Press Release Links

There was a good post this morning on the LED Digest by a man named John Smart who used to be a copy editor for a communications presswire service. He gave sage advice on how to write an effective press release and also explained why certain things should (or shouldn't) be done. If you want your releases linked to, listen to what's being said here because it's spot on:

".........This is what editors want: If you have a new employee ­ unless it is a major player in either the industry or the community, they won't care-

If your profits are up, unless it is by a substantial amount, they won't care-

If you have a new technology which has helped you to catch up with everyone else, they won't care-

If you have a new product, service, patent or are holding somesort of gathering, they will care.

If you are releasing newsoftware, book(s) or e-book(s) they will care.

A good process release needs a good headline ­ if I did not knowwhat the press
release was about by the third line, it went in the circular file. A good headline is very important....."

He also said:

".....If your press release is more than two pages long ­ it is too long. If you cannot get all that data in to two pages, then don't! Put in teasers, and link to a fuller version online."

Green bold is mine. I wanted to showcase that excellent point and suggest you do this for all your releases. Doing so builds content and creates an onsite media resource journalists, customers and search engines will be able to find long after the release link has been archived in a database.

Lee Odden also weighed with good advice on press releases. This issue (#2236) is a definite read when they get it posted to the LED archives

Search Tide Changes

Change happened in a big way today for the SEO industry with the announcement that Danny Sullivan would leave SEW/SES. Hard to see a SES conference without him, HE is the brand not the conference. I echo what most everyone has said - Danny's the best and will land on his feet so no sadness there.

But as for the conference that started it all, it's the end of an era. To tweak what Margo Channing said -- Fasten your seatbelts boys, it's going to be a damn interesting ride.

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Free Consulting to Help Rebuild Economy after Katrina

Justilien Gaspard is doing a great thing by offering free SEO advice and a training seminar for businesses in the New Orleans area affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He deserves every bit of publicity he can get so please, read his Katrina post and then add it to your blog/website.

Free Consulting to Help Rebuild Economy after Katrina
by Justilien Gaspard
As many of you know I grew up in South Louisiana. I have decided to offer my consulting and training services free to businesses of the Golf Coast to help rebuild the economy that has been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Rita........ (read the rest)

SES San Jose Ramblings

The three amigos on their way to the Google dance at SES San Jose. Thanks for the picture Lee.

I always enjoy the Google dance, gives you an opportunity to relax and catch up with people you don't get to see except at the conferences. A handful of planning tips if you attend one in the future .....

#1. Bring your ID, they card and won't give in even after you show stretch marks, crows feet and gray hair to prove you're something just over 21. They're not amused and no amount of begging or cajoling will get them to hand over a wristband which is your ticket to Amstel Light-land. (Just ask Karen DeWeese)

#2. Get there early or you won't get a tee shirt. Never mind you were one of the geeks that actually rsvp'd to the event, it means jack. Many thanks again to the nice people who gave us (literally) the shirts off their backs just to get us to quit whining and shut the hell up. A kindness is long remembered.

And last but not least - I'd pass on the corn dogs or be prepared to ruin perfectly good beer.

While I'm talking about SESSJ, found a blog comment last night while wandering the Net .... Noel did a short write-up (thank you) on one of the link sessions and I wanted to comment back about this statement:

"She also talked about getting links from MySpace, YouTube, and Flickr. Each of these sites allow clean HTML links in the profiles. Hmm...I'm seeing user profile spamming?"

The "she" in the post would be me and while I did say you can add a HTML link to the profile sections of youtube and myspace, I didn't say that about Flickr. In Flickr you can add HTML links to the comments section...(just so we're clear ;).

In fairness, Noel repeated what SEORoundtable reported and while everything Ben wrote is accurate, I wanted everyone to know I wasn't suggesting people comment spam and it's not why I brought up the opportunities on myspace, youtube and Flickr to begin with.

I was suggesting you use a well balanced, rounded, get-links-from-where-your-demographic-hangs-out kinda strategy and gave those three places as examples of what the new social search scene can yield in the way of links.

That's all. Honest.

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There's More Than One Way To Skin A Link

I sit on the Linking Basics panel at SES along with Mike and Eric and cover Linking Myths and Mistakes. I jokingly call it the "Loch Ness Monster meets Bill Clinton" session and have a lot of fun showing photos of Presidents and flying pigs during the presentation.... ;)-

The Q&A is peppered with typical newbie linking questions but there's always a couple that are asked at each SES, one being what's the best way to contact people for a link. I answer by saying I have two ways I work:

If I'm buying links for a site or setting up an incentive program, I usually start out with an email and then depending on the site, pick up the phone and call. Since I look for organizations and associations when I link, I don't have to make many calls to net a lot of links.

If I'm working a larger niche or customer lists, I'll email and then follow-up with post cards. Yeah, that's right, snail mail post cards. They're an effective low cost way to get people's attention, reinforce the email previously sent and lend some credibility to it.

Closing the deal is the hardest part of any business transaction, linking included so I always try to offer multiple link options to the sites I approach. It's more difficult to say no when more than one offer is made no matter how you contact someone!

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Bloggers Wanted!

Performancing Exchange, a free "classifieds style marketplace for the professional blogging community" has been added to Performancing.com. You'll be able to sell a blog, hire a blogger or find blogging services in the new classified area.

The Exchange is the latest useful blogging tool the guys from Performancing offer. If it's as good as the Forum or as helpful as their statistics package, the Exchange is going to be a surefire hit.

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Brown boobies seen in Virginia Beach

Beats "click here" eh?

Write Titles and link anchors to draw attention and stimulate interest.

What Do You Have That People Want?

Over at the ISEDB there's an article outlining which B2B lead generation tactics are working (or not) according to research from MarketingSherpa.

"Marketers were asked, "which offers are 'very effective' for generating high-quality leads?" Their top five picks, ranked in order were:"

Free trial demo or download – 54% of software marketers and ASPs ranked free demos as highly effective B2B lead generation tactics,

Webcast or webinar – 41% of business software marketers and ASPs ranked webcasts as highly effective,

White paper -- All business technology marketers rated white papers as highly effective B2B lead generation tactics,

Blog -- 35% of business software marketers and ASPs as well as 33% of those marketing business services rated blogs as highly effective.

Podcast -- ....By June 2006, 22% of software marketers and ASPs called podcasts highly effective B2B lead generation tactics.

(I'm highlighting here so be sure to read the article for all the results and comments.)

What works in lead generation also works in link building.

Each of these items can be used to attract links by adding them as content to your site and offering it as promotional content to others.

Let's pull out the white paper idea and look at the ways we can use it to build links: (and help with basic SEO):

1. Develop a number of white papers (Get everyone in your company to write on their topic of expertise)
2. Place on your site, (builds content, SEO, pay attention to your internal links)
3. Offer to your customers, encourage them to push. (viral potential & good customer service)
4. Add an RSS to pages (be sure the paper has a keyword headline)
5. Include tagging (digg, del.icio.us, Furl etc)
6. Issue press release through a service like URLWire (snail mail as well if you're land based)
7. Offer to vendors, manufacturers, your association, it's members etc/anyone to host on their site.

Now pull out the other lead ideas and go through the same drill. You may have to change the industries and demographic you target to fit the idea but hey, that's a good thing! You want lots of links from different places within your niche. Leads are links, links are leads. Give people what they want, market it well and the links will come!

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