Online PR and Search Engine Optimisation

Traditional PR is about getting your information to be seen where you want it. That would have generally meant in a magazine or newspaper, perhaps outside the right event or location or even within an opinion article. You generally start by getting to know who the editor of the publication your target audience reads is, sending them something of interest or influencing them enough so that they are inclined to publish your information. Ok, there is a lot more to PR than this, as I'm sure many of my friends that work in the industry will be wailing as they read this blog entry, but thats the fundamentals.

Online PR is much the same, except its done online. Instead of key publications and locations, you're looking for the key websites, blogs, social networking/ bookmarking sites to get your message across. At the end of the day you are just looking to influence the influencer's to get your message out there.

So how do you start? Well say you have a news story you think is of great interest and you want the world to know. How do you get it out there? There are a few routes you can take in areas we cover elsewhere on this site; You can optimise your release so it gets picked up and ranked in the search engines. You can use Pay Per Click to make sure that your news article appears for certain search terms. But what else can you do?

Firstly you need to identify where people that would be interested in your news will be looking. What are the key blogs that your target audience may read? How about discussion forums and communities they may be a member of? What will they be searching on when you think your story will be relevant? This key identification stage is massively important. You need to work out where you target audience is reading and engaging online and then you need to get yourself in that space. You can use your search engine of choice to see what the key sites are for your key search terms. You can also use tools like Googles Blog search and Ask to see what the key blogs are. Have a look at the Online PR Resources page to see some key tools and brief descriptions of what they can do for you.

A fair bit of creative thinking is needed to work out how you can get yourself into the blog, newsite, etc that you need to target. Influencing bloggers is generally a matter of ego. Essential the popular bloggers are freelance journalists (weather they think of themselves that way or not) so the normal rules apply. Flattery will get you everywhere and bribery will get you further! Corporate gifts, events and invitations to press events can really help you get to know and influence your key bloggers. We all love a complement and anything that drives more traffic to a blog will keep a blogger happy.

News and community sites are different. You need to provide something of value to the audience and a plain old news item may not be what they are interested in. What content can you provide to interest the audience and how can you get your news into that content? A great example is Sony's approach to releasing its Bravia ads online, publishing excerts and info on there creation online in various forums and blogs.

Don't pretend to be somebody else when you're using a discussion forum or community site and then recommend yourself - this will more often than not end in disaster as you are outed and flamed to death! Engage in discussion forums, allow your input to demonstrate your knowledge and the value of your input. You can then happily poit people at an article of interest if you make it clear that its related to your company.

As well as getting your information into the right places you also need to monitor the impact of your efforts and see what else is being said about your business or story. You will need to look at your own website as well as the places that you are being discussed or have published your story. There are various tools that can help you with this such as Google Analytics, Google Alerts and Technorati and these can be found on the Online PR Resources page.

Online PR can be a thorny issue because as well as being highly effective and it can be highly dangerous. Because bloggers tend to comment on each others blogs, one story can very quickly explode into a very big deal. A story gets written, it gets commented on and picked up in various other blogs and suddenly it getting commented on and the whole thing can mushroom. This quite often happens with negative news and there are a lot of examples of this that have had very severe financial impacts on the companies being discussed.

Apply felt this first hand when the iPod Nano was released. Sales where going well and Apple was happy. People loved the product and tens of thousands were being shipped across the world. Then something drastic started to happen. A few people in discussion forums mentioned that when they were out and about they had manged to scratch the screen of there Ipod very easily and it was now ruined. After a few comments come hundreds of "me too's" and it very quickly surfaced there was a flaw in the design. This happened so quickly and so massively that it was on International TV within about 48 hours and sales ground to a halt. Sony took too long to respond because the news had flared up so quickly where they weren't looking. A tough way to learn a very serious lesson but a very good example of what can go wrong when your not looking!

Online PR offers many opportunities and just as many pitfalls. You need to be creative, target carefully and above all be honest and open.

Blogging to Grow Your MLM Business

If you're looking for creative ways to generate interest in your MLM business, avoid wasting your money paying for leads and jump on the back of the latest hot trend - blogging.

One of the most significant communication trends right now is 'blogging'. For those that aren't familiar with a 'weblog' or 'blog' for short, it is simply an online message board where you can write your thoughts, ideas or opinions on any topic. By its very nature, as a place for like-minded people to share their opinions, a blog is a powerful tool for all entrepreneurs.

This article is designed to give the Network Marketer techniques to improve their networking, and ultimately grow their MLM business.

Remember, you are in the relationship building business, not the 'sales' business so any way that you can improve the way you communicate and network will give you a greater chance of building your business. A blog is a powerful communications tool and it is extremely suitable for social and business networks, like MLM. The other great benefit of having your own blog is that it establishes you as an authority in your field and can give you loads of credibility, which is great for Network Marketing.

So you've decided that you want to give blogging a go, so the first question you may have is, "how do I get started?"� Lucky for us not-so-tech-savvy entrepreneurs, setting up your own blog is relatively easy and quick. There are a number of online sites that will provide you with all the resources you need to start your own blog. The best part is that it can all be done for free! I have used both www.blogger.com and www.wordpress.com and comfortably recommend both of them.



Listed below is a quick action plan for establishing your blog and how to market yourself and your business opportunity:

* Sign up for a free blog on one of the above websites. I now use www.blogger.com and have found it easy to use. You don't even need to have your own website.

* Decide on a theme. I recommend something as simple as your journey as a home based business entrepreneur. You can share both your business successes and challenges. Include useful tips and tricks that you have used in your business.

* If you are concerned about what to write about, just start brainstorming ideas with your team and you will find the list of topics are endless.

* Make the information interesting to the reader, and even add humor wherever possible.

* Add some content over a few weeks, including a couple of core articles along with short conversational, journal style entries.

* Send out the links to everyone in your downline and selected people in your upline. With this type of initial audience, you will find blogging a great way to share information and techniques amongst team members.

* Encourage your team to post comments on the blog and provide feedback to you about the content and usefulness of the blog. Make adjustments as required.

* Once you are happy with the character and theme of your blog, submit it to a number of blog directories (simply search on the term "blog directory" and you should find plenty!).

* Become the distributor of the latest news and offerings from your company.

* Use alternate techniques like a video post. Simply record yourself with your computers webcam or digital camera and post away! Alternatively, you can take a video of interest from places like Youtube.com and place them in your blog. This will give your readers a great multimedia experience and reasons to keep visiting your blog.

* Tip: I recommend that you do not try to sell your business opportunity on the blog. Build a relationship first and then you may be able to ask for expressions of interest.

* Tip: You can refer network marketers from other companies to your blog to help them grow their business. When they see how helpful you are, they may even be encouraged to join your organization.

* Consider using Google Adsense on your blog as an easy income source.

* Be seen as the expert on the latest social networking technology (have you tried conference calls with www.skype.com yet? Watch out for a future article on this hot, free, communications method).

It's important to keep up with technology and the latest trends, and blogging is a great way you can really take the lead and get ahead of the game. Being a leader means stepping up and providing a strong community amongst your team through the sharing of information. With a blog, you may find yourself being the entrepreneur that keen prospects want to get to know and be around. You are a leader and people want to be around leaders that provide them a better vision of the future. This will mean great success for you.

Looking at other ways to supercharge your MLM business? I recently gathered together 5 Superstars for a special MLM training seminar. Just follow the links below to find out more.

How To Stop Information Overload

Here are some tips to stop information overload:

Stop visiting forums and reading threads. 95% of the threads are written by inexperienced people - who have no clue what they are talking about. Freedom of speech is very overvalued these days. Everyone seems to have an opinion and everyone wants to express it. Stop reading those useless threads. They are keeping you back. If you keep reading them, you are stealing money from yourself and the people you love. Only read them for entertainment value and only if you have already done the tasks that build your business for the day.

Stop buying every new ebook that comes out - except if it analyses something that is already part of your game plan. For example, if you are using Pay Per Click extensively and you see a new guide on Google Adwords that comes out, you may want to check that out. But don't buy every new "make money" product just because it's out there. People have been making money for decades without the "new" ebooks that come out all the time. Every time you really feel like buying a new ebook, WAIT for 2-3 days and THEN consider buying it. Many purchases you make are "impulse" purchases and do not really solve a problem you have...

Unsubscribe from all the free newsletters that you are not reading or that you get no value out of it. More isn't better.

Discontinue your membership to paid sites that you don't use or that you get no value out of.

Get a personality of your own and stop doing things because everyone else seems to be doing it. Most of them are not making a dime. Why would you want to copy them? If you hear of "mass hysteria" of people buying a specific product, it doesn't necessarily mean you should buy it as well. Wake up. Start thinking for yourself. Otherwise, you are at the mercy of others.



Stop using 10 different complicated techniques. Choose one traffic method, distil it down to its simplest steps, master it and then use it massively. Stop jumping from project to project and opportunity to opportunity. If you have an opportunistic mindset, you will get the results that most "opportunists" get. You'll be poor.

Create a site. After you have it rolling, DON'T start another site. Instead, add more backend offers to that first site. People who are subscribers and customers of yours trust you and you can make money on some pretty high-end products just by sending an email. Forget about starting another "campaign" and then trying to warm up new people in a new market all over again and trying to make money by selling a $29.95 ebook that pays you 50% commissions.

Here's another great trick you can use: Create a text file (Notepad, Word etc...) and create the "perfect" money-making system based on your current knowledge. This file may have some sections like: Finding a market, creating a product, driving traffic to the site, tips on time management, personal development stuff etc... Then, every time you read a new ebook or watch a new DVD, or read a good article or a forum post, note down the new knowledge it provides you with at the appropriate section of your text file. That way, you won't have to go through the main product again. Before you know it, you will have a "super ebook" with all the good stuff that you find useful. Then you can refer to this ebook every time you need inspiration or reminders on a specific part of the process.

A note about "ideas": Ideas are neutral. They are not necessarily something "good." Most people have been actually HURT by ideas. Ideas themselves mean jack crap. I can sell you all my ideas for a buck a piece and I would be a millionaire. You need to get an idea and then test THAT idea and focus on THAT idea. You have another idea shortly after you start the first one? Then note the new idea down. You will get to it AFTER you have worked with the first idea...