When you land a big story in a magazine, it’s all too easy to become giddy with excitement, and miss doing the hard work necessary to “publicize the publicity” and turn one media hit into what can become multiple hits.

Order Reprints
You never know when you might need reprints of the article.  So it would be worth your while to order as many copies of the June issue of Golf Digest as you can afford, or see if the magazine sells reprints.  Many larger magazines have reprint services.
   
Pitch the Inflight Magazines
The target audience for these publications—business people and frequent travelers—is perfect for you!  How about offering the magazines a list of tips on how golfers can lose weight?  In your pitch, mention the June article.
  
Here’s a powerful tip for really catching the editor’s attention. If you helped a golfer from an area that’s served by the magazine, mention it in your pitch. For example, if you worked with an Australian golfer who’s fairly well-known, mention that when you pitch Qantas magazine, which serves Australia. 
  

Suffering from headline writer’s block? If so, don’t sweat it.

Dozens of formula headlines are just waiting to be tweeked. You’ll find 49 fill-in-the-blank headlines in Headlines for How-to Articles I wrote several years ago at my website.

Over the weekend, I stopped at my local bookstore and scanned the covers of the June issues of several dozen business and consumer magazines and found these 12 headlines which you can add to the list:

Turn the _______ You Have into the _______ You Want

A _______’s Playbook for Winning the _______ War

The Best _______ for Anything, and Where NOT to _______

Inside America’s Best-Run _______; What Smart, Principled and Effective _______ Looks Like in 2010

Worst _______ of the Year

The 100 Most Brilliant  _______ on our Radar

Managing _______: How to Do It and When to Do It

The 7 Myths of _______; Know the Truth

The Worst Advice I Ever Got About _______

6 Symptoms of _______ You Should Never Ignore

25 _______s You Can _______ in One Day

What You Need to Know Before You _______

What fill-in-the-blank or formula headlines are your favorites?

If you’re looking for an expert source because you need to hire a speaker, or you want a guest for your podcast, or you’re doing research for a book, don’t get discouraged if you don’t find one on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, or by Googling .

There’s still a large percentage of people—even experts—who aren’t at those sites or who don’t know how to get good search engine ranking.

Check out this treasure trove of sources just waiting to be tapped: At the article directory sites.

Sites like EzineArticles.com, ArticleBase, ArticleDashboard and Expertclick: the Online Yearbook of Experts, have thousands of experts who would probably love an invitation. And most of them can be found fairly quickly because these sites are usually searchable by category.

This month’s guest blog post was written byJames Nissen. Last week, I shared James’ pitch and wrote about How a guest blogger pitched me and made me say ‘yes’

*     *     *      

By James Nissen

    

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius

   

One of the greatest things about promoting a brand online today is how low the cost really is.  I have helped to market SecretintheDirt.com over the past two years, and it has grown from a single ebook to a thriving golf community.  Over 8,000 golfers have now joined our community at Secret in the Dirt, despite having launched only two months ago.  

    

Granted, we did have a strong buzz before the launch of the site, but the great part about this adventure was the fact that it cost us almost nothing to build the brand up to what it is today.  Allow me to use a cliché metaphor, but one that I think applies to building your brand.  

    

I want you imagine that before you have a “brand,” your idea is just a bunch of car parts.  Everything you do to promote your idea is like adding a new part to the car.  At some point, you will have built the body of the car, the engine, put on the tires, added the interior, and checked all the wiring.  There is nothing left to do; the car is ready to run.  You will have maintenance from time to time, but the hardest part is over.  

   

At this point, your brand can go places it never could go before when it was just a bunch of parts waiting to be used.  Your brand will never get that way if you expect it to run when you’re only halfway complete with the job.  So start building the car today.  Here are 13 cost-effective resources we used in building our brand online.

    

1. YouTube. 

  

Our greatest asset in the beginning was a set of golf videos that Mike Maves aka “Sevam1″ put together on YouTube.  A friend of his asked for some advice on golf, and he put the videos together simply to help his friend’s game improve.  The videos ending up attracting over 500,000 views in a short time and people began to talk about them.  

   

Find a way to talk about your product or service in the form of a video, and put up as many videos as you can.  Other great videos sites include DailyMotion, Vimeo, Viddler and Twitvid.

    

2. Bloggers.

Many people have blogs, but how focused are they?  How big of a following do they have?  How often do they update the blog?

  

I’ll never forget a quote I read by Jeremy Schoemaker from the very successful site ShoeMoney.com that said he would continue to update his blog even if nobody read it.  You obviously want your followers to read it, but there is a tremendous power in that kind of mentality.  Other blogging services include WordPress and Tumblr.

    

3. Twitter.

    

Twitter has not brought the highest amount of traffic to our site of any source, but I still believe it should be part of the online arsenal.

  

Sites like Twitpic and Twitvid allow you to share pictures and videos with your Twitter followers, and it makes it easy to start conversations online with people who want to learn more about your brand.  You can even hold contests for your Twitter followers and keep them up to date on important changes to your website or business.

   

4. Niche Forums

  

One of the biggest sources of buzz for the Secret in the Dirt ebook came from Golfwrx.com, a forum devoted to talking about golf-related products and topics.  Mike posted in the forum constantly, answering questions about the YouTube videos and the golf swing.  I have seen forums in every conceivable niche, and if you can find one or two big ones relating to your company, posting to the forum regularly will go a long way in building up your credibility.
    

5. Squidoo

    

Seth Godin hit the nail on the head when he helped to create this site.  It allows anyone to create a mini-site (called a “lens”) about any conceivable topic in a very short amount of time.  We used this site as an opportunity to create sites about golf and golf history, which in turn brings traffic back to our site.  Another site similar to Squidoo is HubPages.

   

6. Facebook Fan Pages
  

These pages are great because they are indexed by Google, and people may find them just by doing searches about your topic.  They don’t allow for as much customization as a normal web page or blog, but with over 300 million users on Facebook, you can be sure there are many people who will be interested in the products and services you offer.  They offer a great way to keep in touch with your loyal followers.

  

7. Simple Scripts

   

At some point, you will have to invest in hosting for your website.  If you don’t hage hosting yet, I recommend a hosting service that uses Simple Scripts.  

   

It’s a user interface that comes installed when you by hosting from Bluehost, Hostgator, and a few others.  The great thing about Simple Scripts is that with just a few clicks (literally), you can have your blog or website up and running, without having to worry about installing it yourself the hard way.  It makes it a lot less scary if you are new to the web.  You can also point as many domain names as you want to the same hosting plan (it’s around $100 a year).

   

8. EzineArticles.com

   

This service allows authors to submit articles on every topic imaginable, and is great for establishing credibility in your niche and getting your thoughts clear about your topic. We have seen thousands of people view our articles, and all of that traffic is free.  Other great services include ArticlesBase and ArticleDashboard.

    

9. Flickr

    

If your niche involves art or pictures of some type, consider using Flickr.  It’s a great service that allows you to create photo albums that you can share with others for free.  

  

Even if your niche does not involve photography, posting photos from industry events and appearances is often great material to share with your loyal fans.  Another great photo site to use is Twitpic, which links up with your twitter account.

   

10. Google Analytics

   

I can’t speak highly enough of Google Analytics.  This is a free service that takes minutes to install onto your website or blog.  You can see where your traffic is coming from, how much traffic you had, how effective your affiliates are, what countries your visitors are coming from, how long they stay on each page, and a lot more.  Testing is critical to refining your website.

    

11. Cold-Emailing

   

I was surprised to see how many bloggers, radio talk show hosts and newspapers are hungry for good content.  Don’t be afraid to contact successful people in your niche and ask if you can write a guest post for their blog.

   

 BlogTalkRadio lets you create your own radio shows for free, and these talk show hosts always need new guests and experts to have on their show.

  

Last but not least, don’t forget the almighty newspaper.  Contact the smaller ones in your town or neighborhood first, because they like to highlight “local stories” and things going on in that part of town.  If you’re giving a free seminar or making an appearance somewhere, odds are one of the writers would love to spotlight it.

   

12. Karma

   

Aside from the fact that people enjoy getting things for free, it never hurts to have karma on your side.  When we launched the Secret in the Dirt E-Book, we gave away several chapters for free as a bonus for signing up to our email newsletter.  

    

Posting videos and blogging regularly has the same effect.  Give people a chance to get to know you on a personal level, and make it a habit to answer questions emailed to you about your topic.  Give them some real value.  If what you say gets them hooked, they will be back for more.

   

13. Elance.com

   

When we ever ran into a problem that we could not solve ourselves, we used Elance. They have professionals who can help you out with logo design, banner ad design, web programming, blog layouts, troubleshooting, writing, video editing, and a lot more.  The turnaround time is pretty quick, and since professionals bid for jobs, you are sure to get the best price.

  

Even though you now have the right tools, when you make a habit of using them day in and day out, you will start to see success.  It will feel like a slow climb at first, but that’s part of the journey, right?  

   

Take what applies to your business and throw the rest out.  Focus on one tool at a time, and build upon that.  Get creative, think outside of the box, take action, and add parts to your car.  It will be up and running before you know it.

    

    

James Nissen, head of marketing for SecretintheDirt.com, loves golf, espresso, and the outdoors. He also may be found reading the occasional book or playing guitar.  He is a graduate of the University of Redlands with a degree in accounting.

Company PR departments spend hours—entire days even—poring over a press release, picking apart every paragraph and sentence—and then waiting for multiple layers of approval before it goes live.

Everyone puts their stamp of approval on the document that includes words and phrases THEY like. If only the readers were that receptive.

The next time you write a press release, or copy for marketing materials, or your CEO’s next speech, don’t guess about whether the message will resonate. Know exactly which words and phrases drive persuasive communications.

Word wizard Dr. Frank Luntz will discuss “Words That Work in the Press, Politics & Public Relations” during an audio teleconference at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, May 4, hosted by Bulldog Reporter. Registration is $99 per person. You can lean more and register here.

If Luntz looks familiar, it’s probably because he’s been a guest on almost every talk show in America, including  Meet the Press, Nightline, The Today Show, Charlie Rose, The Jim Lehrer News Hour, The O’Reilly Factor, Tavis Smiley, Montel Williams, and Hardball.  He also served as a consultant to the award-winning NBC hit show “The West Wing.”

The “Instant Response” focus group technique Luntz pioneered, in which focus group respondents “dial” their approval  or disapproval on hand-held gadgets, has been profiled on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America (on Election Day 2008) and on the award-winning PBS show Frontline.

His focus groups have become so influential that presidential candidate Barack Obama had this to say following the PBS presidential debate, “When Frank Luntz invites you to talk to his focus group, you talk to his focus group.”

During next Tuesday’s call, you’ll learn how to grab your audiences’ attention and, ultimately, influence their behavior. You’ll also discover how to maximize what Luntz e calls “ROL” (return on language) in areas ranging from corporate reputation and employee satisfaction to product development and media relations.

Boring bios are more potent than sleeping pills.

Yet you read them all the time in people’s online press rooms, in their books, and even on the mini-profiles they write on their Twitter and Facebook pages.

Sometimes job-hunters include a useless paragraph of incredibly dull information on their resumes.

Publicity expert Nancy Juetten hates boring bios, too. The arrogant ones really get under her skin. They include sentences like this:

“Complimenting her extraordinary capacities as a prodigy composer of collaborative entrepreneurial masterworks is her former multi-disciplinary career as an entrepreneur and corporate executive, encompassing 34 years of exemplary achievement in well over twelve industries, including…”

She wrote about those kinds of bios at her blog, and  just created the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide ($49), which should be must-reading for every author, speaker, entrepreneur, coach, consultant and expert who needs to rewrite a bio or make over their current one, and for every job-hunter who really wants to stand out from the crowd.

It includes handy templates, examples of great bios, and work sheets that will help you inject life, fun and even humor into even the most boring bio. 

Nancy is running a special promotion that ended on Sunday. But she said that anyone who writes  “Joan Stewart” in the comments section of their online order form throughout the month of March 2010 can get an anniversary bonus gift, her Publicity Express Digital Workshop which is a package of audio files and other goodies. The bonus applies to the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide and her DIY Publicity Success System.  Order here.

Here’s Nancy’s own bio:

Nancy Juetten (rhymes with “button”) is a passionate and engaging publicity trainer who shows business owners across America how to get seen, heard, and celebrated in their own backyards … and beyond.  She created the NEW Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide to help job and publicity seekers wake up decision makers and open doors fast.  Her essential advice: “It’s your story.  Tell it well.”

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.

Action Sports Hub is looking for action sports enthusiasts who can write articles.

You can work you own hours from your home and at your own pace.

Email samples. Write to them at Action Sports Hub Inc., 7071 Warner Ave., Suite F-416 Huntington Beach, CA 92647.

If you’ve never written an article, see “How to Write How-to Articles.”

Shotgun Sports magazine is looking for articles on trap, skeet, hunting, sports clays and 5-stand.

Hunting articles can include the following topics: upland birds, large game, small game, waterfowl and turkeys. Readers consider these to be the toughest targets: deer, grouse, waterfowl, quail, turkeys, chukar, pheasants and elk (not often taken with a shotgun, but it can be done), so they’d like help with those.

“When you are writing about clay targets, these are the ones they say they most need help with: rabbits, dropping targets, long, flat crossers, chandelles, battues, long, fast crossers, hard rights, straightaways in the wind, teal, trap doubles, and very slight angles that look like a straightaway and, of course, the mental side of the game,” editor Linda Martin says. ” The non-competitive shooters just want to know how to have more fun and beat their own personal best.”

She said readers want more reloading advice, gun-cleaning and maintenance tips, and advice that will help non-competitive and new or struggling shooters improve. They’d also like tips on how to overcome those one or two targets that seem to be keeping them from moving ahead.

Email your stories to her for the 2010-2011 Shotgun Sports schedule

Artists frequently make the mistake of failing to capture email addresses at their websites because they can’t think of anything to offer in return.

That’s why I was gratified that on today’s preview call for the smARTist Telesummit 2010, the annual virtual extravaganza on how artists can market their work, artist Melanie Banayat asked:

“What’s the best way to use your website to build a mailing list? Internet marketers use lead capture pages to build theirs and offer something of value in exchange for someone’s email address. What can an artist offer?”

Host Ariane Goodwin directed the question to me. Here’s my list of nine freebies:

1. A video. Demonstrate how to do something. An oil painter can show how to blend colors. A needlepoint artist can show how to do a complicated stitch. A woodworker can show the best way to polish a piece of furniture. 
      
2. Special previews. Offer “sneak peek” previews of your artwork and other projects only to those on your email list.
     
3. A coupon. Offer a coupon good for X dollars off a purchase. The bricks-and-mortar stores do this all the time. A good shopping cart will let you create a coupon. Here’s a free ebook on how to buy a shopping cart. (I’m an affiliate.)
     
4. An article. Think of the Number One question people ask about your artwork. Write an article on that topic.
    
5. A buyer’s kit. Let’s say you sell beautiful handmade jewelry. What’s the best way to store it so it doesn’t get damaged?
    
6. A flow chart.  Show the steps you follow to create something.
     
7. Quotations and jokes. If you paint horses, how about offering the top 20 quotes about horses? Or the 10 best horse jokes? You can find them free all over the Internet.
     
8. A trouble-shooting guide. If you sell beautiful clothing made of rich fibers, explain how to remove stains from the material. What can the buyer do if the material snags? What are some tricks on how to cover up a spot that can’t be removed?    
       
9. A cleaning guide. How do you clean various types of artwork or things like delicate figurines, origami,  or beaded jewelry?

I offer a free cheat sheet on “89 Reasons to Send a Press Release” which you’ll get when you type your email address in the box on the right side of this screen. I listed many more ideas in my special report that lists 55 free things you can offer to generate publicity or capture people’s email addresses.

Once you start building a list, keep in touch with your readers by reguarly sending free tips and updates about your businesses. And don’t forget to let the media know about the freebie you’re offering. That’s one of many ways that artists can generate publicity.

If you’re an artist, or you’re in any other type of business, what kinds of freebies do you offer in exchange for email addresses? Let’s hear about yours.