How To Create A Contest For Publicity

People love the prospect of winning a prize and that is why contests are a great way to gain publicity. Another reason that contests are great for publicity is that you can create buzz for your business before, during, and after the contest. You can use a contest to gain exposure for a product or service that you offer, or to create general traffic to your website.

When deciding what type of contest to have, take a look at the type of business you have and who your target market is. If your goal is to create traffic for a website devoted to cooking, you can hold a “worst cooking disaster” contest where entrants can write in about their biggest kitchen mishap. If you have a website selling baby slings, hold a “pretty attached baby contest” where contestants can send in a picture of their infant riding in one of your baby slings.

You can also do a search on the internet for unknown holidays or other events that are taking place that may have something to do with your business. For instance, June is National Iced Tea Month. In using the above example of a cooking-related website, you could hold an Iced Tea Recipe Contest. June 18 is National Splurge Day. You could create a contest that asked the contestants to name their favorite “food splurge,” such as ice cream, cake, etc. Or you could create a contest asking entrants to describe the biggest splurge they made on a cooking appliance, such as a Panini Press.

You do not have to offer an expensive prize for the winner. If you are creating the contest to gain publicity for an information product that you have created, perhaps you can give a free copy to the winner.

Another option is to find sponsors to help contribute prizes to the contest. Find some websites that offer complimentary products or services to what you are promoting. For instance, if you have a website that provides sells jewelry making products, such as beads, you can find a polymer clay or jewelry findings supplier, etc. who may wish to donate their products as a prize to the person who creates the best bracelet with your beads. In exchange for their donation, make sure you give them lots of publicity on your contest page and in your communications with the media.

Send in press releases to the media several weeks before the contest will begin. Follow up with a press release while the contest is in full swing. Then send in another release after the contest is over and the winner has been announced. You can also ask your sponsors to send in press releases to their local media and to the winners’ local media.

Don’t forget to follow up with the people that entered the contest but did not win. Send them an email and let them know you appreciate their efforts. You can make them feel like a winner by offering them a special discount on one of your information products, for instance.

How Befriending the Media Can Increase Your Business

When it comes to your business, befriending the media can have a huge impact on your growth. The term “media” is quite large, and it covers the various types of communication that reach or influence people. This can take the form of:

• internet
• radio
• television
• newspapers
• magazines
• podcasts
• …and more

The following are some tips on how to befriend the media, and how this can help your business.

You will want to start building relationships with people that are associated with various types of media. You can use a program such as Excel or Access to organize a list of website owners, bloggers, podcasters, writers, local news anchors, local radio deejays, etc. Collect all the relevant information you will need to communicate with them, such as their names, titles, email addresses, the types of stories that they usually cover, etc.

When you send a press release, be clear, concise and to the point. Keep your press release to a maximum of two pages. Make sure you include your contact information, as well as information on how your product or service will help your target market.

Create a publicity campaign for your business. Don’t just send out one press release and wait for people to come to you. Instead, send out a press release to several media outlets once per week. The more media outlets that know about your business, the higher your chances are for receiving publicity.

You may follow-up with the people you have submitted press releases to, but don’t harass them or contact them too soon. They are busy and receive press releases on a daily basis. Give them a chance to look at yours and decide if it is something their viewers, listeners, or readers would be interested in.

When someone from the media calls you, be upbeat, enthusiastic, and honest. Have your information ready because they don’t want to wait for you to call them back with your answers.

Instead of just trying to “plug” your business, establish yourself as an expert in your field. When the media needs someone to comment on a news item that relates to your type of business, they may call on you. Your business may not be the focus of the interview, but your information will be displayed for the public to see, hear, or read.

In exchange for the media promoting you, offer to promote the media. Of course, national news and radio programs, huge newspapers, etc. may not need your promotional services, but smaller media outlets do. Let them know that if someone features you on their website, in their blog, or through their podcast, you will send a link to the information to your mailing list.

Once you have established a few contacts in various media outlets, stay friendly with them and let them know when something new is happening with your business.

Product Descriptions Pack Available Now!

A few weeks ago, I told you about my friend Melissa’s Product Descriptions Pack. Well, it’s here now! Melissa is practically giving away this information at an introductory price of $21.99. When you order, you’ll get:

• 32 page ebook that will teach you how to write amazing product descriptions
• Downloadable AUDIO that will show you how to write your way to sales
• PDF printable transcript of the audio, to make learning easier
• List of 111 Secret “Selling” Words that you can use to write your own descriptions
• Printable product descriptions template for easy reference
• 3 FREE bonuses that include 2 reports and the sales copy software

Save your time and money with this fast and easy to use product description writing pack.

Blog

Blog is a shortened term for “weblog.” Either term refers to a website where entries are made similar to a journal or diary. The entries are presented in reverse chronological order, with the newest entry on top. Although blogs were originally used like a personal journal on everyday events, they have evolved into a multipurpose tool. There are blogs on every topic imaginable, from food to politics to celebrity gossip. Generally, blogs combine the text entries with images, links to other blogs and other related media.

A blog entry consists of five basic components:

• The Title: The main headline of the blog post.
• The Body: The main content of the blog post, which can consist of text and/or photos and video.
• Permalink: This is the URL of the individual post.
• Post Date: The date and time the post was published to the blog website.
• A blog entry can also include comments from readers, categories (commonly called tags) that label the blog entry by subject, and trackback links, which are links to other sites that refer to the blog entry.

Tips For Optimizing Your Website

OK, so unless you’ve spent several hours with your nose buried in SEO forums and talking to various SEO gurus (or at least reading their blogs) you probably have no idea what optimizing your website involves. And if you did, there is a good chance that you have the WRONG idea from BAD advice.

I’m going to let you in on a few secrets. First of all, here is what optimizing your site for search engines does NOT involve:

1. Submitting your sites to search engines
2. Slapping meta tags on your pages
3. Measuring the density of your keywords in your content (Say what?!)
4. Filling your pages with tons of keyword phrases whether related to your site’s content or otherwise
5. Creating doorway pages.
6. Hiring someone who does any of the things mentioned above.

So, what exactly DOES optimizing your website for search engines involve?

First, I recommend you do your research to find out what keyword phrases people are actually using to find your product. Then name your pages appropriately.

For example, if you are selling baby slings using a Shop Kit Plus site, you might do your research and discovered that there were 472 searches for “baby slings” in the past 90 days and 426 for the phrase “baby sling.” However, the term “baby carrier” received 583 searches. So, I would recommend using the “baby carrier” phrase as well as the “baby sling” phrase.

Second, you need to name your pages using the keyword phrases you found. So, if you’re using the Shop Kit Plus, you would name your product “Red Widget Baby Carrier.” In the Shop Kit Plus, this will give your single item page the same name as the product.

On your product information pages, you might have a page with care instructions. So you might name the page “Baby Carrier Fabric Care.” This will give the page, at the top of the browser, the same name.

In the Shop Kit Plus, I would also recommend hiding the page title in the content area itself, then writing your own headline, using the keyword phrases, but written with your human readers in mind.

And third, the most important part: Write your content with your human visitors in mind. It must be compelling and either informative or persuasive, depending on the purpose of your page (sales or education).

This is optimizing your site in a nutshell. There are several methods of offsite optimization, but we’ll get into those later…

(For more information about proper search engine optimization, join SEO Power Up.)

Banner Exchange

A group of web sites that display each other’s ad banners in exchange for credits. The more impressions you display, the more credits you receive. The credits are converted into ad spaces for you to display your ad banner on participating websites.

I don’t recommend using banner exchanges, because you end up sending people to other’s websites. If you’re going to do that, go with adsense or join an affiliate program. You’ll at least be compensated for the traffic you send away.

For proven marketing techniques that DO work, download the free Truth About Traffic report my friend Alice Seba created.

Don’t I Need A Publicist to Get Any Worthwhile Publicity?

Michelle’s Note: This article is written by Alice Seba, my friend who knows everything there is to know about leveraging press releases.

Starting a press release or publicity campaign can seem overwhelming. How are you going to get yourself into a national magazine or how will you finally get Oprah’s attention?

Well honestly, it’s not necessary to work that hard in order to get beneficial publicity for your business . So, the short answer is – No, you don’t need a publicist to generate worthwhile publicity for your business.

Personally, I’m not into being famous, but instead I choose to generate lots of low-key publicity that helps build my business. I am asked for interviews, quoted in articles, etc. and those things bring in new subscribers and customers steadily, but I’m certainly not famous. Nor do I have any desire to be.

If you position yourself as an expert in your market, you can receive plenty of worthwhile publicity. Becoming an expert isn’t always from sending out press releases either, but also from having plenty of quality content out there, being visible in search engines and networking with others who will refer media to you.

Also, keep in mind that fame comes at a price. Talk to just about any book author that knocks herself out on a publicity tour. Ask her what a difference it made in book sales. It’s a huge investment of time and expense and doesn’t always give back a great return.

The low-key approach works well and you won’t burn yourself out!

Michelle’s Recommendation: Start generating plenty of exposure for your business with minimal expense and time investment. Join my friend Alice Seba, a former professional press release writer as a Press Release Profits student. Click here to get started instantly.

Avoiding Google Hell

If you keep up with search engine optimization (SEO) news at all, you may have heard the buzz caused by this article in Forbes and Matt Cutts’ (a Google software engineer) response.

So, what’s the big deal? Basically, a couple of dudes were making mad loot in the diamond selling business until Google dumped their high-ranking pages into its supplemental index. This resulting in both guys losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each in a few months time.

No one seems to know for sure what happened, but there is some speculation that the sites were “slapped” for employing shady SEO tactics, like creating more than 300 links to outside sides, most of which were not relevant to diamonds or even jewelry; and creating duplicate content.

Matt, on the other hand, says this:

It’s perfectly normal for a website to have pages in our main web index and our supplemental index. If a page doesn’t have enough PageRank to be included in our main web index, the supplemental results represent an additional chance for users to find that page, as opposed to Google not indexing the page.

So, what does this mean to you? Well, my advice is this:

1. Don’t try to manipulate your search engine rankings. Give your visitors what they want, making sure you use solid, white-hat, non-tricky SEO common sense.

2. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t let your search engine traffic be your only source of income. The Google “powers that be” can be fickle — even if they are just a bunch of bots. In short, spread yourself around.

Here are some methods of generating traffic that don’t rely heavily on search engine traffic to your site:

• Article Marketing
• Blogging For Business
• Press Release Marketing

So, have you experienced a Google slap: A suddenly dive into the supplemental index? And what are you doing to prevent a sudden downswing in your Google traffic from killing your business?

Marketing Your Website with Press Releases

What is a Press Release?

A press release is a newsworthy story about your business that you submit to various media outlets:

• newspapers
• magazines
• website
• radio
• television

This is a wonderful way to get free promotion for your website. Any story that the media picks up will be far more valuable than a paid advertising spot. Having the media do a story about you is like a personal endorsement of your website and business.

What is the Appropriate Format for Your Press Release?

Your press release should have six basic components and they are:

1. Release Instructions

“For Immediate Release”;
“For Release Before [date]” or
“For Release After [date]”

Use one of the latter two if your press release is of a time sensitive nature. For example, if you are holding a public speaking event, you will want to use the “For Release Before [date]” and make sure you input the final date for registrations. If you are using the “For Release Before [date]” ensure you are sensitive to media deadlines. Send your release out well in advance.

2. Headline

Write an attention-grabbing headline. Make it benefits-oriented (why would it be of interest to people?) and descriptive. Avoid hype and promotional language ~ remember, this is a news story.

3. Contact Information

Include as much information as possible here. Make it easy for the media to contact you. Include your phone number, address, company name, fax number, email and URL. Include the hours you are available at the listed phone number and add an after hours phone number, if applicable.

4. Summary

Before you get into the body of the release, write a sentence or two to summarize your press release. Make it interesting, you want the recipient to keep reading.

5. Content

This is the meat of your press release. Again, write a benefits-oriented story. Think of the target audience as you are writing. Your target audience is partly the editor or reporter who will be reading the release. Ultimately, however, your target audience is that editor or reporter’s readers or audience. You need to write a story that will be of interest to them.

The first paragraph should answer all the important questions - Who, What, Where, When, Why & How?

Add some quotations to add credibility and to break up the story. Quotations can be from you about the topic. Testimonials or commentary from your customers are very effective as well.6.

6. Signify the End of Your Release

The end of your press release is shown by a few simple characters. Place ### at the end of your release.

Other General Formatting Tips

• Always remember that your press release is not an ad. It is a newsworthy story.
• Address your release directly to the appropriate reporter or editor. The media receives many press releases each day. A release addressed to a specific person is more likely to get attention than a general submission.
• Keep your release to about 1 page (or 2 pages maximum).
• Number your pages 1 of 2, 2 of 2, etc.
• Use active verbs.
• Do not use excessive adjectives ~ they sound like hype.
• Tweak your release when sending to different media outlets. If you are sending to the local paper your content may be slightly different than if you are sending it to a trade magazine.
• If you are sending your release by mail, use 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper.
• If you are sending your release by email, never send an attachment. Copy and paste your release into the body of the email.

Where to Send your Press Release

You need to build a media list and this will likely take some time. Start local and small. Local and/or small media are most likely to be interested in your story and it’s the perfect way to hone your release writing skills. Besides, a lot of the larger media outlets scan the little guys to find stories to pick up.

Try newspapers, trade journals, topic specific magazines, websites, radio shows, television show ~ whomever would be interested in your topic.

Again, always remember to get specific contact information for your press release. A release address to a particular person will get a lot more attention than a general release sent to the media outlet.

Michelle’s Note: My friend Alice Seba is a “Retired” Press Release Writer that now teaches other website owners to increase their media exposure. Find out how you can get the media to sing your praises at
Press Release Profits.

Adwords

Google’s advertising product and main source of revenue. Adwords offers pay-per-click advertising for text and banner ads. When advertisers use Adwords to promote their product or service, their ads appear on any related website that is using Adsense.

Adwords advertisements are short, and consist of a title and two content lines. Advertisers pick keywords that relate to that their ad, and then bid on these keywords. They pay each time someone clicks on their ad. The advertisement will take the clicker to the merchant’s website.

Keywords cost more when they are more popular. If a lot of people are bidding on the word “internet marketing” the cost per click will be much higher. Depending on the keyword, a click may cost anywhere from $0.10 to several dollars.

Mastering the use of Google Adwords and effective pay-per-click campaign management is one of the keys to success in online business.

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