The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Measuring the effectiveness of a publicity campaign is one factor that separates the true Publicity Hounds from the Publicity Pups.

If you have no way of measuring the success of a press release you’ve posted online, then why are you posting it?

The same with your blog.

My friend Don Crowther, an Internet marketing expert who measures all the time, has 11 engagement metrics you need to track at your blog.

Some of them will be a little advanced for beginning bloggers. So if you’re struggling to come up with enough content for your blog and enough time to write it, concentrate on producing the content for now. You can return to the task of measurement in several months.

All of his metrics measure what bloggers are getting, like traffic, unique visitors and subscriptions to their RSS feeds. I commented at his blog and suggested that bloggers also measure from the other side. Instead of just measuring how much we’re getting, let’s measure how much we’re giving.

6 more things worth measuring

I offered these six examples of “giving”:

—How often are we blogging? I hear from so many people who start on Monday and quit by Friday “because I’m not getting any traffic.”

—How often are we writing about our competitors?

—How often are we featuring guest bloggers, including our competitors, who have something valuable to say to our readers?

—Do we bother to reply to comments at our blogs? I started doing this a few months ago, fairly consistently, because it shows I want to continue the conversation, and I’m noticing the number of comments from others is increasing. Also, replying will encourage people to return to my blog to see what I had to say about their comment. Besides, it’s the polite thing to do.

—Do we show readers that we welcome comments and prod them into writing them? You did in the last paragraph of your post above.

—Do we show readers how easy it is to use our blog? I love your little note reminding people to get a gravatar. I’m going to steal this idea (I know you won’t mind) and use it at my own blog.

And a time-saving tip

I also left this P.S. at Don’s blog. It has nothing to do with measurement, but it’s a time-saving tip you can use at your own blog:

P.S. As I go from blog to blog posting comments like this one, I sometimes them turn my more substantial comments into posts for my own blog. That’s what I’m going to do right now. I’ll simply save these comments to my clipboard, go over to my blog, write a post, link to this post, and add to my list if I can think of anything else.

In other words, the post you’re reading here originated from the comments I wrote at Donsg blog. You can do the same thing.

Whenever you comment at somebody’s blog, or answer a question on LinkedIn, or create content for something like handouts for a presentation you’re giving, ask yourself if you can turn it into a blog post. That’s one of the many tips that Patsi Krakoff and I shared during the teleseminar we presented in January on Time-saving Tips for Smart Business Blogging.

What metrics to you measure at your own blog? And what other ways do you engage your readers? Comment here.

Posted In: Blogs
posted On: 3/11/2010: 12:29 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Susan Murphy of Pleasant Ridge, MI writes:

I’m looking for some interesting avenues in which to promote our client, an environmental scientist who specializes in toxic mold education, detection and remediation.

Connie Morbach, M.S. CHMM CIE, is a respected national authority in indoor air quality (IAQ) who has performed over 10,000 residential/commercial air tests and environmental evaluations.

Since 1994, her team has witnessed the illnesses and devastation caused by many ill-equipped and unscrupulous IAQ/Mold ‘professionals’ in their industry, and they continue to help so many who have suffered from these injustices. She has just started a blog and is tweeting to share her knowledge as well.

Connie has been featured on a half dozen indoor air quality investigative segments for NBC’s the ” Today” show (“Why your gym may be making you sidk” and “Watch out for hidden germs in supermarkets”) , as well as “Rachael Ray” and “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” in the past but she hasn’t had a PR firm since then.

She’s looking to get the word out again about her expertise and I’m hoping your loyal Hounds can suggest some thoughtful ideas.

Posted In: Blogs, Business Promotion, TV Publicity
posted On: 3/9/2010: 12:27 pm: By Joan
Comments: 20 Comments

If you’re releasing a report on the state of your industry, what’s the purpose of writing a press release? Why not just post the information to your blog?

In fact, why even bother with press releases? Can’t blog posts serve the same function?

That’s what law firm marketing expert Kevin O’Keefe asked at Real Lawyers Have Blogs.

He will be releasing a report later this week on the use of blogs by large American law firms, and he asked:

“My question is who do I send the press release to? Don’t I accomplish the same thing by posting a blog post with the report as I always have? As a courtesy to reporters and editors, couldn’t I just email them a link to my blog post? How does a press release help them?

“Some law firms and companies use press release services such as PR Newswire or PRWeb for press releases, many in large part for Search Engine Optimization.  Getting links from such sites to your company website or blog using keywords describing your offering causes your website or blog to rank higher on such keyword searches.  But that feels a bit like a sham and I’m not looking for SEO.”
   

Write a release and a blog post

Do both.

Press releases are written much like a newspaper article would be written with “just the facts.” And, of course, you can link directly to the report and anything else you wish.

One of the big advantages of press releases is that journalists, bloggers and others can simply cut and paste from the press release and add what you’ve written to their own copy.  Blogs, on the other hand, are written in a more informal, personal style that make wholesale copying difficult.
  
A blog also serves as a great platform to comment on various aspects of the report, in one or more blog posts. So while that press releases is pulling traffic at PRWeb, your post is pulling traffic at your blog. 
         
  
How to publicize an industry report

I gave Kevin seven ideas for publicizing his report:

1. Write a press release and post it to PRWeb.  Journalists and others can also search the PRWeb site by topic.  I found eight RSS feeds at PRWeb just for legal news. So if the only place that somebody can find info on the report is at Kevin’s blog, they’ll miss it if they’re at the PRWeb site.
       
2. Let your Twitter followers, Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections know about the release. Just give an enticing headline and link to it at PRWeb. (See 11 Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on Facebook.)
       
3. Write a blog post that ties into the press release.  Why was the report written? Are the results surprising? Can you offer a behind-the-scenes look at the benefit of blogging for big law firms, something the press release doesn’t explain?
       
4. Post the same press release at your website, in your online press room.  You want to do this so that people who come to your website can find recent information about what you’re doing.
       
5. If you wish, you can now pitch the story to a select group of journalists and bloggers.  These can be people whose names you have collected and put into a database.  I’d create individual pitches for each journalists or blogger, customized for their audience, and then include a link where they can see the press release.
       
6. What about people on Twitter who “tweet” about law-related topics?  Don’t forget about them.  Sometimes you can get far more traction on Twitter than you can in traditional media, simply because of the retweets.
       
7. How do you find people who would be interested in the report and are most likely to retweet?  Go to Search.Twitter.com and search for #law, #lawyers, #legal and other related words, using hash tags.  Twitter will return a list of tweets written by people who have used those keywords in their posts.  You can then go to each person’s Twitter page and decide if they’re worth following.  If so, follow them.  They might follow you back.  You can then send them a direct message and let them know about your report, and link to the press release on PRWeb.
       
8. Finally, how about creating a short video, about two and a half minutes, discussing the report?  You can do this with an inexpensive Flip video camera and upload the video to YouTube, which can pull more traffic to your blog or website.

Kevin might also consider a subscription to Expertclick, the Online Yearbook of Experts. A subscription puts you in their experts directory and lets you post up to 52 press releases per year.  You can then link to these releases from your blog or the online press room at your website. That’s what I do.  Learn more at Expertclick.com.

How do you use press releases in conjunction with your blog?

Posted In: Blogs, LinkedIn, Pitching the Media, Publicity for Niche Markets, Social media marketing, Twitter, Video, YouTube
posted On: 3/8/2010: 12:32 am: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

If you’re a blogger and you’re covering news events in New York City, you’re now able to obtain a press pass.

FishbowlNY reports that City Hall will now issue press passes to online journalists to cover events where the public is denied access.

Under the proposed new rules, an applicant must show that he or she has covered, in person, six news events where the city has restricted access, within the last two years. The new rules cover employees of traditional news organizations as well as self-employed journalists and others who report the news.  The new press card will be issued every two years.

I’ve written before about phony press passes, used mostly by freeloaders trying to get into events for free food and entertainment.

New York City’s decision is a huge victory for bloggers, even though it resulted after a lawsuit. Let’s hope other cities extend the same courtesy.

Not everyone agrees. Twitterer @Bert_deVolontat calls it “a lack of respect for professionals.”

What do you think? Should bloggers and other online journalists receive press passes?

How does your organization deal with this issue? Do you let bloggers attend for free? How do you ferret out the phony journalists from the legitimate ones?

Posted In: Blogs, Citizen journalism
posted On: 3/4/2010: 8:57 am: By Joan
Comments: 5 Comments

Before you send that next press release, or add copy to your online press room, or post something to your blog, or upload a new article to an article directory site, use Mickie Kennedy’s 8 top tips for proofreading.

His company, eReleases, writes and distributes press releases for people who don’t want to do it themselves. Several of his tips, like letting the release sit for a day or so before you return to it and edit with a fresh pair of eyes,  are old copyeditor tricks I used when I worked as a newspaper editor.

I commented at his blog and offered four more tips:

• Check all numbers.  If the headline says “8 tips for spring cleaning,” make sure the text includes eight tips, not seven. If the story says X is Y percent of Z, double-check it on a calculator.
• If there’s a phone number within the press release, pick up the phone and call the number, even if you are the one who typed the number and you’re sure it’s correct!
• Ditto with URLs.  Make sure all URLs click through to correct web pages.
• Make sure someone’s name is spelled the same way throughout the release.

Before you hit “send,” also check to see that the release has a call to action.  Some press releases I read miss that element frequently. It’s the one opportunity you have to tell readers exactly what you want them to do: go to an online catalog, call for tickets, download a free report, etc.

The call to action was one of eight items  on Janet Thaeler’s checklist. for press release writers. She was my guest during a teleseminar on Keywords: The Magic Magnets That Pull Journalists & Consumers to Your Press Releases.”

Do you have your own proofreading tricks? Share them here.

Posted In: Blogs, Press Releases/News Releases, Writing Articles
posted On: 3/2/2010: 9:09 am: By Joan
Comments: 2 Comments