I was sitting down tonight getting ready to do some press release marketing for a customer and I realized that I had an issue. My selfish intention of the press release to was to promote the business and hopefully create some traffic to the site and therefore leads.

The problem with this approach, if you’re not familiar with press releases and their intention, is that simply “promoting” a business with ad copy disguised in a press release isn’t exactly proper etiquite. It can also get you banned from the better press sites if you’re found doing it often.

After doing some research online and reading many other’s opinions, I came to the conclusion that if you want to do a true PR campaign, then you can’t just always make stuff up… your company should truly remain news worthy. If this seems like to much of a hassle, or if you’re an affiliate marketer or something where you’re strickly generating leads, then the opening of your business may be the only news worthy thing you ever do… but I wouldn’t recommend that as a long term business strategy.

Why are press releases important?

I didn’t always believe in press releases, but have found many reasons why it is not only important, but in many cases imperative.

1.

Googling your name in the search engines.

Google (and the other engines that wish they were google) knows that content that is on press release sites has been already seen by a human and the press release wire site. Therefore, it gives it a bit more credibility. Write a press release per week for three weeks with your name in the title of the press release and watch what happens within days when you google your name. The releases will kick many of the existing pages right out of the results.

2.

Industry site pick ups

We wrote this press release on February 19, 2008 and because the release had two specific words in it, it ended up getting picked up by a well known mortgage industry site the next day. Because of that pick up, we received many inquiries and solidified an ongoing relationship with an exciting start up that has an ongoing need for internet marketing.

3.

Media Attention

There will be times that you will be writing about a topic and a reporter will be researching that topic at about the same time. If that’s the case, there is a great chance that your release will get noticed. If it does, you may get a call from the reporter, or they may quote from your release directory. Either way… more traffic.

4.

Branding

Press releases and articles are two of the only ways to get more indexed search results under when people search for you name. The engines are only going to reference so many pages from your site. But, you can build up a list of press releases and then build links to those releases. This allows you to pick and choose what you want people to see when they search your company name if done properly.

5.

Link Building

Let ‘s not forget about one of the most important things… building links. Each press release you write will end up getting posted on multiple sites. Each one of these sites will link back to your site, if you do the resources box properly (most, anyway… some don’t allow the resources box).

So, what do you write about? Well, I’m going to get back to that next time… subscribe to my feed and you’ll be updated when I post 14 and a half Killer Press Release Ideas For Your Site!

And we apologize for it! We’re actually in the process of moving clear across town to a new building, and as we’ve learned, with a move this big, things rarely go exactly as planned.

We’re really excited about the move since it’s in a great area and we actually get to design and decorate the inside ourselves. Dave’s been going crazy taking pictures for around the office and we’re all working double time to get all the equipment set up and still maintain some productivity!

Let’s just say…I don’t understand how companies with 500+ people do it!

Also - big monopoly companies suck. There’s not many choices for good Internet connections in our area and the big companies know it - and use it as an excuse to drag their feet and raise their rates. Jerks.

Anyway, again, we apologize for the general lack of life around here, but the move should be finished up by the end of the month and things can get back to normal!

Go ahead and talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic.

The peanut is neither a pea, nor a nut. Discuss…

I am so inspired by this video from Shoemoney… this is link bait at it’s best. By the way, his site is incredible if you’re interested in making money online with affiliate marketing… you should check it out!

I am totally into pranks. We have done things around our office like turning all of someone’s office furniture on it’s side and covering the entire floor, walls, ceiling and furniture of someone’s office with post its.

I even walked in my office one time and found 80 lbs of concrete in my file drawer (it’s still there).

Google has been know for their pranks

So, what do you think Google will do for April fools day this year?

I was just a bit confused today when I popped Google up for the first time. See, I have slightly bad luck with computer viruses (they love me) so any weird little thing my laptop does sends me into a 5 second internal panic.

Needless to say, going to Google.com and seeing a black background for the first time…well, ever, that I recall…messed with my head a bit, made me think someone may have done the impossible and hacked the crap out of Google.

Than I saw Google’s little message: “We’ve turned the lights out. Now it’s your turn - Earth Hour.”

Seeing as how I’ve been interested in the whole ‘going green’ phenomena for a while now and was even contemplating a “Going Green In The Office” post, I had to see what EarthHour.org was all about.

So I click, waiting with baited breath…only to be met with:

Lovely. Nothing like getting all hype about something online, only to be thwarted by that damn yellow, exclamation point-filled triangle.

I mean honestly, how many times has it been said – one of the fundamental rules of link baiting is making sure your server can handle the traffic!

And let’s face it – getting Google to sponsor your nonprofit organization/event is some darn good link AND traffic bait. I realize that it’s not Google’s fault that a third party website couldn’t handle their traffic – but still, they could have warned them. Google being the Internet behemoth that it is, I just expect more for them.

That being said, I was still able to see what Earth Hour was all about on a secondary site they had set up. How’d I find it? I googled that bitch of course! (Please excuse the language, it’s my day off).

So anyway, I guess I’ll turn my lights out tonight as well (8:00P sharp). I hope they don’t expect me to be turning the TV off. There’s a funny dude on Comedy Central tonight I want to check out.

Here’s a few tips and interesting facts I’ve read about ‘going green’:

• If 20 employees in your company turned off their computers during a lunch hour, you’d save 3700 watts of electricity within 60 minutes. According to Big Green Switch, a site with tips on greening up your lifestyle, that’s enough power to keep an energy efficient lightbulb burning for over eight and a half days.
• Go paperless when possible (using online faxing, electronic forms, read things online instead of printing it out, etc). IF you have to print, print on both sides of the paper, and use old printer paper for scrap paper. The Green Life by the Sierra Club has some other good tips on going green in the office.
• ABC.com’s spotlight on their ‘Carpoolers’ show even has a page with tips on how to start a car pool at your job. Needless to say, if many Americans would begin carpooling (or even telecommuting by working from home), vehicle emissions and pollutants would drop drastically.

Oh, and perhaps I should have introduced myself in the beginning here - I’m Ashley, the resident content developer, copywriter, SEO, PPC manager, keyword researcher…well, let’s just say I’m capable of doing a little bit of everything!

Well, our company is growing. Our client base is getting larger and larger and we need to add some team members to our staff, so do me a favor and spread the word to any one you know that may be interested.

Specifically, we’re looking to bring on 4 different types of people. I have run through them below, but you can get more information and upload your resume on our internet marketing jobs in PA page.

Our company is located in Lancaster, PA, which is about 1 hour from Philly, 3.5 hours from New York City, and about 1.5 hours from Baltimore. If you want to apply, simply upload your resume and we’ll call you.

SEO Engineers

These individuals will be responsible for mapping out large scale internet marketing campaigns and helping to orchestrate them from a high level. Some of the projects are our own internal companies and others are our clients, which currently range from fortune 500 companies to “large” small businesses, if that makes any sense.

SEO Engineers need to be creative as they are responsible to develop high level link baiting ideas.

Web Content Writers

Love to write? If you’re an experienced journalistic writer, you’d have fun working with us. Press releases, articles, web site content, blog posts and more are included in the requirements for the web content writing position.

PPC Specialists

Google, Yahoo and MSN’s PPC programs are very popular for our customers. If you have a TRUE UNDERSTANDING of how these programs work and have a track record and experience, let’s chat.

Link Architects

It’s all about link building. Link building includes important things like negotiating with site owners, creating relationships with web masters, identifying linking oportunities and more. This position is for those who want to get going in SEO and have outgoing personalities and an in depth knowledge of the internet and basic html skills.

It’s amazing what viral marketing can do. Think about the dinner table conversations that went on this night.

No Pants 2k8.

I’m a big fan of just browsing sites and examining their logos. I guess it’s a bit geeky but I think it’s a pretty normal thing to do if you’re really into something. So this weekend I was clicking through some design sites and some non-design sites and saw some pretty good logos and some really bad logos! Unfortunately a good cross-section of the bad logos have been designed over the last 5-10 years while logo standards have somewhat dropped off.

The standards I speak of are pretty simple. Readability, clean, appropriate fonts and colors and the ability to be recreated for black and white usage.

Right off the bat, the first (and often biggest) offender has been the recreation in black and white factor. I attribute this primarily to the internet age. More and more often you see marketing being geared strictly to the world wide web, and since you don’t see many black and white computer screens, there isn’t much need for a black and white logo. Well, that is just craziness, you still need your logo, your brand, to be usable in color AND in black and white… even if you go green and don’t use paper, chances are that prospective clients still do, which means you must still design for print as well as web. It’s a simple concept but very true.

I think the rest is pretty self explanatory. Obviously you want your logo to be readable, else why would you have a name? If your logo looks sloppy, guess what that says about you? And if you use odd font combinations and strange colors… again… what does that say about you, about your business… and if you happen to be dealing with visual advertising and marketing, what kind of vision are you portraying with such nonsense?

So I say to everyone who would happen to come across this post, in your opinion, what are some examples of good logos and examples of bad logos? Of course this is all your opinion, but please give some backing to your candidates and why you feel they are good or bad.

Sales departments wish that marketing would stop thinking they are the rulers of the earth, marketing departments wish sales departments would take their cocky arrogant attitudes to another planet for… well… ever, and the tech crew wishes that sales and marketings’ peanut-sized brains would grow at least to a size where they could identify what caused a problem rather than stating what the problem is.

Today (and this was confirmed through some meetings we’ve had in recent weeks), companies large and small have these three vital departments wasting TONS of time, energy and resources due to a lack of understanding in modern business principals.

Marketing departments need to understand that the days of throwing a hundred grand at a TV or billboard campaign and watching the sales teams phones light up are a thing of the past. People are able to educate themselves about you now with the click of a mouse. They are doing the research light years ahead of when they used to… and they’re doing it without your help. It’s just them and their Dell laptop. That’s right sales guys… there’s no cheese ball with a big ‘ol smile “helping” them in making their “best choice”. They are all alone and there’s nothing you can do about it.

So, here’s what needs to happen… and quickly… or your fortune 500 company or dream of a Fortune Small Business cover story may just go bust in the next few years.

Tech

Guys and gals… listen up… Your job isn’t to sit in a room and code any more. That’s part of it, but put your marshmallow shooter away because you need to put in a little more time now. Marketing is now in your job description whether you like it or not. It’s your job to create lead generating web sites, content management systems, and automated follow up systems for the marketing department. Don’t like it? OK… go work for Microsoft or Google in a department that has no influence on sales or marketing. When you’re part of a company that has active sales representatives and spends money on marketing… it’s your job now to get involved and think ‘tech’ with sales and marketing in mind.

When it comes to technology, today’s marketing department members tend to be dopes. Don’t be offended marketers… it’s not all of you, just the majority. They were taught the ins and outs of marketing and it had NOTHING TO DO WITH TECHNOLOGY. The “idiocity” that you sense really isn’t “idiocity”… it’s ignorance, and they are uncomfortable stating that they don’t understand something. Work with them, teach them, and show them the creative side that 80% of you possess. Prove that you can make their lives better and easier… it’s finally time for you to shine, my friend… so do it brightly.

Marketing

Listen closely… you DO NOT know everything. I know! That education of yours was “way expensive” and you did learn a lot about psychology and how people react to the color blue… but tech has something to offer you. And guess what… It’s now your job to do the sales reps job! What???!?!?! I know, it hurts to hear that and your ears and cheeks are getting redder and redder. Listen though.

Product and service buyers (whether consumers or businesses) used to have to call a sales rep to get information. Well, now it’s right online. All “Bonnie Buyer” has to do is give Google a shout and Google tells all right then and there. So first off, if Google doesn’t feel you’re the most important when Bonnie types “[insert your product or service here]” into the search engine, give “Timmy Techguy” a call and have them get you to the top of the engines. If they don’t know how, hire someone to.

Once they find you… your job isn’t done. You need to convert them into a lead by getting their information. Here’s where A LOT of SEO’s screw up royally. So many search engine optimizers are so consumed with getting to the coveted number one spot that they don’t even think about what’s going to happen with the traffic once it gets there. Type just about anything into google and click on the number one result. You’ll find that about 90 percent of them don’t even have a call to action on the page. WHAT A WASTE!!!

OK, so you’re getting traffic and getting leads now, right? So now you’re going to give them to sales, right? NO! STOP! DON’T. If you do the water cooler talk in the sales department will sound something like this:

“Man, Harry… how about these horrible leads that marketing’s been sending over… they really suck!”

Now, am I saying that sales is “right”? No, I’m not… but if you want growth in your organization… you need to “cultivate the leads” so that they actually turn into prospects. So, call “Timmy Techguy” again.

Have Timmy build you a customized CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. Or, of course, he could use ours if he calls us. 8 )

The CRM will automatically follow up with the leads via email and schedule things like letters, phone calls, thank you cards, gift sending and more to your clients based on the product or service that they’re interested in. Marketing… you’re now the “assistant” to the sales team. Does that tick you off? Well it shouldn’t… just deal with it.

Sales People

I’m going to make this simple. Ditch the BS. Toss out the superficial attitude. It smells like the trash can in my garage (I have 4 kids… two in diapers) and EVERYONE can smell it a mile away. But here’s the thing, you don’t need it anymore. When you get leads from marketing, it’s because they have been followed up on and they’re now ready to buy. Your job becomes explaining to them why they should buy from you and not one of your competitors. Be respectful and understand that any attempts to snowball them can be stopped with the click of the mouse. A huge issue I see every day with sales people is their lack of technical ability… especially those over the age of 35… it like an epidemic. Go take a class for goodness sake.

So look, all of you get in the same room together, and it will be uncomfortable. Tech… you’re the kingpin bringing it all together, so if you don’t like to talk in groups, get some help. The bottom line is: get traffic - get leads - cultivate leads (through automation and personal touch) - close leads.

This is your show. Now have at it.

The general consensus is that “web designers can make a site, but they can’t make it look good. Graphic designers can make it look good, but can’t make it work.”

I say, bollocks to that!

When I was a design student there was a clear-cut difference between Graphic Design and Web Design. You would think that the differences were easy to determine, i.e. graphic design is print and web design is internet. But that was not the case. Read the rest of this entry »