link, banner or other form of advertisement is the ultimate goal, not the benefit of the reader. It’s happening everywhere and it’s getting old. I don’t have a problem with people advertising on their blogs, or even within their articles, but come on… give the readers something in trade for their time! Is it going to take up that much or your time to offer a handful of tips or techniques that people can use to solve the problem in which they visited your content for in the first place?

I would prefer, that if people have something to sell, then just cut to the chase, send me the link and let me take a look. Don’t waste my time trying to trick me into clicking on something. If you really want me to click, retweet or share your content, make it worth my while. Give me something that I can use versus five to ten paragraphs of text that says absolutely nothing… I know that a screwdriver turns a screw. What happened to giving value when it comes to driving traffic and building a database?

If you are looking to generate income through AdSense, ads, links, etc. here are a few things to consider…

1.) You will get more click through’s on your advertising if you are getting return traffic. You will get return traffic if your content is helping people by answering a question or solving a problem. If someone has come to your weight loss blog looking to find information on how to use Yoga to lose weight, give them some basic tips. Put a video together, put it on YouTube and walk people through the basics. If you do this a couple of times you can then offer them something for sale, at a reasonable price, and not only will they buy it, they’ll tell their friends “look at this cool blog I found through Twitter! Take a look at this video!” If you want get viral traffic, give!

2.) If you want to sell a weight loss product (informational like an ebook through ClickBank), write a review of the product, show people results you have achieved through the use of the product via video and pictures and give them something as an added bonus with their purchase. There are a ton of freebies available online, on just about any subject you can imagine, that can be offered as in incentive. You might also consider starting a forum for clients or customers only where they can get personal advice from you on how to get the same results you did.

3.) If you are promoting a business opportunity or product then offer samples. Again, show people that you are not just some hustler. Show them that you practice what you preach and use what you sell. This makes an impact that most marketers are to lazy to create themselves, giving you an edge over the competition.

Something else you are going to want to prepare for, when it comes to using your blog or content to sell or endorse a product, is the new FCC regulation coming down on December 1st, 2009. According to Mashable this morning…

The FTC has updated its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising for the first time since 1980, and among the changes, a requirement that “bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.” Fines for violating the new rule will run up to $11,000 per post.

Click here to read the full article on Mashable.

It’s pretty sad when the government has to get involved to regulate the behavior of those who are using content to generate income. Perhaps this will get people thinking about what they are doing online before they take action.

Cheers!

Rex – Yesterdays Fat Guy

Get free weight loss info incentives here!