Press Releases - Magic?

The media mindset is a very powerful entity. What filters through the desk of an editor to the pulse of America is whatever he or she deems newsworthy. Scandals. Tragedies. Triumphs. From international terrorism to Cousin Cathy’s canine hero, the media hold all the cards when it comes to what we do and do not know.

They also decide, to a certain degree, the influence each story has on the public by the size of space they assign to it.

Readers are obviously going to focus on a half-size, front-page feature article more than they will a 10-line blurb buried in the back of the local section. Placement is crucial because it determines how close your news will get to the reader’s eyes.

Fortunately, news sells. So garnering attention for your press release will be a little like a sales pitch, without the blatant advertising. Sound impossible? Not when you consider how the media mindset operates.

Donald Trosper, Author

Mitoné Griffith has been designing websites since 1999. Her streamlined 24 Hour Website Wizard will have your website running in less time than it takes to get that book on HTML to ship from Amazon. Give her Wizard 24 hours. Invest a low $199. You’ll have
23d3 The best laid advertising plans usually contain a large sum of money. But not every new “NETtrepreneur” has a big marketing budget. Either you're still working a “day job” and sitting there hacking away online at night, trying to convince your family you're right, or you've been displaced from work in some way, and so—rightly—you turn to the net. I'm not rich by any means, but I haven't punched a clock in over two years. Not all my business comes from people I don't know all over the world—but a lot of it does. So this article will include local and regional advertising ideas for your website as well.

I'm starting with order of importance here—the things that are going to do more for you for the time investment. That's the thing about advertising—it either takes time OR money OR both. And if you don't have the money, be prepared to spend the time.

1.YOU MUST WRITE. I know you know something about your business. Maybe there's a little something you could teach me about what you know? That's what writing articles is all about. It's just sharing your knowledge FOR FREE with others who are interested in that same subject. In exchange, you get to have a “resource box” and byline. Your resource box tells others about your business and has links to your website and email. You don't have to write a sales letter of an article—your resource box does the “selling” for you. There are plenty of articles online that tell HOW to write an article—but the basic formula I follow is an intro paragraph, followed by “x” number of bulleted points to back up my intro, followed by a summary paragraph. Once you have your articles written, submit them to article directories. The main four I use are: www.ideamarketers.com, www.goarticles.com, www.fresh-articles.com, and www.valuablecontent.com. I know there are others. Just do a search with the terms “submit my article.”

2.YOU MUST OPTIMIZE AND SUBMIT. Again, there are tons of articles on optimizing your webpages for search engine submission. The basic premise is to fill your site with keyword rich content, full meta tags and then submit your site once a month to search engines. I have found a great and free website service: www.submitexpress.com which only submits your site to actual directories and engines, not all those free for all link pages.

3.YOU MUST GET OTHERS TO LINK TO YOU. And not just anybody—the websites that link to yours have to have something to do with your website. It takes time to research similar yet different sites, email the webmaster and request a link exchange. (Writing articles and submitting them solves this problem too.) If time is an issue, at the very least, do a search for “_____ directories.” The “____” of course is the topic of your website. For example if you had a website about Old English Sheepdogs, you might search for “Old English Sheepdog Directories.” The first five actual directories in the search results are the ones you want to exchange links with—they have the highest rankings and this means something for you in making your rankings better.

4.YOU MUST WRITE A PRESS RELEASE. Is your website brand spanking new—or have you done something really cool like donate a portion of your sales to a local charity? Write about it and send it to your local paper. Be sure and put your web address somewhere—either in the release if the release regards the site, or in the resource box if it's a secondary issue. If your message has a more global impact, consider sending out a larger press release online. Do a search for “submit press release” and you'll find a bunch of places to submit your PR for free. One site is www.free-press-release.com/submit/.

5.YOU MUST WRITE AN E-BOOK. After you have taken the time to write a slew of articles, it shouldn't take much to combine them in some sort of congruent fashion, put a spin on it and compile it into one PDF document. Give it away for free. There are several sources (directories) that offer to list free e-books. It will get downloaded and passed around—a “viral marketing” scheme. One such site is www.free-ebooks.net/submit.html.

6.YOU MUST START A NEWSLETTER. Or, just collect leads somehow. Newsletters, to me, do seem to be getting old and tired. But the principle is still a sound one. Considering you've done steps 1-5, you now should start to get traffic to your website. Maybe it's not the numbers you'd like, but that's okay—you're just getting started. Theoretically, you should have an email newsletter built into your site from day one. You'll want to contact your sign-ups regularly with information as well as your sales message. Offer your free ebook for signing up. Or give something else away for free. You can host your newslist at www.topica.com or www.groups.yahoo.com for free. Just remember that SPAM is tightening up now. I just read about a NC man who was sentenced to prison for 9 years for spamming. Make sure you have permission to send newsletters. I'm pickier now about how I advertise my newsletters. I usually just market to people who have already purchased something from me. It is a fact that 80% of your business will come from 20% of your customers. Good customers will buy from you again and again if you run a good business. Another idea I read recently is to publish information in an autoresponder that people really want. The first thing I look for when I go to a website is a price list. So, it makes sense if you publish your rate sheet in an autoresponder that you can collect good leads this way.

7.YOU MUST PUT YOUR WEBSITE ON EVERYTHING. It never ceases to amaze me that the very people who think they need a website so bad end up doing a lot of local print promotion and never put their website on any of it! If they do put their website address in their printed materials, it's like a secondary thought, not the main marketing message. It makes more sense to me to get a smaller ad and put the focus message on “Visit our website.” And then make your website do the lead collecting or selling. Although this is technically not “free,” you don't spend any extra by adding or changing or your message to focus on your website. If you're already paying for print, put the website on there. In Virginia, you can even get a “.com” license plate. I chose MITONE as my letters, and the state provides a specialty design that has a “.com” illustration after the letters. If you can do things like this, you CAN increase your web traffic.

8.YOU COULD TRY BANNER AND TRAFFIC EXCHANGE SITES. You have to be careful with these. Sometimes they work if you have a good banner and you exchange with the right sites. Having banners on your site and windows popping up behind your pages isn't the most aesthetic thing in the world, but it might work for a one week blitz. One that looks more promising (and doesn't mess with mucking up your website) is www.instantbuzz.com. You actually download a browser toolbar (like a google toolbar) that displays one liner ads. For so many that you see, you can put up your own for free. A few ads have actually caught my eye while surfing around, so this one might be worth a try.

9.DON'T FORGET YOUR SIGNATURE FILE. It may not seem like much, but how many emails do you send, networking, every day? Explore your “Tools” option in Outlook and fix up a dandy little signature file. Put in a “call for action.” And link to your website.

10.AND THEN THERE WAS A FORUM. If you find a few forums that are well visited—and you visit and contribute regularly, then this can help you. You can't just go to a forum or message board and start advertising your site. You have to get to know the “regulars” and become a regular voice yourself. And jump in when you actually have something to say. Use your signature file to link to your website. And try and pick a forum that is related in topic to your website.

Whether you're investing in a huge pay per click advertising plan—with a side blitz of magazine advertising or not—it is still a good idea to do as much of these freebies as possible. It can only help build up your reputation and drive home your name brand. Remember YOUR GOAL in all of your advertising is to first just get people to your website. The goal of YOUR WEBSITE is to capture a lead or make a sale—or maybe both. Don't sell in your ads—just get them there and let your site do the selling.

About the Author

Mitoné Griffith has been designing websites since 1999. Her streamlined 24 Hour Website Wizard will have your website running in less time than it takes to get that book on HTML to ship from Amazon. Give her Wizard 24 hours. Invest a low $199. You'll have a complete and custom website overnight. Nothing to lose with a 100% satisfaction money back guarantee. Visit http://24hourwebsitewizard.com or email thewiz@24hourwebsitewizard.com.