Shorten Your Links

When promoting your site on Twitter you notice immediately that you are limited to 140 characters. If you can say everything you want using 140 characters – Congratulations! You don’t really need to read this.

But if you happen to have a very long URL for your web site (which I would not recommend unless they are main keywords for your website; and even in that case I would keep it to 2 or 3 words separated by a “dash”) I bet those 140 characters are not merely enough for a short and sweet message you want to put out there.

 
What about promoting a particular page from your site? I mean, look at this monster: “http://www.whateveryourbusinessnameisandacoupleofkeywords.com/products/go.php?r=31&i=l4?. That in itself eats up more than half your Twitter word allowance.

People will more readily click on your links if they aren’t long and scary. In fact they might find them quite cute…well – sometimes…

So what to do? Answer – shorten your URL link for your site. There are plenty of sites where you can do this at a drop of a hat.

Here are a few of them:

• http://www.trm.im
• http://www.Bit.ly
• http://www.Tinyurl.com
• http://www.u.nu

Using these sites will shorten your URL and improve your click rate; and that’s what you want, don’t you? Take every opportunity to grab attention and boost your presence on Social Media Sites. I highly recommend you use one of these services for all your digital marketing endeavors!

Press Release - Part II

As previously related in Part I – The Power of Press Releases, this important element of your promotional campaign not only helps in driving traffic to your website but also in generating lots of back links and so it kicks your Google Page rank higher and gets you picked easily by other major search engines.

This article will go into the fine details of creating a succesful Press Release and what it means for your business as a whole.

I. Choose Topic

The main distinction between an article and a Press Release is that the Press Release announces a specific event. An article describes an opinion or simply shares information about a specific topic. For example, “Company ABC Launches a New Web Portal.” In this example, you are announcing a specific event (the launch of new web site or portal).

Understanding this difference now, will save you time and energy, as many distribution sites will not submit releases that are not formatted and written like a proper release.

Ideas for Specific Events:

• The launch of your new business
• The launch of your new website
• The launch of your new team
• The launch of your new blog

II. Choose Keywords

The focus of a Press Release should be not only to inform other people about your event but using keywords within the Press Release in order to gain high ranking positions with the search engines. In order to produce the proper
keywords follow the steps:

• Make a list of 5-10 keywords that are related to the topic you chose
• Go to http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com and type in your keywords, one by one.
• Choose the top three keywords that have the highest number of searches

III. Write the Press Release

This is where everything happens. Remember – the organization where you send your Press Release isn’t interested in helping you make money or driving visitors to your site. All they look for is a story – an interesting one so more readers will flock to their articles. So it’s up to you to make it interesting and make the cut.

Here are the steps to accomplish this:

Step 1 – Outline

Create an outline by answering the following 5 questions:

• What specific event am I announcing?
• When did this event happen?
• Who did this event involve?
• Why would other people be interested in reading about this event?
• Where can people find out more information?

Step 2 – Quotes

Make sure you write 2-3 personal quotes to use in your press release (as if someone was interviewing you about this event). These quotes should be what you think or feel about this event.

Step 3 – Release

Write your release Notes along these lines:

• This is where the news reporter should shine. Your press release should read like a news story, as if someone else wrote it
• Be sure your keyword is used at least 3-4 times in the body of your press release and in the title of your release, without feeling like you are stuffing or forcing them upon the reader
• Do not use one keyword more than 4 times in the body each release

Step 4 – Review

• Check your entire text for spelling, punctuation and grammar errors
• Check if your web site URL is the correct one on the bottom of your Press Release – you won’t get a second chance at this
• Double-check everything as you want the release to be as professional as possible
• Have others read it and get feedback
• Modify accordingly is the majority of your feedback points to a specific item in your Press Release

IV. Distribute the Press Release

Once your press release is finalized, distribute it to the search engines ASAP!

Here’s a resource list where you can distribute your Press Release:

• www.free-press-release.com
• www.webwire.com
• www.prweb.com
• www.24-7pressrelease.com
• www.prlog.com

Note: You will have to signup for each of the resources listed above. Once you do –do not forget to save it in your Favorites should you return back to them. Each distribution site distributes your release to many other websites.

Important Notes:

• Keep your Press Release at an effective rate of 400 words or less
• Your press release should contain your keyword 3-4 times in the body, and once in the title
• Always use your personal business name when distributing releases
• Some distribution sites will make your press release live immediately; some will require up 72 hours for approval
• The distribution site will immediately reject you if your press release sounds more like an advertisement, or a sales pitch and not a newsworthy event
• Press releases are impossible to edit after they have been distributed; make sure you are 100% sure of the content you are about to release
• Make sure you submit the same press release to a distribution site only ONCE
• You can distribute the same press release to all the different distribution sites

Even More Important Notes:

• Whenever possible, add a video into the distribution with your press release. Google loves press releases with video in them
• Some distribution sites will give you the opportunity to have your website displayed right beneath your press release. Take advantage of this option when possible. It looks very professional and adds credibility to your release
• If you follow the instructions in this article, your release will begin to appear more and more on the search engines over time

For other helpful infomation Self Promotion, please see 7 Powerful Laws of Self-Marketing

Social Media icons

Everyone is using social media now and not simply for social reasons, in fact it now accounts for almost 10 percent of Internet time.  Social media is gaining more acceptance in both the business world — both as a tool to connect with customers and for co-workers to connect with each other. Social Media is got all the Buzz – but is it necessary? First of all let’s see what defines “Social Media”.

Social media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures, video, rating and bookmarking. Trying to cover so many areas and being active promoting with social media takes time. Expecting overnight results from any marketing campaign is not realistic. 

Marketing

Your website is a great place to measure the effectiveness of your social media campaign and your in-bound marketing plan.  Sep 30, 2009 Event report says – “Twitter – The best marketing tool since Google, or is it a faddish distraction for lazy marketers?”

Social media gives companies actionable strategies by bringing consumer insight to social media marketing, allowing marketers to engage, communicate and track the effectiveness of social campaigns, Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and others, are here to stay and PR and marketing firms need to recognize that fact.

Advertising

Advertising, as we know it, will remain an important way to build brand and drive sales.  Because the top social media sites can deliver high reach and frequency against target segments at a low cost, it appears that some advertisers are eager to use social networking sites as a new advertising delivery vehicle. Social media marketing techniques work, and can position your information in front of your customers at a fraction of what conventional advertising costs.

Part of that is a function of social media’s communication’s role — advertising has typically performed poorly in chat and e-mail. Finally, a new marketing study confirms exactly what I’ve been saying about social media all along: if you want to conduct a successful public relations and advertising campaign, then you had better understand and use online social media.  Based on that thought, agencies are now rushing onto Social Media ignoring the fact that, most of the time, people don’t want their advertising in whatever form.

Community

In terms of social media, the prospects that draw toward you but have not yet become your customers are called your community.  If your website visitor is part of your community, however, you have a much better chance of getting them to return. Flavor your web site with demo videos and you will have followers ready to watch the next big thing you came up with.

Take YouTube for instance – this is a community hub with a set of tools allowing all three legs of social media (contribution, participation, information generation). You probably noticed that more and more videos are popping up much faster in Google searches. Can you ignore YouTube? I think not.

Facebook is another one – 86% of the brands and merchants who responded to the “Community and Social Media Study” poll said they now use a Facebook fan page.  While 2/3 of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing. 

Value

While social media are complex and often misunderstood, they have a value beyond traditional marketing campaigns.  According to a recent survey conducted by MarketingProfs of over 200 Twitter users, Twitter ranks behind only blogs as the social media tool that delivers the most value. 

As we look to economic recovery, it’s critical to continue to retain customers and maximize their lifetime value.  Remember that the true value of social media lies in the ability to really listen to your customers versus telling your story.

Tapping into all the ways an effective social media agency can deliver value to marketers, will set apart this new breed of agency.  For example, I don’t think you can successfully define social media without at least some reference to the underlying values of authenticity, transparency, and openness. 

Before you ask about what is the ROI, ask yourself how have you measured the value of communications before Social Media existed.  The difference today is now you can measure the efficiency and effectiveness of communications down to whom, what, when and its value moment by moment.

Conclusion

Because social media is so interactive, it constantly shifts and changes; therefore, a savvy marketer needs to be extremely familiar with the community and know how each social media website audience is different from the next in order to bring real value. 

As long as you contribute meaningfully to the community and gain the level of trust they need to allow you to seed your own messages or pitch your own products or services, and you don’t violate their trust, you’re marketing via social media successfully.

7 Laws of Self Marketing

Advertise Yourself

You need to follow these laws if you want to promote yourself. They are not only powerful but necessary if your ultimate goal is achieving success in either your business or personal growth.

It’s much about branding but also projecting an image that will attract other people to seek your advice and take advantage of your personal know-how.

In short here they are:

Law #1:  Become an Expert in Your Field

Do attend seminars, read books and publications, blogs and press releases. Educate yourself in areas that you feel passionate about. Do not waste a single day without learning something new in your field. Make a daily list of necessary. It will help when looking back to see what you have accomplished.

Law #2: Be Prepared At All Times

This law goes hand in hand with Law#1 because “To be prepared is half the battle” – Miguel de Cervantes. Once prepared be attentive to everything that goes around you and seize any opportunity (without being annoying) to put to work the knowledge you have accumulated.

Also – be open to change and flexible to situations. Adapt and flow in the moment.

Law#3:  Have the Right Attitude

Everything starts with attitude. Wake up every morning with that in mind and force your mind to project positive thoughts and the universe will listen. “Good things come to those who wait”. Do you really think so? Take action not necessarily by picking up the phone or writing articles, but most of all take action within yourself, within your mind.

Dream big and never stop believing in your strengths and talents. Laws of Attraction work their best with a positive mind.

Law #4: Respect Everyone

No matter how small, insignificant or without a celebrity status someone is treat every one the same because you never know where the next big opportunity will come from. Plus image is everything in self promoting. If you belittle people, how would you feel if the shoe was on the other foot? Exactly!

Professionalism and respect will get you brownie points at all times.

Law #5: Communicate Clearly

Be prepared to have a 30 seconds elevator speech as well as 1 page professional bios. Work on these items and have them handy, in mind and on paper. Business cards are also part of your marketing panoply and make sure you don’t mumble a sorry excuse like “I am having done at this time…”.

At a moment notice be ready to impress anyone who asks “So…what do you so?” with a well constructed short speech that clearly and concisely communicates just that.

Law #6: Somebody is Watching You

Unless you are Aries and see everything and everyone, assume someone is watching you. Slip one time and you just tarnished that special something you worked so hard for – Your Professional Image.

I remember one time, during a party, being fond of the host I really believed our families could establish a strong relationship and continue visiting each other. Until I happened to notice the brutal way he was treating his dog. From that point on, I wanted nothing to do with that individual.

Maybe I was at a loss, but I do not want to associate myself with cruel people. Why would he care about me if he didn’t even care about his dog?

Law #7: Be Patient. Be resilient

Relationships, especially business ones do not happen over night. Just because you handed out some snazzy business cards and handed them to a bunch of people doesn’t mean you are done. Do not make the mistake 95% of the people out there make.

Great things happen to those who keep on going. Notice I didn’t say “wait”. You don’t wait – you take action, but you take it every day. You keep on hammering away and things will start happening. Implement these laws. Work them into your daily routine and soon results will start emerging.

Don’t abandon these laws and especially do not forget about them if several months go by and nothing happens. Edison is remembered for his patience and resilience, otherwise electricity would have someone else’s name on it.