by Leigh Goessl

Created on: January 03, 2010

Web writers want to be read. If they wanted their thoughts to remain private they'd keep a personal journal or write on their word processors and let dust collect on their words as they wither away on a hard drive.

One of the ways people work to become read is to publish their work on the web and then promote it. While there is nothing theoretically wrong with promoting oneself in order to build a following, it is important to keep good etiquette and courtesy foremost in your thoughts.

Rudely promoting yourself is not only often perceived as wrong, there is sometimes a level of unethical behavior attached to this kind of promotion and this will directly impact the way people see you.

In order to develop a winning strategy for yourself on the Internet it is important to understand the courtesy that comes with posting in various Internet communities. Many communities are tight knit, have rules and do not take kindly to people barging in with selfish motives in mind.

Here are a few tips to think about prior to self-promoting yourself on the Internet:

♦Become a Part of the Community

Most Internet communities openly greet new members. After all, the more the merrier and new members often offer new perspectives and discussion topics of interest. People who join communities and want to be a genuine part are typically warmly welcomed with open arms.

On the other hand, it's often not well received when people sign up for various communities with the intent to self-promote their written articles. Have you ever been a part of an Internet community where you log in and there are 50 posts from someone posting various links? Do you ever read them or do you filter the person if that option is available? Chances are you totally ignore them and don't give them a minute's worth of your time.

If you join a community with the intent to post links to boost your readership and earnings, this is going to backfire on you pretty quickly.

A better approach is to join the community, be truly interested (if you're not, then don't join!), and truly become integrated and be committed to your new community. Over the course of time you'll be come a trusted and valued member and if you decide to link your work, people will take it seriously and be more likely to follow any links you share.

♦Don't Spam

It is considered rude to visit a website, or group of websites, drop a bunch of links and then leave. Even if you don't leave, it is important to only promote yourself where it is

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