Can you endorse me?

Posted by Paula van Dun
1614 Pageviews
I regularly get requests for an endorsement/recommendation on APSense, Facebook and others. I have to decline most of them for reason that I had not had any substantial contact with this person or personal experiences with the products/services/programs they are offering.

My views about giving endorsements or testimonials as they were called before for people, have not changed. I only do so when I had some interaction with this person and I can endorse his/her actions and/or service/product. Which can also be good advice or tips received. And I will do this spontaneously. If there is a daily credit campaign and there is no one on my list, I will pass.

Getting endorsements from people that are trusted and know by many can really enhance your profile. When you get these from well respected marketers and business people, people will also trust you more when they read them. Such people in general also don't write recommendations just for credits or because somebody asked. Why is that? Of course i can only speak for myself but....

I am very careful with giving away endorsements. This is why. Out of curiosity I sometimes check out the profile of the people that requested the endorsement. often to find out that they are stuffed with links that I consider illegal ponzi scams; an endorsement would harm my reputation.

Would I ask for an endorsement myself? In general, no. Because I think they must come from the heart. I did ask on one occasion to a person I have a lot of contact with, I asked Wincer. I know he is always very busy programming APSense features and therefore not likely to write one spontaneously because of that. By the way, I got one.

So how do you get endorsements from people that matter? It takes time like all good things. Make sure you have a good profile. Do due diligence before joining programs and list those on your profile. Contribute in a positive way.  Write your own articles and blogs. Give comments on other peoples contributions that ad value ( do not always post just something like "very nice" or "thank you".

I started doing this when I started because I figured "people will need to know and trust me first before I have any chance of getting sales". It worked. Just check the recommendations on my profile. What is even more important is that I gained valuable contacts and even partners and JVs. Many people you see in my recommendations have offered me help and good advice that helped me sharpen my skills, gave me new insights and new ideas.