Creating An Effective Online Presence Part Two

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.