My personal opinion (and I freely admit that I'm not entirely"normal") is this: People are, implicitly or explicitly, looking for value in their interactions.

My personal opinion (and I freely admit that I'm not entirely"normal") is this: People are, implicitly or explicitly, looking for value in their interactions. If I read something that you've written and literally the only thing I get from it is that you've created something you want to sell me, then I will feel that you have taken my time and attention and given me nothing of value in return. The corollary to this is simple: Provide value. Don't just plug something, but share experience or knowledge that I will find useful, or at the very least interesting. I need to read what you wrote and think "Huh - that was useful", or "Huh, that was interesting." Just my $0.02 - I hope you (and others) found it interesting and possibly useful.