Building Trust With Chris Guthrie

An interesting ezine article from Chris Guthrie this morning reminds me yet again of the importance of using email to build relationships and trust.

I first became aware of Internet marketer Chris Guthrie about a month ago when he stopped by Lynn Terry's forum to introduce himself.

It was immediately clear that Chris is intelligent and articulate, but so are many other marketers, so it takes a special gift to get noticed.

Sneak A Peak At Chris Guthrie's Checkbook

I realized that Chris has a special talent when I noticed he offers detailed reports of his online income every month on his blog.

What a simple and direct hook!

You can see exactly how much money Chris is making, how he is making it, and watch every month to see how he continually tests and tweaks his operations to reach his income goals.

Chris is doing quite well with his online business projects, check it out, and be impressed.

The bottom line is that the bottom line is what webmaster readers are really most interested in.

Chris gets that.

And delivers.

Chris has the gift.

Chris knows how to build trust.

Email Is Everything

I unexpectedly received an emailed article from Chris's autoresponder this morning.

You see, as good as my first impression of Chris was, I'd almost forgot about him already. You know how it is, busy, busy, busy, it's so easy to get distracted etc.

Luckily, I'd had the sense to subscribe to Chris's blog on my first visit, or I'd have not received his mail this morning, and missed out on all his future articles as well.

So, that's the first lesson I received in Chris's email.

I need to do a much better job of using email to connect with readers.

Lots of people are forgetting me, because I've done a poor job of inviting them to join my lists.

Given my long experience in the email business, this can be fairly labeled a stupid mistake.

Taking Action

HEY PHIL!

Yes me, you stupid cow, you've known this for 15 years!

Sigh...

I mean, mooooo.....

And so here comes the second lesson I received from Chris's email, a crucial point we can't be reminded of too often.

Knowing, and doing, are not the same thing.

Knowledge, minus action, equals zero.

Ouch.

Building Trust

So I'm reading Chris's email as I sip my morning coffee.

It was one of those moments when you pull back from the computer, sit back in your chair, take off your glasses, and really think about something you've read online.

That's a good article.

In the email Chris talked about the all important subject of building trust with readers, and how he goes about doing that.

His thoughtful remarks caused me to question whether I'm doing a good job of building trust with visitors to my sites.

Honestly, I'm not sure that I am.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm not.

Ok, so I'm a programmer, a logic monster, a coding cave nerd, an incurable blowhard, and thus not the Net's most polished people person ego pleasing diplomat.

But is that really a good enough excuse?

Send Spam To Build Trust??

Ok, so I've been providing hosting services to webmasters since 1996, and thus am entirely confident that the free services I'm offering can provide real value to many online publishers.

But, I'm less confident about my ability to build trust with you the reader, so that you'll actually believe me when I state that my 14 years of experience can be of value to you.

Truth be told, lots of folks just aren't getting it, and that's my fault. I'm not always real bright about building trust.

As example, my first instinct upon reading Chris's email was to slam down on the reply button, and fire off an enthusiastic long winded personal email to Chris explaining everything I can do for him and his readers.

Hey, let's spam Chris!

That'll work, right?

Right?

Mooo....!