The Halo Effect, as per the Wikipedia definition is…

The halo effect or halo error is a cognitive bias in which one’s judgments of a person’s character can be influenced by one’s overall impression of him or her.

We judge a person’s character based on their physical appearance and the things around them. It’s a quick judgement that is very likely inaccurate, but we all do it and are influenced by it, so it makes sense to become aware of it and use it to our advantage, especially in business.

Here’s a short video I put together to explain the Halo Effect, and how you can use it to your advantage with your online business –

You can also download the PDF text transcript of what I said in the video here –

Download Transcript [ PDF ]

The Halo Effect Never Stops

Most bloggers say they had some kind of tipping point that “put them on the map”. It might be a certain article, or an interview or a video, or speaking at an event, or something they did or said on social media that brought in a whole bunch of attention.

For me, I had several small tipping points early on when other bloggers linked to my articles, but there was one really big tipping point that came in my third year as a blogger.

I did a launch.

I won’t go into details about the launch since I have already written about online launches many times (you can download my Membership Site Masterplan for a breakdown). However I want to point out why doing the launch was a tipping point for me, which has a lot to do with the Halo Effect.

When you conduct a launch, a proper big one with lots of affiliates and significant lead-in content, you stamp your authority in an industry. This authority creates a Halo Effect that carries with you potentially for the rest of your life, but at least for as long as you remain in your industry.

Why Does This Happen?

When you release a significant content resource, like a free report, and it’s promoted around the web by your affiliates, you get a lot of attention at once.

Even if the people exposed to your launch never buy anything or even participate in the launch by opting in to your launch list, they will very likely hear about it just from emails and blog posts that people publish about you.

When I published the Blog Profits Blueprint quite a few affiliates promoted it, including top bloggers and some top internet marketers. I reached hundreds of thousands of people in just a couple of weeks.

Each person exposed to my launch linked the Blog Profits Blueprint to this long haired guy named Yaro. The endorsement delivered by my affiliates, and because they all talked about me at the same time, created a massive Halo Effect around me when it comes to the subject of making money with blogs.

I’ve been leveraging that halo ever since.

What really amazes me about this is that so many people know me and link my name to professional blogging, even if they do not read my blog. They saw me referenced and endorsed by someone else they trust – and bam – instant credibility for me.

You Are Always Being Judged

The most important point about the Halo Effect is that you can’t avoid it, but you can manipulate it. Humans will always judge each other based on outward appearances, what other people say about them and what things they see associated with them.

As I talked about in the video, you can use this to your advantage, especially in business, by surrounding yourself or your business brand with elements that create a halo around you.

These can include –

  • Pictures of you with respected experts or celebrities
  • Badges or awards that you have won or qualified for
  • Logos of publications you have been featured in “As seen in…”
  • Showing you are a published author of a book
  • Displaying other elements that verify success in your field like before and after shots

Make sure you watch the video and please leave a thumbs up for it if you enjoy it. If you like this post and video, please Twitter Tweet or Facebook Like it using the buttons you will find at the start and end of the blog post too.

Talk to you soon!

Yaro