Tishia

It’s definitely beneficial to step back and view your recommendation from the readers’ perspective. I always say “spend 10 seconds in their shoes” as a quick exercise when writing anything – an email, blog post, web page, etc.

Sometimes what comes out on our end is not a good match with what they expect, or want/need on their end.

I do agree that when we write a post or email recommending something we affiliate we should be helpful in our recommendations.

A rule of thumb that I try to use is to first, of course, recommend only good products and services but second, to talk naturally about what I love about the recommendation or don’t like so much especially if the don’t like is something further helpful for the reader to know. Speaking honestly and telling the why behind my recommendations add content without the hype feeling and position me as authentic not salesman”y”. This goes back to reason number one – recommend only what you’d want a good friend to buy. Overall I try to write with the mind of the reader and what I think they may question or wonder about rather than my value points in mind.

We use QuickSales – a 1ShoppingCart brand

Great additional advice, thank you!