Have you ever been overwhelmed by the sales tactics of some blogs? Popup screens, signup boxes, sidebars filled with ads, they all clutter your reading experience. As a blogger, I’ve played with several approaches to selling my products and services. By the time I started Hip Diggs, in 2014, I knew that I preferred a soft approach to sales.
When you shop for produce, you can take your time to make slow and intentional choices. Hopefully, there’s not a popup sign in the watermelon section. But maybe there is. Those red peppers look pretty good, too. The produce speaks for itself based on its quality.
Hip Diggs Is Like The Produce Section
I don’t want to convince you, kicking and screaming, to buy my books or hire me as a coach. In fact, I made a decision when I started Hip Diggs, that I didn’t care if I ever sold a thing. My goal was to simply write quality articles about simple living. My goal was, and still is, simply, to promote living with less and slowing our lives down a bit.
I’ve had several people critique my blog design over the last couple of years. They’ve asked me questions like:
- Why don’t you have an email signup box in plain sight?
- Why is your RSS link at the bottom of the page?
- Why don’t you advertise your books on a sidebar?
- Why don’t you use a nonintrusive popup?
- Why do you use so little bold?
The answer is simple: I want Hip Diggs’ readers to choose to dig deeper. I don’t want to shout in your faces. I want my readers to have an unobstructed reading experience. I want Hip Diggs to reflect its message.
Hip Diggs is about keeping things simple. It’s about letting go of clutter. It’s about living and working at a slower pace. It’s not about pushing harder. It’s not about adding more. It’s not about making things more complicated.
Treat Others As You’d Like To Be Treated
I don’t like popup ads. Studies show that although they’re effective, most people hate them. I don’t want something most people hate on my blog. I don’t like magazines that have 20 pages of ads in front of the first article. I want my readers to get straight to reading quality content. Signup boxes and RSS feeds can wait. My plugs for my books and other services can wait, too.
When I go to the produce section, I choose what I want. There’s no popup, no signup box. I don’t want somebody trying to stuff my cart full of plums and kale. I buy my food based on my own tastes. I buy it based on the quality of the produce.
My Promise To You
My goal at Hip Diggs is to share quality material with you. Most of that material is free. If you choose to sign up to receive my newsletter, (which is also free), great! If you choose to seek out my books, that’s great too! But I want you to make the choice because you believe in what I’m doing, not because I’m pushy.
So my promise to you is to continue to offer quality work while practicing a soft approach to sales. That said, If you’d like to learn more about my books, You can find them at Amazon.
