march 16, 2010 04:36pm
4 SEO Tips for Your WebsiteCompanies continue to try and raise their brand awareness via the Internet, and one common way to get more visibility is through search engine optimization (SEO).
Here are four basic tips to improve your SEO.
1) Establish unique keyword titles for each of your web pages.
2) Target "long tail" keywords on all your sub pages. These are not as competitive as your main keyword.
3) Underline, italic or boldface tags on each keyword page. Two to three per page should suffice.
4) Add an HTML sitemap to your website. This page includes links to the main pages of your site.
As a final tip, use WordTracker or similar effective tools to determine the effectiveness of your keywords.
Posted By: Roderick Kelly
february 09, 2010 08:45pm
Benchmarks and trends in PRI was asked the other day by a former colleague about benchmarks and trending on how PR resources are split i.e., time/budget on traditional news engine, social media tools, event promotion, etc.?
Interesting question and one that most companies, especially innovative ones are asking their marketing/PR departments and firms. Here's my view on it.
First, benchmarking will depend on the campaign and the region. For example, supporting a trade event in New York is going to be much more costly than one in Orlando, Vegas or Anaheim.
Second, social media tools are fun and should be thrown into the marketing/PR mix, but I would caution that these should be used as touch points, not as a revenue-generating marketing for sales activity. Why? Use your own experiences. How often do you Tweet? Do you use Facebook primarily for family and friends? Is LinkedIn used primarily for business networking? These are all great sites and activities but I could argue they do little to generate sales -- at least today.
So as a benchmark, how can these tools be best utilized? With LinkedIn, I recommend joining common interest groups that might include your customers or potentials. Instead of "pitching your wares" which so many people do, have someone regularly monitor the discussion boards and offer your professional expertise. Regular readers of these boards will begin seeing you and your company as a thought leader with no hard sell.
Twitter can also be effective because you have people following your company because they want to, either for their own benefit or for competitive reasons. It's short and sweet. The same is true with SMS marketing to your various business lists. Occasional messages are easy to send and easy to read. (Public companies are under strict guidelines on disseminating news but they can use these tools to inform customers about trade shows and "stay tuned for" messages.)
Third, traditional marketing/PR strategies are still preferred by the C-Suite. They are like the old sweatshirt that gives one comfort on a cold day. With instantaneous global distribution and SEO functionality, news releases are very effective when blasting to the masses.
And finally, I'm a big proponent of spending time with the company's website (although I'm remiss in doing so on ours). The website is the first place people click to find out more about who you are and what you do. You can easily benchmark the page clicks and click throughs. It's a great marketing/PR/sales tool that often is not properly utilized. It can and should be updated daily or every few days with new images and articles/announcements, etc. Then use social media to drive people to the website to "read all about us" or "see our latest video blog.
So continuing to use traditional marketing/PR strategies, along with spending time with your website, are two great ways to showcase your company's innovation and thought leadership. And both provide great benchmarking opportunities that will help in determining your company's marketing/PR spend.
Posted By: Roderick Kelly
october 16, 2009 09:21am
Bootstrap PRIn days of yore, news releases were (somehwat) valuable to news editors and journalists who were looking for story ideas. A well written news release could pique their interest and a followup call by the journalist would result in an interview with a company executive.
Today, we find smaller companies are using news releases for SEO (search engine optimization) in order to get on the radar screens of customers and potential customers. News releases rarely are written with a journalist or publication in mind.
Our recommendations:
-- Target 3-5 publications that you are interested in seeing your company's name. Check out their editorial calendar. You can find it under the advertising tab and in the media kit. Publications are just coming out with their 2010 editorial calendars, but often times they mirror the previous year's calendar as some issues focus on specific trade shows/events. Come up with ideas that will tell your story(ies) to fit their coverage/deadline needs.
-- Determine how your company can fit into trend stories, green stories, stimulus $$ stories, or anything else that is "hot" at the moment.
-- Call the Managing Editor or Editor-in-Chief of the publication and introduce yourself to them. Tell your story in a succinct and interesting way.
-- Begin forming a relationship with that editor or reporter who covers your beat. Find out how your company might fit into their editorial mix.
-- Have them follow you on Twitter or LinkedIn or FB and send them regular updates on what your company is doing via email or e-newsletters.
-- Call them on a regular (monthly) basis and be prepared to make a pitch.
-- Write a letter to the editor of the publication. Many publications also accept articles as long as they are objective and informative or trendy.
Those should help you get started. Think big but start small. Expect a 6-12 month return on your investment (time). If you don't have the time or patience to follow through, by all means give us a call. Our diligence will pay dividends.
Posted By: Roderick Kelly
june 15, 2009 03:34pm
Breaking down the social media networksBusinesses wanting to maintain a strong online presence have turned to social media networks to get their key messaging and brand awareness to its publics.
Establishing accounts with these networks allows a business to communicate quickly to conversations that are pertinent to their business, products and markets.
Here's a breakdown, in no specific order, of the social networks you may want to consider establishing accounts.
blip.tv -- video hosting platform
twitter.com -- social network
wordpress.com -- a blogging platofrm
gmail.com -- for all accounts Google
digg.com -- a recommendation/social news site
facebook.com -- social network
yelp.com -- great for small or local businesses
delicious.com -- social bookmarking platform
yahoo.com -- for all accounts Yahoo!
flickr.com -- photo sharing site
stumbleupon.com -- social recommendation site
brightkite.com -- location-based services
openid.org -- a universal account
youtube.com -- video sharing site
disqus.com -- discussion platform
linkedin.com -- business connections network
If there are others I should include on the list, please forward. These are the ones I have found to be most useful.
Posted By: Roderick Kelly
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