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Be Genuine!
By: Jim Conley II, MerchantSeek.com

I had no idea what in the world to "talk" about this week for the
editorial section until Wednesday night. I frequent a web
marketing forum (message board) several times a day and
help people with their payment acceptance and e-commerce
questions. On this particular evening I had a post directed to
me saying my views on "such and such" were biased. I was
struck by the man's comment and was rather disappointed at
his attitude towards my assisting people with their questions.
He indirectly gave me the title of someone who is just posting
on the message board for "self-interest promotion."
Essentially, he thought I made some kind of profit from
sending people to different sites for more information, which I
don't. And I believe he felt my only reason for posting was to
attract traffic for my website, which it was not.

I calmly explained to the man in a reply post that I'm a person
with a genuine interest to help people. My priority is to put
people first and my site, MerchantSeek, second. I'm a firm
believer if you give people a detailed answer to their question,
whether it be long winded or short and sweet it increases your
credibility (making you an "expert" in the eyes of the person)
and also makes it more likely they will refer other people to
you and visit your site repeatedly. It doesn't matter if you're
posting to a message board (like I was), replying to e-mail, or
talking to someone over the phone. If you approach the
person with a genuine interest in wanting to help them it builds
confidence and credibility. However, if you just offer them a
simple "Come visit my site, it's #1!" approach you can expect
them to go elsewhere. This kind of "self-interest promotion,"
as some call it, sends a negative "vibe" to the person or
persons reading your reply.

I suppose what I'm trying to tell you is to just... be genuine!
Present yourself professionally, give detailed "expert" advice
and you'll be amazed at what kind of positive "vibes" that will
send to people. You'll find the chances of them referring other
people to you is much higher.

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Jim Conley II is the CEO/Founder of MerchantSeek. MerchantSeek allows merchants from around the world to search FREE for a Merchant Account Provider that best fits their businesses needs and budget. Visit us at http://www.merchantseek.com/