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02 2008 Thursday
21

5 Steps to Planning Your Podcast

By admin in Articles, Blogs & Podcasts
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PodcastingPodcasting can be time consuming and often frustrating, especially when you are under-prepared and ill-equipped for what you are setting out to achieve. In order to smooth out the bumps in the ride, it’s always a good idea to be as prepared as you possibly can before you sit down to create your podcast. If you’re too eager to get your voice recorded before you’ve laid the groundwork you can often get into a pickle and the show you had in mind just doesn’t come off as planned.

Get into the habit of following the 5 steps below so that there’ll be less time spent pulling your hair out and more time spent getting a great business podcast out into cyberspace.

Step 1 - Email participants and permission requests in advance.

You’ve had a great idea for a show where you’re going to interview some successful business owners and use a clip of one who podcasts himself. If you plan to record your show on Thursday afternoon, don’t expect you can get away with requesting interviews and permissions on Wednesday and still record your show, as planned, the next day.

People are busy and their time is precious. Always be one step ahead of yourself in thinking about who you’d like on your show and ask for permissions way in advance of recording. Always have back-up ideas too, just in case you just can’t get to people in time.

Step 2 - Choose clips and interviewees before writing the scripts/planning your links.

If you intend to take extracts from the interviews to add in between links or even extracts from other people’s shows, it’s a good idea to know which clips you’d like to use before you go ahead and write the script. This means you can then write the script in a way that introduces what participants are going to say or you could comment on what they’ve said at the end of the clip.

Step 3 - Have a script.

Lots of would-be podcasters feel 100% confident that they know what they’re going to say and intend to have a slick, fluff-free delivery. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? It’s a really good idea to have a script of some description so that your points follow a rational and well thought out process and your listeners get maximum value out of your podcast. You don’t have to write a detailed script and then reel it off word for word if you think this will make you sound wooden (most non-professional broadcasters would have difficulty making it sound otherwise), it’s more about knowing what you’re going to say, knowing how your points are going to pan out and, if you have guests, having a few notes about them and the kind of questions you could ask them.

Imagine introducing your guest and their name goes completely out of your head. A set of notes or a script will stop this from happening and make you feel more comfortable, much in the way crib notes help you stay relaxed when giving a presentation.

Step 4 - Prepare yourself.

This may sound like an obvious preparation step but it’s one that many neglect. Imagine getting up in the morning and everyone is out of the house; there’s nobody to talk to. You go into your office or studio and switch your mic on, ready to record your podcast. You clear your throat a little and then start. How do you sound ? A bit like a zombie from Night of the Living Dead? So, what to do instead? Talk out loud or sing to loosen up the vocal chords, do some stretches and breathing to loosen up the body. Have a warm drink (but avoid milk as it clogs up the sinuses) and, last but not least, put a dab of lip balm on your lips (yes, it’s so that they move smoothly over one another when you speak, reducing any unwanted noises).

Step 4 - Prepare your environment.

An essential element in making sure your podcast runs smoothly is to prepare your environment as well as you can. Turn off any phones that might disturb you, ‘dampen’ your room as much as you can (I know of someone who records under the desk with a blanket draped over it), make sure you have everything you need.

If possible, try not to time your recording to coincide your with the time the cats need feeding or your spouse will be home. Take care to ensure you will have as much peace as possible.

Following these 5 steps will go a long way to ensuring you get your voice into the heads of your target audience as smoothly and painlessly as possible.

Sarah Rourke: For help with creating podcasts and other audio resources go to http://www.AudioPodArtist.com Audio Pod Artist - get your voice into their heads.

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1
02 2008 Thursday
21

Little Known On-Page Factors That Help To Improve Search Engine Rank

By admin in Articles, SE Optimization
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SE OptimizationWhat can provide you the cheapest if not free targeted visitors in huge numbers to your website?

Undoubtedly the answer is ’search engines’. And the equation is very simple - improve search engine rank and gain more visitors.

To rank high in the result pages you need to supply the search engines with your worth and at the same time you must satisfy the existing visitors in your page.

Now, how do search engine get satisfied about the worth of a website for specific keywords (you must remember that search engines are bound to offer good result to retain the existing visitors in their own page)?

Bigger search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, puts more value on content (keyword density, variables and positioning) and incoming links. Whereas, smaller search engines (general category) still emphasizes on Meta keywords and Meta descriptions. (Perhaps you know that in the earlier stages of their development all search engines checked the Meta data to confirm the relative worth of a website.)

Black Hat search engine optimizers used to write different content for search engines and visitors. One of the most common formats was to provide two layers of content. In one layer the content was stuffed with keywords (or only keywords) and was written in the same color as the background (white text on white background) - naturally the content was not visible to general visitors. At the same time they used to create natural content for visitors. They used so many other techniques to forge content in a page.

However, over the time bigger search engines became too claver to identify those pages and banned them. In fact Google took thousands steps forward and introduced LSI (latent semantic indexing - any doubt about its introduction?) to identify quality content from original sources.

Today the best way to get better search engine rankings is to stay honest or follow the age old and proven process of pretending that you are honest. What does it mean - you must go for link building and at the same time make sure those search engines do not understand that you are doing that.

Here are some tips for on-page optimization to improve your search engine ranking:

  • Content - the primary solution is to have unique content in your site. To put it simply unique content means something that should not have any other similar web copy. Now you need to put your keywords strategically into the body of the content. The best way is to put keywords in sub headings (if you can break the content into different parts or sections, you can have more options to use sub headings). However, make sure that you do not follow any pattern in using key phrases. You can also make some keywords bold (bold words suggest that you are emphasizing on the text). It is always better to update your content occasionally.
  • Interlinking - Link the important landing pages from different pages with targeted keywords. It not only helps search engines to understand why you created that page but also help them to crawl internal pages.
  • Navigation - Use simple (html) navigation link pattern.
  • Meta Documents - even though major search engines tend to ignore them, meta documents still have a lot of importance among second level search engines. And in SEO, every little bit counts.
  • URL Structure - use keywords in the domain name. it is better to structure your URL like examplesite.com/targeted-keyword.html rather then using example-site.com/targeted_keyword_positioning_in_url.html
  • Sitemap - with links to all the internal pages - helps search engines to easily crawl the website.
  • Good Neighborhood - Link to worthy websites from your site. This will create a good neighborhood for your site and will help search engines to understand your site better.

And get as many links as possible from relevant websites. If you follow these simple tips, it will improve search engine rank of your website.

Discover the best kept secrets by asking an SEO expert. Find out how to improve search engine rank for your website using web 2.0 strategies.

1
02 2008 Thursday
21

How to Create Attention-Grabbing Headlines

By admin in Articles, Writing
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writingAn effective headline should be well integrated with your website’s focus and allow you to direct the eyes of your customers to where you want them to go. When it comes to creating a headline that demands attention, there is no set formula. But here’s what most experts recommend.

First, study the competition and read existing headlines on the web to get a sense of what works, from successful ecommerce websites, and from direct marketing ads you might be getting through the mail.

When you’ve gotten a good idea of some of the existing headlines out there, get a pad and pencil and start making a list of at least 50 headlines that might apply to your product.

Don’t worry about nailing it just yet, instead just write down whatever comes to mind. You will refine and test your headlines later. To start, analyze your customers and ask yourself:

  • What do they care about most?
  • What is the biggest problem they face?
  • How can you help them solve it?
  • And most importantly - How are they finding your site? What Google search terms are they using? Are you answering their search query with your headline?

If you find yourself getting stuck, realize this: most top copywriters don’t come up with their own headlines. They copy them.

Top copywriters know certain set formulas work and they simply apply these formulas to their products… over and over again. Here’s one example of a set formula. How to _____ and _____.

This is the formula used by Dale Carnegie for his best-selling book “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

You can apply this formula to just about any product. Selling job hunting services? How about this headline “How to Enjoy Your Career and Earn More Money.” Selling exercise equipment? How about “How to Look Great and Feel Young Again.”

Copywriter David Garfinkel offers the following advice: “Behind the title and headline is a secret code that makes it powerful.

The secret code is actually a generic formula that gets attention and creates desire in your prospect’s mind. Every winning headline has a unique generic formula hidden inside.” Here are some other formulas you can use. Each of these work on the “secret code” principle.

  • Who Else Wants to ___________ ? For example: “Who else wants to Learn the Secrets of Ecommerce Success?”
  • Revealed: The Secret to ____________. For example: “Revealed: The Secrets to Learning Foreign Languages Quickly.”
  • 22 Reasons You _________________. This example uses the word “reasons” and provides a specific number for credibility. For example, “22 Reasons You Should Be Testing Your Headline Today.”
  • Don’t Do ________ Before You Do __________. This example grabs the reader with a warning. For example, “Don’t buy any Autoresponder Software Before You Read this Article.”

In addition to the formulas above, a second strategy is to develop a longer headline that clearly spells out the key benefit of your product. This is the type of headline commonly used by Internet guru Armand Morin.

Here are some headlines used to sell his products. Notice how each headline clearly spells out the key benefit of his product.

  • Create Cash Producing Sales Letters. The same Kind of Letters I Have Used To Generate $167,434 In Just 5 1/2 Months!
  • Instantly Generate 30 SmartPages And Create An Avalanche Of LASER TARGETED TRAFFIC To Your Website Or Affiliate Link —ALL In Under 3 Minutes Flat!
  • I will show you how to… take any mediocre site and turn it into Amazingly Stunning…in less time than it takes you to drink a cup of coffee!
  • What If You Could… Hire a World-Class Graphics Designer Who Would Create Amazing eCovers For You 24 Hours A Day 7 Days A Week For Only a One-Time Low Payment?

Learn from the 100 best headlines ever written, compiled by Jay Abraham Once you have your preliminary list of headlines written down, (and remember, you can do this over several days - we don’t expect you to wrack your brain doing it in one sitting) take a break, relax, and forget about them.

The very next day, take a fresh look at the headlines you wrote. Cross out as many as you can until you’re down to 20 or so. If you think of better headlines, add them. Then once again, take a break and forget about them.

Again, on the next day, look at your list and further reduce the list to 5 - 10 headlines. Now you’re done with the first step and ready to move to the second step. The testing of your headlines. Now the fun begins.

Bjorn Brands is a successfull enterprenuer who transitioned from having his own building company to a great online business. Check out his site and see for yourself how he can help you do the same at http://www.moneyacces.com

2
02 2008 Thursday
21

Online PR - Is there any value beyond the links?

By Jennifer Osborne in Featured
Email This Post

page rankA few months ago I wrote a post comparing various online press release services. While nobody disputed their effectiveness at building links, there were questions as to how to measure the full value of Online PR.

For fun, I’m going to take a real release that we recently did and answer each of the questions that was raised.

(Full disclosure, this is a client of ours and he agreed to share these numbers)

Here’s what we did

We had recently launched a Blog for a client and decided to give it a little boost by sending out a press release. The product is very environmentally friendly so we wanted to make sure that we got additional coverage in the client’s own state plus those states that are pro environment (like California).

Of course, we followed the basic PR Optimization best practices like making sure that the title was catchy (but contained a keyword) and that the piece included a link back to the client. We used PRWeb for our distribution (we really like the $200 option).

Read the rest of this entry »

2
02 2008 Thursday
21

Webstock: Good Web Design Ain’t Easy

By Kalena Jordan in Kalena Jordan's Blog
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Jason Santa Maria is a graphic designer from New York. He currently works as Creative Director for Happy Cog Studios and Art Director for A List Apart Magazine. Ever the design obsessif, Jason is known to take drunken arguments to fisticuffs over such frivolities as kerning and white space.

webstock-logo.jpgJason started his Webstock presentation by changing his subject entirely. He originally wanted to talk about how to use grids and tyopography etc but realized he had to start with storytelling - storytelling with a plan. He decided that a better title for his talk was Design for Communication. How does a design tell a story? Jason explained that we first look at images for the narrative and thread of a story because we can’t read the text. This is called graphic resonance. So the designer IS the narrator. Magazines combine the imagery with the text really well e.g. Wired magazine. Jason explains that the design differs for the story being told. Magazines set the tone for what you’re going to read with design and images. When stories are converted to an online format, things change. The tone changes. The impact changes. The meaning changes. For example, a Wired article looks really boring on the web site compared to the magazine version. Stories online are being distilled down to content.

Why isn’t the design on the web? Where is it? “Design can’t NOT communicate” said David Carson of his Helvetica design. Every line, every pixel, every absence of pixel is communicating something. Our stories are lacking, says Jason, where’s the passion? Jason made this point by showing a slide of 15 different web layouts. Speech bubble logos and web layouts are all doing the same thing, looking the same. Why are we plagued by the sameness? Most web designers aren’t designers at all, he says. Should we just design harder? We don’t have the limited typefaces we used to have. We only have constraints. So why aren’t we using our options?

We all start with a blank canvas so why don’t our designs look that good? It’s the nature of the medium that is separating the print designs from the web designs. We define good web design by our view of what makes good print design. On the metaphorical page, Jason says there is an urgent need for communication based upon precision and clarity. These aren’t new problems but old problems requiring new solutions. We should change the way we think about a page or what a page actually is.

Contraints of the web page include:

-> there are no limitations or definitions to how big a page can be
-> we can only see a small portion of a web page, unlike a book
-> everything needs to be on one page
-> we have a much shorter time to capture the audience

Online, you can change things like navigation. The user and the author can change the way they publish and read the content. Online you can’t grasp how much information there is to read or how much time it will take to grasp the content. However a newspaper or a book has a finite amount of information that you can absorb at a glance.

The golden ratio in the design field (1.6180) is found so often in nature and used as a design principal - the rule of thirds. But these don’t apply online because the web runs on a single fixed dimension (or on user defined or content defined space). You can’t look at design online through the lens of print because we are dealing with a different medium. Jason gives the example of the book of short stories No-one Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July. To promote her book, Miranda created a linear web design which completely captivates the interest of the user because it is such an unusual technique.

Fray is a new type of interactive story telling site where the design/graphic of the site takes over the narrative. Jason says this is a simple, subtle and clever way to use web design. He recommends the book Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird as a source of inspiration.

Images are written with light, Jason says. Innovation makes new information available to the masses. Most stuff on the web is a bit like the first Model T Ford. You can have any color you like, provided it’s black. Well, it’s time to start looking for new colors, he says. Until now, design for the web has been driven by technology rather than by the masses. Jason thinks that the form of web design should be driven by the story you’re trying to tell and he thinks we need to separate the design from the CMS. We’re all capable of telling a story and we don’t need a design degree to do this. Find inspiration offline in magazines, books and history. Turn your web site into a story.

2
02 2008 Thursday
21

Where to Draw the Line of Pleasing The Search Engines Versus Your Clients

By Darren Dunner in Darren Dunner's Blog
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I was reading a blog entry from ChrisBoggs about content for search engines versus content for clients. You would think after all these years of online business and the growing popularity to buy online, find resources or sell your own services, that we would all be instant experts on SEO and proper content placement.

Well search around the net and see how many results take you to sites that make sense versus sites that are so jumbled up with information, it leaves you wondering how they ended up in that search result. Both types of sites make it into the top rankings. It seems the controversy here is quality content version SEO content and which produces results… well, they both do. The real issue is do your potential clients care if you have a nice clean site with information that compels them to use your services versus mixed up words that make no sense. Well, I know you are thinking that quality compelling content is better, but it appears that many site owners are not aware they can have great content and results. A real basic factor to understand here is how the search engines see your keywords and content.

The search engines use algorithms to ready your content. They read your meta data and your body content. But when they read this content it is not the same as you or I reading this content, they see this as patterns and what changes these patterns are basic things like bolding, capital letters, spaces, dashes, font size, etc.

So whether you have compelling content or cluttered content, it does not determine your rankings from the search engines. What improves your rankings in regards to content is your keyword placement, your content and how much of both are used on your site. If you sell widgets and your site does not express this throughout all of your pages then you will not rank for that keyword.

Personally if you are trying to stuff your site with keywords for the sake of traffic results then take the time to make sure the content makes sense to the reader and that you use enough of the keywords throughout the site to satisfy the search engines. There is nothing worse then searching and finding sites that make absolutely no sense. Why are people going to spend their money on your site if you are filling it up with words that that don’t give a clear picture of what you are offering?

If you can’t write good quality content and you are not sure how to properly place keywords then maybe it is time to hire a ghost writer for your site.

0
02 2008 Thursday
21

Little Known On-Page Factors That Help To Improve Search Engine Rank

By Markus Skupeika in SE Positioning
Email This Post

What can provide you the cheapest if not free targeted visitors in huge numbers to your website?

Undoubtedly the answer is ’search engines’. And the equation is very simple - improve search engine rank and gain more visitors.

To rank high in the result pages you need to supply the search engines with your worth and at the same time you must satisfy the existing visitors in your page.

Now, how do search engine get satisfied about the worth of a website for specific keywords (you must remember that search engines are bound to offer good result to retain the existing visitors in their own page)?

Bigger search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, puts more value on content (keyword density, variables and positioning) and incoming links. Whereas, smaller search engines (general category) still emphasizes on Meta keywords and Meta descriptions. (Perhaps you know that in the earlier stages of their development all search engines checked the Meta data to confirm the relative worth of a website.)

Black Hat search engine optimizers used to write different content for search engines and visitors. One of the most common formats was to provide two layers of content. In one layer the content was stuffed with keywords (or only keywords) and was written in the same color as the background (white text on white background) - naturally the content was not visible to general visitors. At the same time they used to create natural content for visitors. They used so many other techniques to forge content in a page.

However, over the time bigger search engines became too claver to identify those pages and banned them. In fact Google took thousands steps forward and introduced LSI (latent semantic indexing - any doubt about its introduction?) to identify quality content from original sources.

Today the best way to get better search engine rankings is to stay honest or follow the age old and proven process of pretending that you are honest. What does it mean - you must go for link building and at the same time make sure those search engines do not understand that you are doing that.

Here are some tips for on-page optimization to improve your search engine ranking:

  • Content - the primary solution is to have unique content in your site. To put it simply unique content means something that should not have any other similar web copy. Now you need to put your keywords strategically into the body of the content. The best way is to put keywords in sub headings (if you can break the content into different parts or sections, you can have more options to use sub headings). However, make sure that you do not follow any pattern in using key phrases. You can also make some keywords bold (bold words suggest that you are emphasizing on the text). It is always better to update your content occasionally.
  • Interlinking - Link the important landing pages from different pages with targeted keywords. It not only helps search engines to understand why you created that page but also help them to crawl internal pages.
  • Navigation - Use simple (html) navigation link pattern.
  • Meta Documents - even though major search engines tend to ignore them, meta documents still have a lot of importance among second level search engines. And in SEO, every little bit counts.
  • URL Structure - use keywords in the domain name. it is better to structure your URL like examplesite.com/targeted-keyword.html rather then using example-site.com/targeted_keyword_positioning_in_url.html
  • Sitemap - with links to all the internal pages - helps search engines to easily crawl the website.
  • Good Neighborhood - Link to worthy websites from your site. This will create a good neighborhood for your site and will help search engines to understand your site better.

And get as many links as possible from relevant websites. If you follow these simple tips, it will improve search engine rank of your website.

Author:  Discover the best kept secrets by asking an SEO expert. Find out how to improve search engine rank for your website using web 2.0 strategies.

0
02 2008 Thursday
21

How to Create Attention-Grabbing Headlines

By Bjorn Brands in Writing
Email This Post

An effective headline should be well integrated with your website’s focus and allow you to direct the eyes of your customers to where you want them to go. When it comes to creating a headline that demands attention, there is no set formula. But here’s what most experts recommend.

First, study the competition and read existing headlines on the web to get a sense of what works, from successful ecommerce websites, and from direct marketing ads you might be getting through the mail.

When you’ve gotten a good idea of some of the existing headlines out there, get a pad and pencil and start making a list of at least 50 headlines that might apply to your product.

Don’t worry about nailing it just yet, instead just write down whatever comes to mind. You will refine and test your headlines later. To start, analyze your customers and ask yourself:

  • What do they care about most?
  • What is the biggest problem they face?
  • How can you help them solve it?
  • And most importantly - How are they finding your site? What Google search terms are they using? Are you answering their search query with your headline?

If you find yourself getting stuck, realize this: most top copywriters don’t come up with their own headlines. They copy them.

Top copywriters know certain set formulas work and they simply apply these formulas to their products… over and over again. Here’s one example of a set formula. How to _____ and _____.

This is the formula used by Dale Carnegie for his best-selling book “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

You can apply this formula to just about any product. Selling job hunting services? How about this headline “How to Enjoy Your Career and Earn More Money.” Selling exercise equipment? How about “How to Look Great and Feel Young Again.”

Copywriter David Garfinkel offers the following advice: “Behind the title and headline is a secret code that makes it powerful.

The secret code is actually a generic formula that gets attention and creates desire in your prospect’s mind. Every winning headline has a unique generic formula hidden inside.” Here are some other formulas you can use. Each of these work on the “secret code” principle.

  • Who Else Wants to ___________ ? For example: “Who else wants to Learn the Secrets of Ecommerce Success?”
  • Revealed: The Secret to ____________. For example: “Revealed: The Secrets to Learning Foreign Languages Quickly.”
  • 22 Reasons You _________________. This example uses the word “reasons” and provides a specific number for credibility. For example, “22 Reasons You Should Be Testing Your Headline Today.”
  • Don’t Do ________ Before You Do __________. This example grabs the reader with a warning. For example, “Don’t buy any Autoresponder Software Before You Read this Article.”

In addition to the formulas above, a second strategy is to develop a longer headline that clearly spells out the key benefit of your product. This is the type of headline commonly used by Internet guru Armand Morin.

Here are some headlines used to sell his products. Notice how each headline clearly spells out the key benefit of his product.

  • Create Cash Producing Sales Letters. The same Kind of Letters I Have Used To Generate $167,434 In Just 5 1/2 Months!
  • Instantly Generate 30 SmartPages And Create An Avalanche Of LASER TARGETED TRAFFIC To Your Website Or Affiliate Link �ALL In Under 3 Minutes Flat!
  • I will show you how to… take any mediocre site and turn it into Amazingly Stunning…in less time than it takes you to drink a cup of coffee!
  • What If You Could… Hire a World-Class Graphics Designer Who Would Create Amazing eCovers For You 24 Hours A Day 7 Days A Week For Only a One-Time Low Payment?

Learn from the 100 best headlines ever written, compiled by Jay Abraham Once you have your preliminary list of headlines written down, (and remember, you can do this over several days - we don’t expect you to wrack your brain doing it in one sitting) take a break, relax, and forget about them.

The very next day, take a fresh look at the headlines you wrote. Cross out as many as you can until you’re down to 20 or so. If you think of better headlines, add them. Then once again, take a break and forget about them.

Again, on the next day, look at your list and further reduce the list to 5 - 10 headlines. Now you’re done with the first step and ready to move to the second step. The testing of your headlines. Now the fun begins.

Author:  Bjorn Brands is a successfull enterprenuer who transitioned from having his own building company to a great online business. Check out his site and see for yourself how he can help you do the same at http://www.moneyacces.comline

0
02 2008 Thursday
21

Online PR - Is there any value beyond the links?

By Jennifer Osborne in Website Traffic
Email This Post

A few months ago I wrote a post comparing various online press release services. While nobody disputed their effectiveness at building links, there were questions as to how to measure the full value of Online PR.

For fun, I’m going to take a real release that we recently did and answer each of the questions that was raised.

(Full disclosure, this is a client of ours and he agreed to share these numbers)

Here’s what we did

We had recently launched a Blog for a client and decided to give it a little boost by sending out a press release. The product is very environmentally friendly so we wanted to make sure that we got additional coverage in the client’s own state plus those states that are pro environment (like California).

Of course, we followed the basic PR Optimization best practices like making sure that the title was catchy (but contained a keyword) and that the piece included a link back to the client. We used PRWeb for our distribution (we really like the $200 option).

What to Measure?

1) In the original post I used Headline Impressions as the main comparison metric.

In this example the release generated 61,468 headline impressions. Given that the release was focused across a few states, I would consider this number to be pretty good.

2) Links Built is the most obvious metric from an SEO perspective. Our press release generated 173 links.

But of course quality is more important than quantity. Many of the links generated from online press releases are of little to no value. They were from off topic, spammy scrapper sites.

But some of these links were fantastic!

The piece made it to both Google News, Yahoo News and Business.com which provided the client with tremendous additional exposure. Plus it got picked up by local news sites, environmental news sites, and industry specific sites.

So far we’re off to a good start. But as PRWeb commented (in my previous post), the metrics that are most meaningful are those from your own operations.

3) Increases in site traffic Site traffic was up 87% over the previous month. Most of this was the result of a big spike in referral traffic. This referral traffic was coming from sites that picked up the press release.

Of particular interest, this referral traffic was quality traffic. They spent an average of 4 minutes on the site, had 4.34 pages per visit and a low bounce rate.

4) Increases in Off line inquiries from both media and prospects. It’s not unusual for media releases to lead to other media opportunities.

We got in through the back door. Traditional PR companies go through the front door and “pitch” ideas to the media. With online PR you happen to be at the right place at the right time when reporters are researching a story.

This particular press release lead to an inquiry from the Governor’s office and a nomination for an Environmental Award!

5) Increase in conversions (e.g. sales). There was one sale that definitely came as a result of the press release (the visitor came from one of the referral sites that picked the release up).

Due to other marketing initiatives (both online and off line) it’s not possible to definitively measure whether the press release drove a marked increased sales. But empirical evidence (customers saying that they had seen the release on local news sites) suggests yes.

6) Increased ranking for the strategic keywords used in the release.

The release is currently showing on spots 6, 8 an 14 (through powerful sites that picked up the release) and the client’s site itself is in spot 18.

It’s been a few weeks since the release and we are searching for their keyword phrase not a branded term.

These results can be attributed entirely to the release itself

To make this a true test we picked a release that was targeting a new product. We have not otherwise targeted this keyword before with any link building or on-page optimization efforts - all of the above metrics can be entirely attributed to the release itself.

So was there any value to the online press release beyond traditional link building? The client sure thinks so!!!!

What do I think? Like anything else, it’s all about the content. Online PR created for link building purposes only will probably only build you links. Online PR that is quality content will lead to quality metrics.

Author:  Jennifer Osborne writer and marketer for Search Engine People.

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