Internet Marketing Tips from Denise Wakeman

PRfor25.com for inexpensive media exposure

If you're looking for an inexpensive way to get exposure to a large list of media sources, check out a new site called PRfor25.com.

Simply put, PRfor25.com is a paid bulletin board to which anyone in any location who has a (legal) business, service or event to promote can post information for an affordable $25. Who sees it? The media (print, broadcast, online), site users, the public, anyone who subscribes to the RSS feed to get updates or visits the site.

This really is a cheap way to get some mass exposure for your event, product launch or site. I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to when it's time for our next big thing...

You get exposure to hundreds of print, broadcast and online media members from across the country. There's no guarantee your info will get picked up, but at least you're out there and you have links back to your blog or site or event.

Hat tip to Peter Shankman's Help a Report Out (HAR) broadcast for alerting me to this cool PR resource. By the way, if you're not subscribed to HARO, you are missing hundreds of media queries daily, looking for sources. 

Online Promotion Tips: Report Update

In yesterday's report about the online promotion we did for our Law of Action program, I forgot to include an important one...online media releases.

We use Expert Click for posting releases. While it's not "low cost" it is cost effective if you plan an aggressive PR campaign.  For $997 per year you can post 52 press releases. If you were to do that with PRweb.com it would cost you a minimum of $4,160 since they charge $80 minimum per release.  For occasional releases PRWeb is a good option though.

We do this, is not only to attract the attention of the media but also to seed the Web with keywords and links back to our sites and blogs. It's one more way people can find us when they are searching for information online.

Here are the three media releases we posted (with links to video):

Avoid the 5 Internet Marketing Traps that Can Derail Business

Small Businesses Say They Don’t Know How to Market on the Web

The 3 Biggest Challenges of Doing Business on the Web

Help a Reporter Out: A Goldmine for PR Opportunities

A couple of weeks ago I learned about a guy named Peter Shankman who publishes requests from reporters to his list of subscribers a couple of times a day. His list is called Help a Reporter Out and he gets good stuff.

If you're looking for opportunities to be interviewed for media stories, you want to subscribe to this list. Warning: you will get 2-3 emails per day from Peter. And that's a good thing.

Peter has refined his emails so 1) the subject of each query is near the top of the email so you can quickly scan to see if there is anything you need to pursue, 2) the full request with details and reporter contact info follows.  He's also got a good sense of humor and usually leads the email with a funny comment or observation.

I read Help a Report Out emails as soon as they hit my email box because media inquiries usually require a quick response.  They don't take long to scan and you may hit the jackpot. You can't lose. It's free to subscribe.

Source: Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound

The Blog Squad quoted in The Wall Street Journal

In today's print and online edition of  The Wall Street Journal, I'm quoted in an article about pitching bloggers.  Also included is a case study from one of our clients. I blogged about it on Build a Better Blog.

If you've arrived on this blog as a result of The Wall Street Journal article, welcome! You can learn more about The Blog Squad at our hub site. And if you're new to blogging, get our free white paper on The Great Internet Marketing Challenge: How to Get Your Business Found on the Web.

Everything you ever wanted to know about business blogging is covered on our blog at Build a Better Blog.

Can journalists find you online? Do you have a media plan?

From: The Blog Squad

RE: Our Next Blogging & Beyond Member Call is Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 5:00 pm Eastern

TOPIC: "How to Create a Media Plan for 2008" with The Blog Squad and special guest Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound.

If you want free publicity for your book, product, service, cause or issue, and you don't have a plan on how you're going to achieve it, you've lost the battle even before you've started. Without a plan, you're simply reacting to news events, pitching blindly, and missing opportunities to target the media when they're planning things like seasonal gift guides, and special sections devoted to topics that are a perfect fit with your expertise.

During this 60-minute teleseminar, The Blog Squad will interview publicity expert Joan Stewart (The Publicity Hound). Joan will discuss the importance of creating a media plan that will serve as your roadmap every month of the year.

This call is FREE for all member of the Blogging & Beyond Mentor program. Not a member? Join now to access this call with our special $9.95  30-day trial. 

Join the Blogging and Beyond Mentor Program here.

You will learn: