Just the other day, I had a friend ask me why they weren’t getting a lot of Twitter followers. They posted their Twitter ID promenantly on both their website and their blog. They looked for interesting people to follow. They had a nice avatar and dressed up their profile. But it just seemed that not as many people wanted to follow back.

After a couple questions, I went to their Twitter page to see what they tweeted about. Every single update they posted in the last few weeks looked like this:

  • “Just posted new items to my website”
  • “10% sale on my products”
  • “Just updated my blog”
  • “Just updated my Etsy store”
  • “Just added a new article”

I asked my friend if they thought about tweeting about art related news or retweeting interesting news from their followers or other twitterers or even just tweeting a useful tip. Their response?

“Of course I’m not giving links to other sites! I don’t want my followers going to other people’s websites, I only want them to go to my site!”

This isn’t an isolated case, and it isn’t just on Twitter. I’ve been asked the same thing about people’s newsletters, Facebook profiles, blogs, online stores and what have you. And in most cases every site, newsletter, blog and profile had a serious case of the “me’s”, “my’s”, and “I’s”.

  • Come buy my work!
  • Come join my newsletter!
  • Please tell everyone about my work!

So what’s wrong about asking people to buy your stuff? Nothing.

What’s wrong when that all you do on every single thing you have online?

It’s boring…and…it’s irritating. Most of all…nobody cares.

Here’s a sad bit of truth. Most people, unless they already know about you, don’t buy from you, visit your website, or become your Facebook friend because they care about you. They do it because doing so fits a “need” or a “want”. They join your newsletter because they find it useful for them. They visit your website because they’re hoping to find something useful for them. They buy your work because of how it makes them feel.

Does that make people bad? No, it makes them human. Everyone’s time is limited, our attention is limited, our wallets, especially nowadays, are limited. Therefore, your visitors are going to concentrate on those things that benefits them or their interests.

So why would making everything you do a plea to buy from you, follow you, or join your newsletter be an effective strategy?

In other words…why is it all about you…when your customers are thinking it’s all about them?

If you looked at your own Twitter profile, took off your name and put a stranger’s name there instead, would you want to follow yourself? Would you want to buy from yourself? Would you want to read your own blog on a regular basis? If your honest answer is “no” then you need to take a critical look at your website, blog, or anything else you have online and make sure that you’re answering the question that your visitors are asking…”What’s in it for me?”