PB055: How to Promote Yourself Without Coming Across as a Jerk

Note: you can listen to this episode above or load it up in iTunes. How to Let People Know What You Have to Offer Without Being Annoying Today's episode is all about how to promote yourself without coming across as an arrogant jerk. It's in response to a question from a reader, but I know that this is something that a lot of people struggle with. It can be tricky conveying your talent, experience, and expertise without being annoying, but it is possible. I share 13 tips to make it less daunting. In This Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). In today's episode: Why serving others is more important than pushing your talents How you can use your passion to stimulate questions and conversation Why sharing what you don't know can be a powerful way to attract new readers How you can grow your own reputation by crediting other people Why it's important to accept help How modesty can undermine your message How to know when to stop talking about what you can offer The most powerful thing you can do to create a positive impression Why comparing yourself to others can be toxic The secret to being a great influencer Further Reading and Resources for How to Let People Know What You Have to Offer Without Being Annoying The study I mention that shows that 'self superiority claims' could be one of the worst things you can do Other episodes with tips for finding new readers: Episode 33: 2 Questions to Ask to Help You Find Readers for Your Blog Episode 34: 2 Types of Content that Help You to Find Readers for Your Blog Episode 35: Turn Surfers into Blog Readers by Building a Sticky Blog Episode 36: Find Readers for Your Blog Through Commenting and Relationships Episode 37: Grow Traffic to Your Blog Through Guest Posting and Creating Content for Other Blogs, Forums, Media and Events Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there and welcome to the ProBlogger Podcast episode 55, where today, I want to answer our reader's question about promoting yourself without coming across as arrogant or as you put it, a jerk. You can find today's show notes at problogger.com/podcast/55.  I received an email this morning from Samantha, at least we'll call her Samantha because she did ask to remain anonymous. She writes, "I've been blogging now for a few months and have built up an archive of posts that I think are useful for those who might find them but I'm struggling with one big question, how to get people to read? I've listened to some of your episodes on growing readership and I understand the techniques that I probably need to use but my problem is that I'm scared to start. Most specifically, my issue is that I don't want to get too self-promotional and come across as a complete jerk by overdoing it and always being in people's faces. Can you help?" This is a great question and it is one that I've heard many times over the years and it's something that I've struggled with as well over the years. Many of the times that I've been asked this question, it's come from Aussies and I'm not sure whether it's tall poppy syndrome which seems to be something that we struggle with as Aussies; we don't like to be seen to be self-promotional. I think perhaps cultural issues do come into this, at least in part but it may also be a personality type of thing as well. Some people seem more comfortable promoting themselves than other people. As Samantha does say in her email, we have talked in previous episodes about finding readers. Specifically, if you want to get into some of the techniques to finding readers and promoting yourself, you might want to look at episodes 33–37. Those five episodes, we do talk about the topic quite a bit.