If You Add Content, Will They Come to Your Website?

Just saw this blog post (Great Content - The Secret to Success? Maybe) from Pete Hollier at SEO Wizardry.ca.

I love how he calls attention to the theoretic divides between the inbound marketing strategists who put a stake in the ground around PPC (pay-per-click), social media marketing, search engine optimization, or content development.

As an inbound marketing strategist and a small business owner, I read A LOT of articles about all these varied school of thought and have generally concluded that there a mix of all strategies is the best way to go.

Pete makes that point in his article, too, and I found it rather validating.

Each inbound marketing strategy has its own pros and cons, its own business requirements (guidelines, costs, management, care & feeding) and its own audience. The strategies that will work best for your small business are the ones that:

1. you can implement
2. you can follow through with and maintain
3. you can afford
4. reach your audience

Want to know more? Just ask me.

Top 10 Free Sites to Add/Submit Your New Website

After you design, program and populate your website with content, you want to get it found online.

If your website was produced by a professional, s/he probably submitted it to the search engines for you. But if you built your website yourself, here are the next steps.

Submit your website URL to Google.

Submit your website to Yahoo!

But what about MSN—I mean, Bing? And what about AOL, Lycos and Ask? Bing may be coming into its own, but the rest of the search engines partner with the big ones above to get their feeds. If you're searchable on Google, you'll be searchable on AOL.

Just listing your URL with the search engines doesn't mean you'll get traffic, though. Nor does it mean that the search engine spiders will spend any time crawling through your pages of brilliant content. They may just hit the home page and run.

To get the crawlers to come back, and to start the process of building inbound links to your site, list in free directories. To assist you, here are:

Tara’s Top 10 Free Sites to Add/Submit Your New Website:

1. Craigslist.org (create a classified ad in the business services section; this isn't a permanent submission, as it comes down after 7 days, but it helps get things jump-started)
2. Local.com
3. Aboutus.org
4. OregonLive.com Business Finder (Not from Oregon or SW Washington? Look for a similar service at your local newspaper.)
5. Weblistings
6. Open Directory (Good luck with this one; I've been trying for two years to get Maternitique to appear here.)
7. DirectoryM/Business Journals (national network of business journals online)
8. MerchantCircle.com
9. Biznik.com
10. Hotfrog.com

Questions? Just ask.

And yes, I know it’s been a while since I posted. Okay, a long time since I posted, but I’ve been busy!

Marketing Messages That Sell: Using Puns

Small business owners need marketing genius.

We’re not able to compete with the big boys and their big advertising budgets. Those of us who advertise in newspapers or magazines usually have smaller sized ads that can easily get lost on the page. We need to stand out.

One way to do this: pun.

A pun, or a play on words, can be effective as a marketing message because it gets people’s attention—and the first challenge of creating marketing messages that sell is to succeed in getting people’s attention.

When skimming over the newspaper, glancing at billboards, or digesting the chatter of the radio that’s on in the background, a play on words makes people stop and think.

What was that?! Did I read/see/hear that right?

A recent ad in my neighborhood newspaper made me do just that.

It’s a very small ad—only 1.75” x 2”—but it made me stop on the page, smile, and read it in detail. It also made me think about what was being advertised and whether it would benefit me.

The ad is by a business called The Cycling Salon. Their logo (pictured above) is awesome; it’s playful and sets the tone for the pun to come. You see, The Cycling Salon is in the business of offering (drum roll please) Pedal Cures for Women! Here’s the text of the ad:

Pedal Cures for Women
AND EVERYONE ELSE TOO!

Bike fittings for all!
GET $10 OFFA BIKE FITTING WITH THIS AD

Want to start bicycling again? Don’t know where to start? See us for bike fitting, bike shopping, or basic repairs!

CALL US FOR A CONSULTATION 503.231.0949

http://www.cyclingsalon.com/

That’s a TON of information to fit into a tiny ad smaller than 2” x 2”. Nevertheless, The Cycling Salon effectively communicated who they are, what they do, who their target market is, what the benefit is of acting on the ad, and two ways to get in contact.

It's a marketing message punned to perfection, I might say.

Read some additional ways to incorporate puns into marketing messages that sell on Copyblogger at this post, Let’s Hear It for the Lowly Pun! by Maeve Maddox.

Small Business Marketing Tips: Collect Best Practices

As you undertake developing marketing materials for your small business, you will inevitably consider the question: “What do I envision for my ___________ (ad, logo, brochure, web site, fill in the blank with the name of your project)?”

Whether you work with freelance creative professionals to design and produce your marketing materials, contract with a firm, or—despite my advice to the contrary—do things yourself, it helps to have plenty of examples of material you like.

For this reason, small business owners should keep numerous files of “best practices” or “best ideas.”

Including samples of clever ways to market using exterior envelopes, small business ads from local newspapers and magazines, and effective post card campaign pieces, I have a file of printed marketing samples that all make me say, “Wow!” As in, “Wow! That’s clever!” or “Wow! I wish I’d thought of that!” or “Wow! That’s really effective!”

In your “Best Practices” hard file, you should collect those types of marketing tools that spark ideas for how to market your own business, or that simply grab your attention and strike you as really well done. Even if the advertisement is for a furniture store and you sell fishing gear, keep the ad if it contains imagery, style elements, a unique offer or some other clever marketing technique that you could repurpose for your own needs.

Suggestions for what to collect in your “Best Practices” hard file:
Newspaper ads
Magazine ads
Direct mail letters
Post cards
Catalogs
Packaging
Press kits
Press releases
Brochures

Most, if not every, small business can benefit from electronic marketing of some kind. When it comes time to redesign your website, ramp up your e-mail marketing program, or advertise your business online, you’ll increase the chances of developing effective online marketing messages if you refer to best practices that you’ve stored electronically.

In your email management tool, create a folder as part of your in-box and call it: “Best Newsletters,” or “Newsletters I Like.” As you receive e-marketing campaigns that strike you as effective, file them in that folder for future reference.

To store websites and advertisements as best practices, use your Internet browser to create a folder of bookmarks or favorites—whichever you prefer. Create a folder to name “Best Websites” or “Websites I Like.” As you’re surfing the ’net and encounter those you like, add them to the folder.

In this way, you can easily create folders to also keep track of “Competitors Websites,” “Online Ads I Like,” “Website Designs I Hate,” and so on.

Suggestions for what to collect in your “Best Practices” electronic files:
Electronic newslettersBlogs
Websites you like
Websites you don’t like
Competitors’ websites
Banner ads

Most small business owners aren’t fluent in creative vocabularies. We may not be able to describe to graphic designers that the brochure we’ve commissioned should use a sans serif font in order to convey a contemporary, modern and airy feel. We may not know how to say that we want a comfortable, conversational tone to our website content. We may not understand how to balance visual style elements with copywriting to create a direct marketing piece that’s effective.

But like everyone, small business owners know what we like and don’t like. By having examples of what you like on hand when you’re beginning to create your own marketing materials, you jump-start the process and provide valuable guidance to the professionals you’ve hired to help you. It’s a cost-effective use of your time, too—providing examples improves your chances of getting the materials you want in a shorter amount of time.

E-Mail as a Marketing Tool: 5 Mistakes to Avoid

I love photography. I want to be a photographer. And so it’s not surprising that every once in a while, I receive e-mail invitations to photography exhibits. What does baffle me, however, is that they seem to come from this one particular photographer—let’s call him Mr. B.

Every time I receive the occasional e-mail from Mr. B, I’m curious anew as to why he’s sending them to me.

“Who is this guy?” I ask myself when I open them. “Why am I on his mailing list?”

I haven’t written to him to unsubscribe because I *am* a photography fan…but I’ve been noodling over whether these messages from him are coincidental or accidental or both.

This morning, I was vacuuming in the hallway and gazed up the wall to examine my collection of French doorway photographs for dust. As I did, a little light bulb turned on in my mind.

"Hey," I thought, "What was this photographer’s name again?"

I looked at the five signed pieces that I had bought many years ago at an art show.

Yes, you guessed it. They’re by Mr. B.

I’m a customer of Mr. B’s Photography. I like his work and support his business. I volunteered to let him keep in contact with me.

Yet, Mr. B’s bewildering e-mail marketing is ineffective at best, and confusing, bordering on irritating, at worst. Let’s take a look at the mistakes Mr. B makes in using e-mail as a marketing tool.

Mistake #1: Not acknowledging the sign up

When people volunteer their personal information and invite you to solicit them, you should thank them. If you regularly add numerous people to your list, develop a welcome template that thanks them for signing up. If you add people only at occasional events, then send a quick e-mail to them as you’re entering their information into your e-mail system. Let them know you appreciate their willingness to hear from you and that they’re now scheduled to receive updates.

Mistake #2: Not contextualizing the sign up

As you add people to your list in batches, note in the acknowledgement to them where and when they signed up. Contextualize the relationship for them. Dozens of people signed the clipboard at Mr. B’s art show to receive e-newsletters from him. His first e-mail to us could have simply said:

“Thank you for signing up at my recent art show at [insert location] to receive
updates from Mr. B Photography. I’m glad you enjoyed the artwork I featured last
weekend and I look forward to seeing you again at future shows.”

Mistake #3: Not having a call to action, or ask

How hard would it be to turn that acknowledgement note into a more effective marketing message that sells? Not hard at all. As above, the marketing message serves to reinforce the recipients’ positive feelings about Mr. B and his beautiful photography. But with just three extra sentences, it turns into an effective soft-sell.

“While most of my pieces sold at the show, there’s a chance that the one you
were admiring is still available. Visit my website, www.URL.com, to order your
favorite photograph. Mention the art show at checkout to receive free shipping
on orders placed by the end of the month [in real life, you should use a
specific date].”

Mistake #4: Inconsistent messaging

The e-newsletters I receive from Mr. B are inconsistent in their appearance: sometimes they mention just his show; sometimes they announce a group exhibit in which he’s participating; sometimes they’re formatted beautifully in HTML; sometimes they’re text only.

Because they look and sound so different, each time I receive one I'm just as confused about who is sending me this e-mail and why.

Inconsistent appearance combined with inconsistent messages makes it more difficult to answer that question, and thus, increases the chances that the e-mail will be deleted immediately.

Mistake #5: Irregularity

As if all of those mistakes weren’t enough to confuse newsletter subscribers, Mr. B compounds the problem by writing infrequently. It was two to three YEARS after I first subscribed to his list before I ever heard from him again! Then I received a couple of e-mails in a row for a few months, then nothing for another YEAR. Those large gaps, combined with the lack of context and different appearance of each e-mail combined to utterly confuse me.

Many business owners complain that e-mail isn’t an effective marketing tool. If you’ve been disappointed with your e-mailing results, ask yourself: are you confusing your subscribers with these mistakes? If so, take action to correct your e-mail program right away. You’ll be surprised at how much more effective your marketing campaigns can be when you add an effective e-mail component.

Introducing Your Business: The Elevator Pitch

(Note from Tara: This guest post is by MJ Petroni, Causeit, Inc. Principal. I asked him to contribute to "Ditch the Dusty Widget" on the topic of networking and the elevator pitch because he's so darn good at it! Used with the author's permission.)

If you have only a couple of seconds to introduce your business—standing in line, in a group networking meeting, or, you guessed it, in an elevator—what will you say? The brief moment afforded you by a senior exec or a networking group is intended to give you a chance to demonstrate why your listener(s) should be interested and ask you for more information. Keep it short—and try following these steps.

Introduce who you are first.
Who are you? What are you committed to? What is the core product of your business (safety, innovation, partnership, etc.)?

My name’s MJ Petroni of Causeit, Inc. and we partner with businesses &
individuals to help them translate their intentions & visions into reality.

Most people only listen to the very beginning and very end of what you say—the times when they have to check in to manage a transition into or out of a conversation. Leave them with the essence of you, your business and your brand. Don’t go into the specifics yet; that’s the next step.

Explain briefly the tangible elements of what you do—in lay terms.
How do you deliver on the promise of what you just introduced?

We help you discover the core intention and vision of your business and then
translate it into plans and tools you can use now—drawing on proven business
methodologies and marketing techniques.

Hopefully we didn’t lose them—if they were interested, they stuck around and are about to hear a real example of what we do. If not, we’ll close the conversation with a brief reminder. If for some reason you do want to lose ‘em, just dive into describing the features of your business with all the details. Go ahead, toss in the jargon! If, however, you do want to keep their attention, use simple language and common concepts, and keep it short. I would love to explain our coaching process, our business development process, and our web & branding partners, but there isn’t time.

If you have time, and they look interested, give an interesting, brief example of a recent project or showcase client.
Demonstrate the fun, exciting, engaging and unique portions of your business.

Recently, we’ve been working a great company called Fliptography to showcase
their product. Rather than explain the booth that makes flipbooks from people
dancing in front of a camera, we coordinated with local trend-setters, and
helped them secure an article in The Mercury in less than two weeks after
launch.

Make your work tangible, real, and interesting—but only if there’s
time.

Tell them what to do to take action—or continue the conversation
if it’s one-on-one.
Do they need to call you to set up a meeting? Is there a promotion for them to take advantage of? Will you take them to lunch? Should they go to your website?

Check out our website for more useful, fun articles, workshops and business
development resources at www.causeit.org.

Have you asked for their business? Make sure that if you have only a few seconds to speak with them, you provide an opportunity for them to take action and find out all of the information you were aching to tell them. A simple, appropriate invitation to meet up for lunch can work, as can a referral to a source of more information.

For more information about how to introduce your business, meet new clients and build on existing relationships, contact Causeit, Inc., a business development firm committed to the success of love, work and life.

©2008 MJ Petroni and Causeit, Inc. All rights reserved.

Do-It-Yourself PR: A Simpler Press Release Template

In case you missed the "anatomy of a news release" from PR Newswire that I wrote about last month, here's another resource. Learn the basic outline of what goes where in a press release courtesy of Bizymoms.com: press release template.

Oh No! When E-Mail Marketing Goes Wrong

Earlier this month, one of my favorite local businesses experienced a major e-mail marketing mishap. I cringed as I watched it all go down, and though it pains me to recreate for you what happened, it’s an important object lesson for small businesses using e-mail marketing.

Company X uses e-mail to announce special events and promote new products. That’s the good news. E-mail marketing is a great thing for Company X—and for you—to do.

The bad news is that they do it “the old-fashioned way,” by keeping newsletter subscribers in their address book instead of an opt-in database. When they e-mail their subscribers, Company X either blind-copies them or sets up some sort of association between newsletter@companyx.com and all of the individual addresses. As I said, there's no “opt-in” function. No unsubscribe function. Just an informal e-mail from Company Owner to Customers, with newsletter@companyx.com appearing in the “To” field.

If this is the way you handle your e-mail newsletter campaign, may this story persuade you to change that ASAP.

Guess what happens when someone on the newsletter list hits “Reply All?”

Every single one of the newsletter list members gets a weird note from someone we don’t know that says, “Hey, Company X, I’ll definitely be coming to that event, it sounds great! Signed, Not-So-Savvy Customer at Company ABC, online at www.companyabc.com.”

Giving Not-So-Savvy Customer the benefit of the doubt, I’ll presume that she hit “Reply All” to send her message to companyowner@companyx.com as well as newsletter@companyx.com because she really thought that was the best way to make sure her email got through to an actual person. But I sort of suspect that it was an intentional guerilla marketing stunt by someone who knew what she was doing and who replied to everyone on the list as a way of promoting her own company to the e-mail list of Company X.

Either way, she deserves the title of Not-So-Savvy, because not only does she look stupid, but her single action prompted a cascade of additional e-mails, ranging from the helpful to the confused to the angry.

“I’ll be there, too!”

“Sounds good, but I’m out of town that weekend.”

“Hey, Company X, you have a problem with your email. I’m getting emails that are meant for you.”

“Why am I getting e-mails from people about this event?”

“How did you get my e-mail address? Why are you e-mailing me?”

“Take me off your e-mail list.”

“Everyone stop hitting reply all and these messages will stop!”

“I asked to be taken off your e-mail list a year ago. I don’t even live in Portland anymore.”

“This is ridiculous. I don’t have time to manage your business as well as my own. Take me off your list.”

And so on.

By the end of the day, I had dozens of angry e-mails in my in-box and spam folder.

Ugh.

What a way to piss off your customers.

Don’t let something like that happen to you.

If your customers are willing to give you their e-mail address and receive contact from you, respect their privacy and protect it! It’s easy and inexpensive to do with an e-mail marketing service partner.

There are lots of companies to choose from for e-mail marketing services, to name a few:
Emma
Constant Contact
Vertical Response
FireDrum
CoolerEmail
iContact

Any of the above companies enable you to create your e-mail newsletters and store your subscribers’ e-mail addresses and information in a safe, secure database. Each of these services offers your subscribers privacy protection and a quick, easy, one-step unsubscribe function. For you, they also help ensure delivery of your e-mails and to track opens, click-throughs and forwards (you have always wanted to know if anyone actually READS your e-mails, right?).

The products above are quite inexpensive, easy to set up and maintain, and many can be customized to fit your business needs. For really tight budgets, use one of the templates provided by the service. If your business's brand is important enough to spend, say $250-$450 for a one-time design fee, you can have the e-mail marketing company custom create a template that matches your business image, allowing you to easily insert your news and content.

Whether you have a service business, a retail store, manufacture or distribute products, are business-to-consumer or B2B, you should use an e-mail marketing service for your electronic newsletters. The small fee you pay to send the e-mail is worth every cent for protecting your customers’ privacy and showing them your respect for their personal information.

Do-It-Yourself PR: The Overview

Just stumbled across a PDF someone posted of an interview on Marketing Sherpa with a public relations expert: "How to Do Your Own PR Campaign: 8 Steps & 3 Mistakes to Avoid."

Written for the start-up and for the business owner who wants to announce his/her new endeavor to the world, it presents messaging suggestions, such as honing in on what makes you unique and figuring out how to describe your company in layman's terms.

If you're wondering whether you should hire a publicist or a writer to assist you with your press release, this article might help you make the decision. At the end, you should have a good sense of whether you can manage all eight steps on your own or whether it just sounds overwhelming!

The Follow Up: 5 Steps to Closing the Deal

An entrepreneur I know recently asked me for assistance with his marketing messages. Frustrated after months of meeting with key corporate decision-makers in the effort to sell his service, he contacted me in hopes that I could craft the magic words that would close the deal.

“They understand what I’m offering,” he told me. “And they don’t disagree with the numbers I have that show the ROI they’ll get after bringing on my services. But where the rubber should be hitting the road, it’s not. When it comes time to find the money to contract with me, nothing happens.”

“How do you follow up with them after you meet?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t really,” he admitted.

Therein lies the problem, I told him.

This entrepreneur doesn’t need me or any other marketing firm to help communicate the value of his services or how they work. He’s been out doing that all along, and, by his own admission, he’s able to speak with, reach and obtain agreement from his audience.

What’s missing isn’t a positioning statement or magic marketing slogan. What’s missing is the close.

Every business owner has to be a salesperson. No matter how groundbreaking your idea, how unique your product or how valuable your service, it’s a dangerous fallacy to wish or believe that it will sell itself.

It’s not enough to advertise your business and hope people will buy from you.

It’s not enough to meet with prospects and then wait for them to pick up the phone and volunteer to pay you.

It’s not enough to call potential new partners and expect that they will team up with you.

To make things happen—really make things happen—you have to follow up and make them happen.

5 Steps to Closing the Deal

1. Contact the decision-makers you’ve met with and ask if they’re ready to _____ (fill in the blank to close the deal).

1a. If they say yes, great! Ask them how you can help, thank them and now you can watch it happen!

1b. But if they say no—which is usually the case—you have more work to do.

2. Ask them what they need to be able to take the next step. Make them answer you specifically. Press them for the name of the person who has to approve the next step, ask them to tell you when you can expect them to be ready to take the next step, and ask if there’s any information or assistance you can provide in helping them take the next step.

3. Mark their responses in your calendar or contact management system. Following your conversations, follow up with a thank you and a summary of what they said they would do and by what date.

4. Schedule a trigger in your electronic calendar or contact management system so you remember to follow up on the date when they said they’d be ready for the next step.

5. Then begin at Step 1 again.

If, at that date, they continue to be unable to take the next step, repeat the process.

Sometimes, it can take months to years to push through a new contract, depending on the size and scope of your product or service. Don’t be afraid to keep in touch in between those milestones. Personal notes of congratulations if you see your contact or their company in the news, and invitations to events or networking opportunities make a genuine positive impression to your prospect. Be present. Be visible. Be non-pushy but clear in what you want.

Wishing for new contracts or new clients isn’t going to make it so. And being nice and polite isn’t enough to make people want to do business with you. You have to show them the benefit you provide, coax them along the process, and make the ask to land the deal.

More Make Your Own Marketing Materials

Find affordable templates for a range of businesses, including tanning salons, nail salons, spas, plumbers, heating and cooling contractors, dental offices, banks, child care, churches and more at StockLayouts. There's an incredible variety of templates available, from ads and flyers to menus and newsletters. For the just-starting-out-and-I-don't-need-or-have-a-brand-identity sole proprietor or small business owner, this could be your dream come true.

I haven't used the services of this company, but I know they've been recommended by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing.

Template marketing is better than no marketing. So if you've been stuck with your promotional efforts because of a lack of materials, business cards, stationery, flyers, or postcards, you don't have any more excuses. Get out and market!

Kauffman's Entrepreneur Resource Center

In addition to eating flaxseed meal, another juicy tidbit about me that will have you undoubtedly screaming "nerd" is that I listen to public radio and watch public television. In fact, I am one of the 10 people in Portland who don't have cable, digital, streaming or satellite TV. I have rabbit ears and four TV channels—five on a clear day with the rabbit ears rigged over the front door—one of which is Oregon Public Broadcasting.

And in my listening to public radio and watching public television, I frequently hear sponsorship credit for my valued programming given to the Kauffman Foundation, supporting entrepreneurship.

I've thought to myself that I should learn more about how the foundation supports entrepreneurs but never remembered to follow through with it. Today, while cleaning out my e-mail (because that's what *I* do for fun on a Saturday; yes: "nerd"), I found a link I'd saved to a Daily Cash Flow Forecasting Spreadsheet for entrepreneurs. As I clicked on it and explored, I discovered that it's a resource from the Kauffman Foundation's eVenturing Entrepreneur's Resource Center. In their own words:

The Trusted, independent source for high-growth entrepreneurs.
Welcome to the eVenturing Entrepreneur's Resource Center. This site is geared toward entrepreneurs on the path to high growth, who are building companies that innovate and create jobs. You'll find this site provides a wealth of original articles, written by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, and aggregates "the best of the best" content on the Web related to starting and running high-impact companies.

A brief visit to the Marketing tab reveals so many high-quality, in-depth, utterly useful links to experts who tackle the very issues that have been plaguing me lately (How do I engage in social networking for my business in a way that's not insincere? How do I get more out of Google Analytics? How do I create the advertising messages for my business that will really convert?) that I think I just discovered how I'll spend my Saturday night.

*Sigh*. I know. "Nerd."

Do-It-Yourself PR: Submit the Press Release

So you have the timely, relevant, well-written, factual press release written about your newsworthy business announcement.

Now what?

If you’re a natural networking pro, you already have established relationships with editors, journalists, bloggers, and other influencers to whom you can send a personalized note with the attached press release.

But if you’re like the rest of us overworked, understaffed and overwhelmed small business owners, you don’t.

First things first: decide if your news is of interest to a primarily local audience, or if it might be relevant to a broad, national conversation.

Unless you have a celebrity endorsement to announce, you’ve added a national expert to your board of directors, or your business has just made a breakthrough into a trend or channel that’s part of a national or industry conversation, you probably just want to reach those media in your city, state or region.

Quick Internet searches will turn up the websites for your local newspapers and media outlets. Nearly every single newspaper, magazine, TV or radio station you want to contact will have a link on their site with instructions for how to send news releases. So just follow the instructions. Really. It won’t take more than a few hours for the computer-user who’s comfortable with the Internet.

If your news has a wider reach, you want to enlist the assistance of a newswire to distribute your announcement.

Internet-based newswires usually have a per-submission fee, and the size of the fee depends on a number of factors:

• which wires will be reached


• how targeted it will be (industry-specific, for example)


• whether you add on various other services such as search engine optimization of your news release, embedded links back to your website, video, photos, etc.

The two most reputable and effective online fee-for-submission services that have been recommended to me are PRWeb.com and PRNewswire.com.

There are some free press release submission sites that will blast your post all across the Internet, too. Posting your news release via these portals will get your name “out there,” but the likelihood of getting any relevant traffic is slim. Personally, I believe you can even damage your reputation using these kinds of services because you place your content (and business and brand) alongside a teeming cesspool of poorly written, amateurish crap. To see what I mean, just visit any of the following free press release sites and look at what’s posted.

www.free-press-release.com
www.1888pressrelease.com
www.24-7pressrelease.com
www.express-press-release.net
www.prbuzz.com

For a more extensive list, along with an experienced PR gal’s blunt perspective about what you can and cannot expect from free services, visit Naked PR’s “Big List of Free Press Release Distribution Sites.”

She also has a fantastic post called “Effective Free Press Release Distribution in 5 Easy Steps” that has basically the same information that I just wrote above, with some added detail and curse words.

Regardless of how you proceed with distributing your press release, don’t overlook the value of having a well-written, relevant news release in the first place! Even paying a $350 submission fee to get your announcement to The Associated Press wire isn’t going to do you any good if the material isn’t newsworthy, timely or fact-based.

Shopping and Advertising Small Businesses on Craigslist

A very smart, very professional, very successful woman I know recently told me that when she went to hire a lawn care service this spring, she went to Craigslist to find one. She contacted several advertisers, spoke with a few, and hired the guy(s) who made her feel most at ease.

Craigslist, as you may or may not know, is *THE* place to find whatever you need—be it a job, a girlfriend, a new house, or a babysitter. It’s also *THE* free place to advertise your services or products or anything else you have that other people might want.

Recent headlines in the newspaper remind us that it’s also *THE* place to find stolen goods being sold for cheap, prostitutes posing as bored co-eds, and a whole assortment of other arrangements that you may not even have known existed.

Some of the advertisements on Craigslist and discussions in the forums are shocking and graphic, so it should come as no surprise that some of the people who regularly use Craigslist to find or advertise services may not be…shall we say, top-tier individuals?

I advertise my copywriting services on Craigslist and it’s a choice I made with the understanding that there would be some risks involved (i.e., spammers, scammers, lower budget clients, portraying my business image as low-cost and therefore less professional).

As a new business, I simply wanted to see what I could get for free. Does it work? Yes.

I have found some fantastic clients through Craigslist and I’m confident that I can control my business image and communicate the quality of my work by the type of ads I write. That said, I’ve also received some unwelcome and/or strange e-mails, and had the occasional not-so-fantastic client—including the one who taught me the lesson that I really need to be paid up front for projects.

If you’re considering advertising on Craigslist, keep in mind the disadvantages and seek to maximize the advantages as fully as you can.

And if you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur looking for services on Craigslist, be smart! Remember that you get what you pay for. Don’t take advertisers’ claims at face value. Ask for references and investigate potential service providers a little more than you might feel is necessary.

Last week, I saw a guy marketing to small businesses on Craigslist who said he had extensive experience in search engine optimization, web development and web design. In his ad, he listed 12 websites as examples of his work. I clicked on them. One of them had expired and wasn’t even active. Another was a local business specializing in custom paint and body work. Since the guy claimed to know SEO, I went to Google and searched for “Portland custom paint body work.” The website didn’t come up anywhere on the top three pages! And when the business’s name and URL includes the word “custom” and the tagline of the business is “custom paint and body work,” there’s no reason that site shouldn’t rank top page from a local search. Is this a guy I’d want to recommend to my clients? No way.

What are your Craigslist business experiences? Met a great designer or hired a fantastic employee from Craigslist? Do you use CL to get new business? Post your CL stories in comments.

Do-It-Yourself PR: The All-Important Press Release

I *was* going to go through the trouble of breaking down for you how to write your own press releases. In fact "Anatomy of the Press Release" as a post title has been on my editorial calendar for several months now.

BUT...in following up on a NYT story this morning—"Need Press? Repeat: 'Green,' 'Sex,' 'Cancer,' 'Secret,' 'Fat'"—I ended up at the website for PR Newswire and discovered that my brilliant idea has not only already been done, albeit named as "Anatomy of a News Release," but also done in a full-color PDF with actual diagramming, no less.

I'm sure I can still add more value to this topic, especially in how to how to use keywords in the body of your release and why to keep your quotes short and to-the-point, but I'll attempt it at a future date when I'm done licking the wounds of my bruised ego.

In the meantime, get started generating ideas for your business's press releases on your own. Each of the words on this list was cited in the NYT article as useful in getting editors' attention, so brainstorm headlines and subheads with the following:
toxic
long-term health risks
safe
easy
trick
breaking
green
environment
foreclosure
breakthrough

And, in addition to subscribing to "Ditch the Dusty Widget" and getting small business advice, stories, resources and inspiration via email, you can also sign up for PR Newswire's "Small Biz PR 101" newsletter.

Google AdWords Instruction: Coming Soon to a City Near You

If you've thought about advertising your company, services or products in the sponsored search results of Google (the largest search engine in the world and source of the majority of Internet traffic), but weren't sure how to get started, consider attending an upcoming Beginner course in AdWords, presented by Google.

The Beginner & Intermediate course includes all the basics in the morning—opening an account, creating campaigns, selecting keywords, modifying settings—plus a full afternoon of optimization techniques and instruction on how to track ad performance.

If you already know the ropes, the Advanced course might be for you.

The advance seminar explores more complex ways to manage and optimize your sponsored search advertising programs, including:

• Introductions to My Client Center and the AdWords API
• Sorting and viewing statistics
• Copying or moving between campaigns, ad groups, and accounts
• Location targeting
  Demographic bidding
• Using the Website Optimizer
• Dynamic Keyword Insertion
• Goal setting and analyzing reports with Google Analytics

At $249, the seminar will pay for itself. Registration entitles you to a $50 credit to your AdWords account. For a net cost of $200, this is an affordable way to get yourself quickly oriented to AdWords if you've never used it before. AdWords novices can easily waste more than $200 in the first few days of online advertising. Don't be one of them!

Click here to view the calendar and registration information for Google's AdWords and Analytics Seminars for Success.

Yet Another Resource for Do-It-Yourself PR

I expect be adding quite a few more resources for small business owners who want to dip a toe into the waters of PR. Like many things related to having my own company or two, I'm enjoying a steep learning curve when it comes to figuring out the ins and outs of successful public relations.

I still have some foibles to share with you from my earlier mistakes experiences, but there have been some good finds, too. One new resource I just discovered is the free Small Business News press release repository from the Small Business Trends blog.

Okay, okay, so submitting your business news to the source above won't really get your release picked up by anyone who's not a reader of Small Biz Trends...but you never know. Link building. 'Nuf said.

Got news? Send your next press release here: http://www.smallbiztrends.com/2008/06/submit-small-business-news.html/

And I Thought Persuading Businesses to Use a Copywriter Was Tough

Meet Jeff.

Jeff Deck isn't the type of guy you really *want* to meet in person, though. Because if he's showing up at your doorstep, he's probably there to tell you that you've made a mistake.

Searching for a way to give back to the world, Jeff chose as his mission to bring national attention to the pervasiveness of typographical errors, misspellings and poor grammar. Earlier this year, he founded The Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL), dedicated "to a more perfectly spelling union."

Together with like-minded public editors armed with black markers and White-Out, Jeff traveled around America from March through May, correcting misplaced apostrophes and misspellings found in signage everywhere.

A man after my own heart, Jeff spent months approaching managers, owners and clerks with his helpful attempts to make them look smarter.

A night in Las Vegas summarizes Jeff's uphill battle. Look what happens inside Circus Circus when Jeff finds a giant typo surrounded in lights:

GREASTEST! GREASTEST! An abomination against all that is right and true. We
needed to inform someone in charge. It was our only hope for seeing this
perversity wiped from the land. The problem was, we couldn’t actually find
anyone in charge… everyone in the garb of Circus Circus was trying to sell us
something. We wandered around until, finally, someone directed us to a
thick-necked man scowling at some register tape. His reaction to our crucial
piece of intelligence?

A blank look, then: “I’ll… uh… have to tell someone
about this.”

Which you can recognize by now, cherished readers, as a synonym
for thudding indifference. We tried to help you, Circus Circus. We wanted to end
the era of you looking like a fool. But it seems that era will go on into the
foreseeable future.

I want you to meet Jeff because you probably have typos in your business material, too.

As a copyeditor and copywriter, I find mistakes, misspellings and flagrantly offensive grammar in all kinds of business material—from e-mails and letters to signage and advertisements.

I understand that not everyone is fluent in grammar. Not everyone can tell when a word is possessive or plural and which of those two distinctions warrants an apostrophe. Not everyone is a spelling champion and no spell-check program can completely prevent us from word misuse.

And if common mistakes like these plague all varieties of businesses in all parts of the country, why you should care?

People know what you mean, regardless of whether you promise to serve the most delicious mochas (correct) or mocha's (ick, incorrect), right?

The best case scenario is that no one notices your mistake. Then there's the possibility that some do notice and they laugh at you. You probably don't care about that either.

But in the worse case scenario, your poor grammar and misspellings can turn off potential customers and clients. Witnessing your gaffe, they may perceive you to be either careless or ignorant, and therefore, not trustworthy. I'm not going to try a dentist who offers free teeth whitening for new customer's.

Another possibility: your mistakes may change the actual meaning of your message, rendering your communication efforts less effective. Many years ago, my parents received an invitation to an educational event sponsored by a large public health agency. Imagine their shock when they showed up the event and its signage and brochures said they were at the city's pubic health event!

In that example, it was just embarassing for the agency and funny for the guests. But at worst, these types of errors can doom your marketing efforts and waste your money.

For these reasons, it's really worth the extra money to hire a professional writer to create your business materials. And if that's really out of the budget, then at least consider hiring one to proofread your most important materials. Rates can be as low as 10 cents per word.

With that little extra care and professional assistance, you won't have to meet in Jeff in person.*

*Good catch, Jeff. No, really, I was just testing you. ;-)

Extra! Extra! Do-It-Yourself PR Resources for Small Business Owners

What business owner doesn't want press coverage? More valuable than advertising because of the credibility that's implied, press coverage is a key ingredient to growing a business.

Yet not every business is ready for a full-on PR campaign or can afford to retain a professional PR firm to secure those mentions.

Sometimes, serendipity occurs and a reporter from Time magazine just happens across your website and thinks your company is the best one to feature in an article about your industry (this recently happened to a colleague of mine).

But to take matters into your own hands, take advantage of these two free, highly reputable opportunities to dialogue with the media.

Public Insight Journalism

First, there's the Public Insight Network from American Public Media. Sign up to be part of the network and receive opportunities to send your opinions, stories and news to some of the journalists of public broadcasting.

For example, Marketplace, the business show on public radio, is currently seeking entrepreneurs to respond to several queries, including one on unproven, untested business ventures ("Are you a bold entrepreneur?") and another to women business owners experiencing a tougher time securing funding due to SBA cutbacks ("How are women entrepreneurs getting funding?").

"An open door to our newsroom" at American Public Media? What's not to love about that. Sign up now.

Help a Reporter

Another great way to get direct access to reporters for some of the biggest TV, magazine and newspaper outlets nationwide is through Help a Reporter Out. By signing up to that e-mail list as a source, you receive three daily e-mails brimming with actual queries from actual reporters on a variety of topics.

Will your area of expertise be covered? No, not every day or even every week. But if you receive any opportunity—even if it's only once per month—to pitch a reporter from a major new outlet on a topic that's relevant to you or your business—SCORE!

Here's the caveat about HARO: if you're a PR novice, it's really, really easy to get yourself blacklisted from this source and to make a poor impression to the very reporters you want to impress.

There's a reason most people don't have direct access to reporters at The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal: it's because we do stupid things like annoy them with off-topic pitches, blatant self-promotion or useless emails that say things like "please call me, I can help you with this story."

If you do any of those things, or send attachments to your responses, fail to communicate why you're a relevant and trustworthy source, or otherwise act unprofessionally and disrespectfully to any of the reporters using HARO, you will be mocked and held up as an example of how not to interact with members of the press. Even worse, you'll be removed from the list and the reporter you contacted will also block your emails.

Then again, if you act appropriately, send on-target pitches and make a convincing statement as to your expert status on a given topic, you may just end up getting mention for your and/or your company in a national magazine, newspaper or online outlet.

Personally, I'm looking forward to letting you know when my interviews with the reporters from Parenting magazine and Bitch magazine get published and if the image consultant in Houston I spoke with mentions Maternitique's pregnancy-safe sunscreen to her TV show audience.

For important instruction on how NOT to use the HARO queries, start your orientation here: "How Not to use Helpareporter.com."

Have a success story? Let me know. Good luck!

Benefits of Networking: Increase Your Odds

As a small business owner, there are many reasons to network; one of them is that you just never know who you’re going to meet. To be in the right place at the right time to meet the right people takes more than sheer luck—you have to get out and try to make it happen.

When asked in an interview how aspiring screenwriters should keep going after their “big break,” Diablo Cody, the writer of “Juno,” recommended networking and staying visible. Talking with everyone about your work wherever you go, she said, is the start. Being part of the industry network even if nothing seems to happen is the key. Eventually, something will. Being “discovered” isn’t an accident, she insists. Yes, the real break happens with luck, she acknowledged, but you improve your chances of being that lucky if you stay out in front of people.

Getting to know people, whether through your church, children’s school, neighborhood, trade associations, volunteer or sports activities, can lead you to exciting opportunities.