Creating An Effective Online Presence Part Two
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
This month I want to continue the discussion on creating an
effective online presence. We will be talking about writing
press releases, I am not touting myself as an expert but merely
have been a voracious student of this information over the past
two years and want to share what I learned and paid a great
deal of money to know, hoping to lessen the learning curve for
you.
Press Releases
Whenever you are rolling out a new product or service, you want
to do a press release however, you want to tie them to something
newsworthy so it doesn't seem like an advertisement described as
a press release. Do this by connecting your news or product
offering to something currently in the news.
In general, a press release shouldn't be longer than one page.
Keep it concise and write in journalistic language answering
the basics of who, what when, where, why and how in the first
paragraph. Deal with the facts and avoid marketer's language.
Write it in the third person voice. If appropriate, provide
quotes from those in the news.
In about ten words, create a grabbing headline that summarizes
the content of the release in an exciting way.
Keep it concise and write in journalistic language answering
the basics of who, what when, where, why and how in the first
paragraph. End the first paragraph with a "hook," that will
keep your readers interested and reading more but also must be
relevant to the news editors.
Write the rest of your press release with the most important
information first so that if the editor must cut the length of
your release, the less important information is at the end of
the release.
At the top of the release write the release date or "For
Immediate Release." Be sure to include your contact
information: name, title, address, phone number, fax, email and
website addresses.
There are three press release sites I would recommend:
http://www.prweb.com, http://www.prnewswire.com and
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com. They have free listings but if
you want to increase your exposure and the likelihood that your
release will be picked up by more venues, then you want to pay.
Paying also allows you to include hyperlinks in your release
that direct traffic (and search engines) back to your site,
another way to increase your traffic.
Directories
There are software programs and companies out there who use
them that will automatically register your site with 100s of
directories. For some reason unknown to me, apparently search
engines don't look favorably on this kind of activity. They
somehow have "intelligence" and can tell when the same
submission has been done in bulk like that.
This is why when registering your site with search engines, you
want to create about ten different descriptions for your site
and alternate those descriptions between different directories.
www.seocompany.ca is a great site that provides free search
engine directory listings. I registered at all the ones that
didn't require reciprocal links.
When you can budget for some paid search engine directories,
here are the ones that were recommended to me, listed in order
from least to most expensive:
www.abilogic.com---express submission
www.greenstalk.com
www.octopedia.com
www.sbd.dcentral.com
www.business.com
dir.yahoo.com
www.seocompany.ca also has paid search engine listings. Add
yourself to them as your budget allows. It is always a good
idea to do one at a time and track your traffic and conversions
so you can determine which are generating the best return on
your investment.
eZine Directories-If you are putting out an electronic
newsletter or eZine, then google eZine directories and list
your eZine there.
Blog Directories-If you have a blog, list your blog in the blog
directories.
Podcast Directories-If you have any downloadable audio products
on your website, you can list your site in podcast directories.
Software Directories-If you provide any software products such
as screensavers or interactive software programs, you can list
yourself in the software directories.
The more listings you have, the greater your traffic will be
and the more external links you will have pointing to your
site.
Search Engine Traffic
The first step in generating search engine traffic is to
determine your best keywords and phrases. Generate about 25-30
keywords and phrases for each page of your website. Check them
out on http://www.wordtracker.com,
http://www.pixelfast.com/overture and
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion.
You are not simply looking for the words that receive the most
clicks. You actually want to pick keywords that aren't crowded
with competitors. Then carefully place your keywords within the
text of your website, as well as in the titles of your pages and
the descriptions. You will also want to create metatags that are
keyword rich. All of this will assist with increasing organic or
natural traffic to your site.
Your goal is to be in the top websites listed when you google
your keywords. Organic traffic is what will get you there.
You can also pay for high listing through advertising using
your keywords and phrases. This is generally what comes up on
the right-hand side of the search engine page. These are
companies who have advertised through pay-per-click (PPC)
advertising. I use yahoo, google and MIVA. PPC advertising has
become less attractive because there is so much competition now
often the cost is often prohibitive.
I hope this was helpful. Next month I will be talking about
sales funnels, newsletters, blogs, and joint ventures. Stay
tuned.
About The Author: Kim Olver is a professional coach,
specializing in the field of interpersonal skills, empowerment
and leadership development. She has functioned in the role of
supervisor and administrator for over 20 years. This column is
for readers to submit their questions for Kim to answer. It
could be a question about supervision skills, maximizing
teamwork, customer service, interpersonal skills or client
satisfaction and empowerment. No interpersonal question in the
field of work is off limits. For more information visit
http://www.coachingforexcellence.biz/Coaching.shtml or contact
Kim by email to Kim@CoachingforExcellence.biz
posted by Dennis Cheesman @ 9:03 AM,
