The Bible says, “Money is the root of all evil.” Maybe this is why many Christians in business today have a hard time charging for their services. As Christians, we sometimes feel that we are doing something wrong when we charge higher fees to complete work for our clients. However, God invented work, and therefore he believes that we should work and receive a wage for our work. After all, they did it in the Bible. Do you not recall the stories of the farmers paying the field workers?

God invented all of these concepts so he must agree that we should receive payment for what we do. Therefore, do not feel guilty for charging your clients for the services that you provide to them, as long as you are providing high quality work that you can be proud of, and that is not taking from your clients in any way what you do not deserve.

Other than that, you should not feel guilty in billing what you are worth. Decide what your time is worth, what your services are worth, and bill accordingly. Then, strive to put out high quality work, and you might even want to go beyond that. A popular concept is to “under promise and over deliver.” Meaning promise that the work will be done, say, “by the end of the week”, however deliver early, therefore over delivering on your promise. This will impress your clients and most likely win you repeat customers.

Being paid is apart of our lives. What is important is that we value the money that we receive correctly. Respecting that our clients had to earn the money, and remembering that we must give back to God a portion of what we earned. In everything that we do including the way by which you go about earning your wage you should be striving to honor God.

If you do this, you will surely not be guilty of allowing money to take the part of evil in your life.

Alyssa Avant is a Christian speaker, writer and business owner. Her Writer for Hire business provides online entrepreneurs and business owner’s with articles and content. To have Alyssa write for you, visit her website

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Tags: price, right, online, history

The advent of the internet has resulted in a whole new set of fraud related problems for the banking industry. In the past the issues resolved around, cash machines, credit cards and bounced cheques. The result, the cheque clearing process became longer. The new 2-4-6 cheque clearing rules reflect the fact that the problem with banking fraud has switched from cheques to online.

The banks in the UK have quietly passed an amendment to the online banking code that could result in less protection for their online customers. The subtle change is the incorporation of a new clause 12.13. This clause states that “Unless you have acted fraudulently or without reasonable care (for example, by not following the advice of 12.9), you will not be liable for losses caused by someone else which takes place through your online banking service..”

The escape clause for the bank is 12.9, the clause that states that you must “use up-to-date antivirus and spyware software and a personal firewall..”. The issue revolves around what is up-to-date and even what is antivirus and spyware software.

If your antivirus software is not updated ever moment then it is by its nature not up-to-date. If you only turn your PC on once a week or so then in terms of anti-virus software it would be very out dated. If you don’t own a PC but use one at work or in a cybercafé to carry out your online banking you have no control over the anti-virus software, would you still be liable for any losses from your account.

The clause is very ambiguous as the term antivirus and spyware software is very wide. It encompass a wide range of software from free downloads to the more expensive monthly subscription services. The reality is that most of this type of software struggles to keep up with the developments in online fraud. The fraudster’s test their new virus and spying tools against current software to ensure that they can gain access to the data that they require to carry out the fraud.

Are the banks simply admitting defeat and shifting the burden from their own systems to that of the consumer? You can still get home insurance without security guards at your front door but it seems as if the banks don’t want to play by the same rules. Surely it should be down to the bank to ensure that it has in place systems that maintain security. The advent of third party security keys has been an attempt to address this issue. The banking industry have managed to shift the emphasis for security onto the consumer and potential the losses as well.

Tony Heywood ©

Bounced cheques, cheque clearing, banker draft, bank giro credit, bounced cheques, cheques

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Tags: online, business, fraud, ethics, unethics

Very simple: Be a source of integrity. Don’t be phony, people will know and not come to visit your site again. Even worse, they will post a bad review somewhere on the web and others will not even come to see for themselves. If you don’t know about something, don’t pretend that you do. Respect your customers, or prospective customers, and offer them something of value. Give good information that will draw your customers’ attention and this will help to build trust. It also gives them a reason to stay or come back again for more. Follow-up with your customers, but don’t be a pest. Basically, don’t spam, don’t steal, and don’t lie.

Just as in an offline business, there are ethics and standards that should be followed. If you are starting an online business, you’ve probably spent some time online already and can see that there are hundreds of thousands of businesses trying to sell their products and information and services to you. Study how they do it. Spend some time visiting the websites of your competitors, much like you would when preparing a business plan for an offline business. Look for and evaluate the following characteristics to determine the integrity of the business as a whole:

What are they selling? When you first come to their index page, can you quickly and easily figure out what they are selling? Is it a real product, an information product, a membership or a service? Do they offer something of real value right off the bat for free such as informative content or a related ebook? If you cannot determine within the first 30 seconds what they are selling or why they are in business, chances are that they are just a hodgepodge of links put together to make the owner affiliate revenue. However, if you do see something of value, stay a bit longer and evaluate further.

Can you contact them directly? Look on the main page. Contact information could be in the top nav bar, on the side nav bar or at the bottom of the page. Also, look for a direct link such as Contact Us. Click this link and see where it takes you. Do they provide a physical address, a contact name or email, and a phone number? These three things are a must for a legitimate business. If an owner is not confident in his business enough to put an address and contact phone number on his site, he must be hiding something. The final test is to send an email to the company and see who responds and how long it takes to get a response. Most one-person web businesses should be able to answer your email within 1-2 business days.

Is the content valuable and correct? One of my biggest pet peeves is spelling and grammar. If the owner has done his research and knows what he is talking about, this should show in the quality of the information on his site. A professional image depends on attention to details. Presentation is everything. If you are going to put out information, it has to be presented in an organized fashion with no mistakes. When I see more than one misspelled word or grammar mistake on a website or page, I move on. If the owner has not proofread his own material or verified the information on his site is correct and presented professionally, I won’t be trusting that his products are much higher in quality.

Is there a free trial or guarantee on the products and services being offered? Those businesses that have developed a quality product or service and are confident in it will not hesitate to put a guarantee on it. They will stand behind it 100%. Even better are those companies that let you try the product or service for free. This way you can test it out to see if it is indeed what you need and meets the quality standards of a legitimate business.

How do they advertise? Look at the other links on the website. Visit some of them to see the quality of partners associated with the first business. Do the links take you somewhere valuable and helpful? Is the business partnered with other legitimate businesses? Also, how did you find out about the website in the first place and what in their ad drew you in? Did the ad lie to you? Make sure that when you advertise that you don’t misrepresent what you are offering. In addition, don’t be a spammer. Make sure to develop a double opt-in email list that you can use to send valuable follow up information to your customers. This will help to build loyalty as well as word of mouth referrals. Visit forums and pay-per-click sites to see the companies who are advertising the same products and services that you are to find out what promotion methods they are using. Use them as a starting point and try to set your standards of quality and honesty a step above when developing your ads.

The bottom line is, there is good karma and bad. Even though we all know those people in life whose bad karma hasn’t caught up with them yet, don’t join the crowd. Be a leader, be a source of integrity, and provide a quality product or service that you can stand behind. In the long run, this will help you build a profitable, long-standing business rather than a fly-by-night get rich quick scheme.

Ruth Harris is a real entrepreneur who has helped many others promote their business online. Visit his blog here to learn more about setting up your online business.

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The introduction of the Internet has surprisingly changed our way of life as a society. It has defined the way we do business and the way we correspond. The Internet has opened many opportunities for online trading. The financial industry revolves around the Internet. Every thing is just a few clicks away. This makes online trading most convenient. But there are still investors who prefer the old fashion way of offline trading and they mainly prefer offline trading for security reasons.

Internet has introduced a way for consumers to manage their money online. Not to mention, Internet has transformed the way investment companies operate their business and has made it easy for private investors to gain straight access to a range of different markets and online tools that were at one point only reserved by the use of investment professionals. Consumer investing and online trading has dramatically changed over the last decade. Online trading dynamically continues to be redefined. Services have expanded to include integrated management of additional financial accounts. Not to mention, it has subsequently expanded in conjunction with ground-breaking improvements to the traditional trading interface, such as telephone interface systems.

Of course, online trading has many pros. There are several wonderful reasons to invest online and consider online trading.

1. Money saving opportunities
The amount of money you save depends primarily on the online brokerage firm that you choose. No two firms are the same. There may be different regulations, similar to bank regulations. There are minimum deposits required that must be maintained. As mentioned above, this will depend on the online brokerage firm.

2. Instant online access
You can gain instant access to your account, the value of your portfolio updates immediately before your eyes.

3. Enter online trades at anytime
You can enter online trades at anytime and from anywhere. This is very convenient if you live in a different time zone than the country you are trading in. Not to mention, it is especially fit for investors with busy schedules.

4. With online trading you are in charge
You are in control of your investments. No sales pitches and no hassle. You decide where to invest your money.

Nevertheless, with all the convenience of online trading there are still investors who prefer the old fashion way of offline trading. Offline trading has lost some popularity but it is still the main form of investing. Offline trading offers many benefits as well.

1. The one benefit that an investor appreciates the most is that they are not alone when making investment decisions.

2. There are experienced and professional brokerage companies that handle their investments for them.

3. Investors are not faced with the challenge of making these vital investment decisions; especially, if they do not have the experience necessary to make the appropriate investments.

4. Also, there is someone there to answer any questions that may cause concerns.

Not to mention, with offline trading mistakes are less likely to take place. No one wants to throw their money away or stand by and watch someone else throw their money away. It may be wise to hire a professional to assist you in making the correct investment decisions if you feel you lack the knowledge necessary.

William King is the director of UK Wholesale, UK Wholesalers and Dropshippers Directory. He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.

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Tags : online, offline, stock, trader, business

The other day someone emailed me to inquire about helping them build a website for a new business venture. I responded to the inquiry a day late because I didn’t notice it in my inbox right away. The automated subject header (“Internet marketing inquiry”) was missing and in its place was the phrase “not human.” Normally I would have deleted the message without reading any further as I get a lot of spam. But something made me stop and read further.

Turns out this person could not get past a troublesome captchca code on my website’s contact form. Yet she still took the time to email me directly and let me know that she was not able to successfully “verify her humanity.”

As someone who offers usability consulting, I felt a bit silly, and embarrassed to say the least. But I was also incredibly thankful. This person could have clicked away to another consulting site in seconds. Instead, she took the time to not only explain the very poor usability of my contact page but then asked about possibly utilizing my services.

To me this anecdote could apply to numerous scenarios in business. Too often we feel hurt or even maimed by the words of others in a cyber world where words are all we really have. But this is totally unnecessary, and often causes us to miss important opportunities for both new clients and the better operation of our business.

When someone takes the time to be honest with you, it usually means they care. And they care about at least one of the following:

1. about helping you be more successful

2. about looking smarter than you

3. about getting something they need from you

4. about expending energy for no good reason at all

Number 4 is not common but it does happen (hey, we all need a hobby). Number 1 is quite common and generally brings good karma in a networking situation. (Just don’t ask for anything in return. Be nice. Say “You’re welcome.” And go home.)

Number 2 is darned annoying, but you must let it go as soon as it happens. There’s work to be done, and it’s the kind of child’s play that will wear you down fast. In the meantime though, be on the lookout for Number 3. For when honesty happens in this context, a rare business opportunity has just come a knocking. Ask yourself:

1. Is this person representative of my target market?

2. Does he or she have connections to my target market?

3. Is he or she is a potential ally?

More often than not, those who take the time to give honest-and unsolicited-advice or feedback are people who can benefit you or your business in some way. And when you think about it like that, you’ve just been given pure market intelligence. For free.

Lap it up. Forget about your feelings for a moment. And trip over yourself to address whatever business problem or issue this person has just helped you to uncover. This, of course, is after thanking them profusely for their thoughtful input.

Just remember to close the deal! You’ve got the hottest kind of prospect on your hands. Attentive. Thoughtful. Honest. And, looking for a fair trade.

That’s what I call a golden opportunity.

Snap! Virtual Associates provides internet marketing services for the progressive entrepreneur as well as search engine optimization (SEO), website copywriting and editing, website audits and more. Subscribe for the Outsmart newsletter and get a free Marketing & Usability Checklist. Visit the website

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Tags: business, ethics, ethical, internet, online

When a Network Marketer makes unethical choices, they do so for one of three reasons:

1. Unfortunately the Typical Network Marketer Does What’s Most Convenient An ethical dilemma can be defined as an undesirable or unpleasant choice relating to a moral principle or practice. As human beings, we seem prone to failing personal ethics tests. Why do we do something even when we know it’s wrong? Do we cheat because we think we won’t get caught? Do we give ourselves permission to cut corners because we rationalize that it’s just one more time? Is this our way of dealing with pressure?
2. Network Marketers Will Do What They Feel They Must to Seek Victory I think most people are like me: I hate losing. Business people in particular desire to win through achievement and success. But many think they have to choose between being ethical and winning. Many people believe that embracing ethics would limit their options, their opportunities, and their very ability to succeed in business. It’s the old suspicion that good guys finish last. If I believe that I have only two choices – to win by doing whatever it takes, even if it’s unethical or to have ethics and lose – I’m faced with a real moral dilemma. Few people set out with the desire to be dishonest, but nobody wants to lose.
3. A Network Marketer Will Rationalize their Choices with Relativism Many people choose to deal with such no-win situations by deciding what’s right in the moment, according to their circumstances.

According to Dr. Joseph Fletcher in his book, Situation Ethics, “right is determined by the situation, and love can justify anything – lying, cheating, and stealing … even murder. This philosophy spread rapidly throughout the theological and educational worlds … Since the 1960s, situation ethics has become the norm for social behavior. After spreading so rapidly through the world’s education, religion, and government, it has penetrated a new area – the business world. The result is our ethical situation today.

The industry of network marketing unfortunately has not been spared the spread of “situation ethics.”

The result is ethical chaos. Everyone has his own standards, which change from situation to situation.

It is interesting to note that though our decisions at one time were based on ethics, now our ethics are based on our decisions. If it’s good for me, then it’s good. Where is this trend likely to end?

Let’s take a look at what would happen if we applied this trend to network marketing:

1. What if a Network Marketer didn’t always do what was most convenient? What if we decided, as network marketers, to just handle every situation based on what was convenient to us? Not over a short period of time, but over a long period of time. What do you think would happen to our relationships with our downline, as well as our upline? Total disaster.
2. What if a Network Marketer didn’t feel that they must do whatever to seek victory? As network marketers, our entire business relies on the relationships we have with the people within our business. As business owners, if we try to “win” each and every transaction or interaction with the people in our business, over time those relationships will die off. The only way to ensure that both your business and your relationships with the people in your business grow is to seek a win-win scenario for each transaction and/or interaction.
3. What if a Network Marketer didn’t choose to deal with a no-win situation by deciding what was right in the moment, or according to their circumstances? What if they had a system to guide them? As a network marketer, or even a human being for that matter, waiting until the last moment to decide how to handle a situation without a proper moral compass will end in disaster sooner rather than later.

Fortunately, there is an increasing desire for ethical dealing in business, and as far as I can see, this desire reaches the very summit of the network marketing industry.

My next article entitled “Is the Global Market Altering it’s Ethical Behavior?” will examine this position.

See you on the Beaches of the World,

Kevin McNabb

Kevin McNabb is the author of The Responsible Network Marketer Series. Chief Executive Officer of Toronto-based. He is a network marketer, author, freelance writer, and offers seminars, and Internet training programs on personal development for the network marketing industry. For more information on the topic of this article, please see at Here

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Tags: unethical, network, marketing, online, business

Most of the frauds people are aware of in e-currencies is that whereby the scammer, pays for an item from a reversible e-currency such as paypal, stormpay e.t.c with a legitimate account, obtains the item and initiates a chargeback on receipt of the goods, thereby stealing the item and recouping his cash.

However e-gold at the moment is irreversible (and I congratulate the CEO of e-gold for trying to clean up the system). Currently one of the highest areas of fraud is in currency exchanges.
One of the ways fraudsters attempt to defraud ignorant individuals is by insisting on a currency exchange with the same bank.

Let me give an example, you might receive a typical message that goes something like this:

“”I need e-gold, and I am willing to pay from my Wells Fargo account…”"

The scammer will also insist that his/her potential victim also has a Wells Fargo account/or same bank/

The reason why is since e-gold is irreversible, i.e you cannot initiate a chargeback, all the scammer has to do is retrieve the funds, because of the reversibility associated with e-currencies such as paypal, stormpay e.t.c it is not so lucrative to scammers, as any unauthorized withdrawals from these accounts would be flagged and reversed.

Due to this there is a very large underground movement, where scammers trade in , stormpay and paypal accounts e.t.c, many from phishing emails, or which they obtain for a trifle due to the difficulty in cashing out these accounts; then look for unsuspecting individuals who are willing to exchange e-gold for a bank wire with the same bank, it should be clear now that anybody requesting an e-gold currency exchange with a bank wire to the same bank, has stolen bank details and is trying to defraud you of your money, as the fraud will be traced to the victim who received the bank wire, while the scammer cashes out with e-gold.

Mr Dan Stevens is one of the admins on this site

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It’s a great tool to be in touch and to widen your business. However be wary of the fine line between spamming and being persistent when sending mails.

Spamming is frowned upon in most countries. If it is found by your e-mail account provider that you are guilty of this sacrilege, your account could be suspended and your outgoing e-mails could be blocked out by the the recipient’s mail server, making your efforts futile.

Tip
No matter how rude someone may be to you, or how offended may be by another’s opinion, don’t lower yourself to their level by stooping to obsceneties, threats or claims of self-importance. Always state your opinion clearly and concisely, without personalising an issue or resorting to name-calling.

A good definition of spamming would be-the use of any electronic communication medium to send unsolicited messages in bulk. But the term ’spam’ means any commercially-oriented, unsolicited bulk mailing that is excessive in nature, and more importantly, undesired.

To the popular perception, the most common form of spam is the one delivered in e-mail as a form of commercial advertising. Nevertheless, things comparable to spamming for non-commercial purposes in media other than e-mail have also been recorded.

The spammers have developed have developed a variety of spamming techniques over the years. This can happen in each of the medias: e-mail spam, IM spam, Usenet newsgroup scam, Web search engine spam, weblogs spam, and mobile phone messaging spam.

It is imperative that you desist from all the above forms, and understand what could be termed as spamming before you decide to send out a mass mailer announcing to the world about your business-or even your landing on the WWW.

There is no entry barrier as far as spamming is concerned, but the volume of unsolicited e-mail produce other costs which are actually borne by the public in terms of lost productivity and fraud. And it is a burden for Internet service providers, which must add extra capacity to cope with the deluge.

Spamming is generally dealt with strictly by the internet authorities, and has been the subject of legislation in a number of jurisdictions, including the United States’ CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

Fact
The term Spamming derives its name from the Monty Python Spam sketch about SPAM brand processed meat, is economically viable because advertisers have effectively no operating costs beyond the management of their mailing list.

Somnath Mitra

Somnath Mitra is a blogger writing about the various aspects of netprenureship on his two blogs mentioned in the write-up. Visit here.

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Tags: internet, reseach, ethics, online, business

One big mistake you can make in Internet Marketing is to try to engage in too many activities concurrently. This can strain your resources and/or make you lose focus very quickly.

You will get more value for your marketing when you master activities one at a time. Also, while there is no written rule as to which techniques you should learn first, you don’t want to get into certain techniques until you have some skin in the game.

You can get some skin on the game of driving traffic to your website by using Press Releases; they are easy to write and master.

Whenever you have a new product, service, event, or occasion to promote, you want to put out a Press Release. Web traffic Press Releases are much like normal Press Releases except you want to optimize them for search engines by spicing them with keywords relevant to your product or service. Equally important, you should have links in your Press Release that take people back to your website. In your Press Release, don’t go on about who you are or how great your company is. Nobody cares. You want to identify a big problem that many of your potential visitors have, and then pitch your new product or service as the solution to this problem. PRWeb is one of the best Press Release services.

Press Releases are very good tactical tools for blasting your news all over the web and getting you ranked in search engine results. However, a Press Release does not establish you as an expert in your niche, which can win you regular and dedicated visitors. This is where Article Marketing comes in. Furthermore, a Press Release does not necessarily put you right in front of people who are already looking for you. One of the most effective tools for that is Pay-per-click (PPC) Advertising.

Capitalizing on his copywriting skills, Gbenga Alaran founded the web strategy and marketing firm Aran Meta Investments (AMI) to help new and established small business owners strategically develop their web presence. Visit the AMI blog to get more intelligence for driving traffic to your website.

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Tags: pr, online, traffic, press, release

Writing online press releases is an art. The basic rules of press release writing still apply, yet there is the subtle craft of web writing, SEO optimisation and structure that need to be captured in the online form.

Let’s remind ourselves of the basics. Start global and in subsequent paragraphs move into the specific. A strong headline that grabs the eye and draws interest enough for the reader to continue is a must have. The first paragraph should support the headline, explain it, and outline the entire story. It must paint the ‘big picture’. The structure of the entire release, which is usually no longer than 250 words (perhaps 350 for mainly trade or technical press), should then have a natural flow. A beginning, middle and and ending to some extent and certainly explain the why, what and how of the story.

The subsequent 5 or 6 paragraphs should go increasingly into the specific detail of the story and include any supporting information. The less interesting or supporting detail should be left until the end, but interspersed to help bring the story to life the people involved in the story can be quoted to help tell it. The standard tools of editors notes, contacts, supporting information should all be used at the end of the piece, and clearly indicated as such.

Now we come on to the basic rules of web writing. It has to help the eye: readers’ attention spans are shorter on the web (and in general these days), and it is also more difficult for the eye to read on a screen. So remember the following:

• Chunky – keep the paragraphs chunky, short and never long. Help the eye flow through the piece and break it up with headers and images for longer pieces
• Relevant – know your target audience inside out, picture them (him or her) as you write the release, and use words that talk his language. Make sure that you keep the content, images, timing all relevant for the target audience. It may be that the first para or two need to be tailored or adapted for a different target audience and this is all you need to make it relevant
• Accurate – digital communication can encourage sloppiness, SMS is a case in hand. But if you spend time and effort making sure your writing is grammatically and factually correct, with no spelling errors, you will be more successful, credible and believable in what you write
• Brief – anything you write for PR, and especially for the web, has more impact with fewer words. Write your release. Then re-read and edit, re-read and edit, re-read and edit … and then cut out another 10 per cent of words. Then you’ll have perfection!
• Scannable – does the copy scan well? Do it draw the eye down and catch and keep attention. Can someone scan it quickly and get the gist of the story in one scan? Make sure the answer is yes to all these questions.

And now for the grand finale of online release writing. Both the headline and the copy, particularly the first few paragraphs of the body, need to be keyword rich. This copy needs to include a mix of keyword phrases that people use to search for information on the web. To achieve this you will need an insight into what words and phrases searchers use to find information on the web. Optimised news will attract more journalists and customers alike. And research consistently shows that these readers use the web as their preferred medium for finding out news about your clients products and services.

Links are also critical, both to provide helpful insight, information and additional support for your readers and to help with SEO so that your news is easier to find. Internal and external links are equally as important. As are inbound links from external websites. And this is certainly one reason why having your online media centre on an independent domain – i.e. not a subdomain of your main site – helps with your SEO. So make use of the online release distribution sources such as PR Wire, cisionwire, Response Source etc.

Tags are important considerations but you should only aim for around four per release and they need to be directly relevant to that release, and not a blanket ‘brand name’ repetition. And don’t forget the RSS feed – your releases will need to have their own unique feed if you really want to give journalists the edge in finding your news quickly. They can subscribe to your feeds via email download, browsers or burn them into their feedreaders to have your news pushed into their inboxes as soon as you issue it. There’s more to writing press releases in the digital age than meets the eye, and its time for PROs to get web savvy.

Listen to Changeworks’ podcast to find out more.

Sue Tupling
Director

Changeworks Communications Ltd

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Public relations, commonly known as PR, is something every company needs to take into consideration. Whether you are the CEO of a large firm or own a small business you need public relations. In fact, more than likely you probably already use some form of public relations without even knowing what it is you’re doing. What exactly does public relations consist of and why is it so important to your company’s bottom line?

Put simply, public relations is how you communicate with consumers and even any employees. It’s how you want them to view your company. Have you heard the saying even bad publicity is good publicity? Most of us have and that’s true to a certain extent. The smaller your company is the more you can suffer from bad publicity. This is where a good public relations plan comes in handy. Controlling what is said and printed about your business can be critical to your company’s success. Knowing that bad publicity may not be such a great thing, how do you use your public relations skills to control what you want people to know about your company.

One of the most cost effective ways to handle public relations is to start a free blog related to your company. Linking your blog to your company’s website gives the consumer unlimited access to what’s happening within your company. A well written blog can actually serve several purposes. It can be a great form of free advertising, as well as a tool used to issue statements to the public. It’s an excellent place to share any awards your company has received as well.

Another popular form of handling public relations issues is by sending a monthly newsletter to your customers and even employees. This can be done in print, but also via email if you’d like a more cost effective approach. However, you decide to handle the public relations for your business, it should go hand in hand with your advertising to be as cost effective as possible. Becoming a PR expert will take some time, but once you master it your company will reap the benefits!

Dustin Heath recommends that you visit this web

to learn how you can start your own home-based business earning multiple streams of income with a Plug-In Profit Site – Complete Money Making Site Setup FREE!

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Tags: public, relation, company, online

The world of marketing and public relations is rapidly changing. We are going through some seismic shifts and it’s important to keep up with the changes and yet not be overwhelmed.

“We think that someone calling himself ‘Mr. Zilterio’ may have accessed our customer records, to include credit card numbers. He’s threatening to reveal that information to our customers and the press if we don’t pay him a large amount of money.”

That was the initial call I received from Marc Benzakein, one of the founders of linkLINE Communications, an expanding, relatively small (15,000 subscriber) but profitable Internet service provider based in Mira Loma, California (note: in their business, “profitable” is rare).

In that phone call, and a subsequent meeting with linkLINE’s management/crisis response team, I learned that:

* According to federal authorities and information available to anyone who does a search for “Zilterio” on the Internet, the same individual may have extorted as much as $4 billion from other organizations who wanted to sweep the situation under the rug for fear of losing business.

* linkLINE, with law enforcement direction, had been stringing Zilterio along for a little while identifying how he got past their security. In the process, they traced the bank account to which Zilterio wanted money wired through Russia (where he said he was from) to Yemen, a known hotbed of terrorism.

* The ISP felt strongly that it was ethically and morally wrong to give in to what could clearly be construed as “cyber-terrorism.”

* linkLINE had taken the steps necessary to ensure that the security hole which Zilterio may have exploited was plugged.

* A significant loss of customers could be devastating to linkLINE because of its still-small size.

[Crisis Response Team Meets]

As a crisis response team, we agreed that:

* linkLINE’s customers needed to be notified of the threat before Zilterio communicated with them. This meant that the entire “response package” needed to be in place between our Thursday afternoon meeting and the following Monday evening. We all wanted to move even more quickly, but double-checking some security preparations precluded any more haste. The team member in touch with Zilterio felt he could stall him as long as necessary.

* The best approach, very much in keeping with linkLINE’s operating philosophy, was to express compassion for the concern this might cause customers, provide them with information they would need as a consequence of the situation, while also calling for them to unite with linkLINE in combating cyber-terrorism.

* Close coordination would need to be made with the security offices for the four major credit card companies so that (a) linkLINE customers would have the least-possible work to do regarding the possible exposure of their credit card numbers and (b) that linkLINE’s relationships with the credit card companies remained sound.

Pre-Announcement Activities

During three intense days of preparation:

* linkLINE management contacted the four credit card companies, who were very appreciative of linkLINE’s proactive response, agreed to put a special watch on linkLINE customer credit card numbers to see if they were fraudulently abused, and assured linkLINE that customers would not be held liable for any such fraud.

* A Customer Alert letter was drafted for distribution on Day 1

* A press release was drafted for distribution in the early morning of Day 2

* A Customer Q&A was drafted in preparation for posting on linkLINE’s website on Day 2

* A special Customer Service Response Guide was created and customer service reps trained on its use.

* linkLINE’s crisis response team identified other key stakeholders, besides customers, who might need to be called or contacted when the news was released, and prepared to make those communications.

* Marc Benzakein was trained to be the primary spokesperson on the situation, with another member of the team as backup spokesperson.

The Announcement and Results

Zilterio did not act during the preparation period, and linkLINE was able to launch its crisis communications campaign.

* In the late evening of Day 1 and early morning of Day 2, respectively, the Customer Alert went out by email and the press release by PR Newswire (California circuit only, as 95% of their customers were in-state, and knowing that even the California circuit also goes to Internet news sites and certain other key media).

* While customer call volume did go up, it was not overwhelming; linkLINE had contingency plans for what to do if it backed up, but the Customer Alert, combined with the Customer Q&A, apparently satisfied the vast majority of customers.

* Most of the calls and emails that DID come in were highly complimentary of linkLINE’s response. Some examples:

* “In today’s world of competition and LOVE of money very few companies are up front when they have a problem that could affect their business. YOU GUYS ARE THE EXCEPTION. Thanks for letting us all know the truth. Because of people like you I feel much safer on the NET. THANKS AGAIN.”

* “I would like to commend you on your handling of the Zilterio blackmail incident. Prompt and full disclosure through email and your website is the exact way to go. This kind of professionalism makes me happy to continue with linkLINE as my ISP. Nothing is 100% secure; what separates the pros from the rest is the response to a security breach. Your response measured up in every respect.”

* There were some people who were initially very disgruntled, but linkLINE execs did a great job of communicating in a caring and informative manner that made customers more comfortable.

* A few credit cards were voluntarily (by customers) or involuntarily (by banks, when they were also ATM cards) suspended, but even those customers were understanding. And as part of their preparation, linkLINE had made it easy to switch to another credit card (securely) or use another method of payment.

Two weeks later, linkLINE had no net loss in customers and thereafter continued to enjoy its usual level of growth.

Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), , providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

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Tags: online, cyber, terrorist, pr, public relations

Successful reputation management requires online business owners to be aware and involved in what’s being said about their business online. But are you aware of what’s being said about your online business? I would argue that most newbie’s don’t know what’s being said but you can bet the most successful internet marketers do.

To fully protect your online business reputation, it’s important to have a review procedure in place, such as performing a regular search for your online business name on various search engines, social media sites, and user review web sites. Make sure to search by business name, category, business owners and members of the company.

But is this enough?

With the increasing number of gathering sites coming into play everyday, both negative and positive comments and reviews instantly flood the web, social media sites, and mobile phone communities, and ends up in the hands of the consumer.

While this can start some excitement when finding a new online shopping site, it can also serve as a way to relese frustrations or disappointment that you’ve had with an online shopping experience gone bad and although this new level of accessibility is great for consumers, often business owners feel the at a loss when it comes to a negative review or comment, being that they have no way to defend their business reputation.

Imagine this…

Not living up to your consumers expectations; customer service, price, etc. an unhappy consumer writes a bad review of your business on your favorite online shopping review site. The unhappy consumer has just formed a connection with like-minded/prospective customers and it’s a proven fact that people are strongly influenced by business ratings, scores and consumer comments.

What we read on these sites can definitely influence our decision to do business with this online shopping site or choose another that doesn’t have any negative reviews.

But it doesn’t stop there…this consumer’s review is then picked up by the other related web sites, search engines, social media sites and web services offering aggregated consumer reviews and the information floods the internet.

Freedom of speech is one of the greatest rights we have and everyone is entitled to their own opinion but what about the voice of the online business owner? How can he or she tell the other side of the story or clarify inaccurate or unfair statements?

Better yet how can online business owners harness this to their benefit?

Here are a few suggestions.

Use the same web sites to speak out to your customers. Listen to what is being said and carefully consider whether a response is appropriate. A lot of user reviews or social media blogs have a following or are part of a community and that community can feel threatened if an outside voice appears defensive.

When trying to correct an inaccurate statement, think about responding by first thanking the reviewer for the feedback, and then make them an offer or give a response that shows you are taking action and will do what it takes to regain the consumers trust. Remember, people that take the time to post their review of a business want to be seen and heard. To build a stronger relationship with the consumer, you need to validate their voice. When you do this you build a stronger relationship and hopefully as a result, they will be try you again and write positive review the next time.

When it’s not possible to alleviate a bad review or if you’re not able to join a blog or discussion, you can still treat the situation as a free focus group with feedback. Consider the feedback and use it to help find ways to improve the business. You’ll be amazed at the insight that is out there and how you can fold that into your online business strategy and internet marketing efforts.

The biggest problem in business is an unknown one; consider feedback you receive as a way for your business to become better and to ultimately become the online business that people to talk about-in a positive way.

Do you want to make money from home? If the answer is yes, go to this site and learn how. You will also receive a free $16 gift at the site.

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Tags: reputation, online, business, marketing, public relations

If it was in the hands of your reputation management company it would take a week to get your negative online complaints and reports pushed back in search results. However, there are several other factors that come into play. The biggest being the search engines themselves.

Search Engines are smart, very smart. For instance Google will penalize you for publishing content too fast on it’s search engine and will “Sandbox” your efforts. If you create 100 new items including web pages, Blog post, articles, or links and blast them on the search engines at one time then they think you are spamming their search engine. Trying to manipulate results. Which I guess you are, told you they were smart.

So we as professional Reputation Management companies have to stay on top of this aspect and assure what we do does not have a negative impact. Another factor in the time it takes to get results is the speed in which search engines review sites for new content or changes.

Google indexes or spiders new items on the Internet every 3 or 4 days. This means if I put a new web page up today I have to submit it to Google to get indexed (listed) on their search engine, but they only look at new changes and updates every 3 or 4 days. So I have to wait for them to accept my web page then they only review every few days. Another major reason why Reputation Management takes time and patience.

The solution to both these issues is knowing how to get listed on search engines fast and feed content at a natural pace. A natural pace would be adding new content every day or two at a pace that looks normal to search engines. How you get new content listed on search engines fast is debatable. I will not give away our trade secrets but there are methods that can have content online within 24 hours. Knowing this tactic means faster results.

These are two very important items to discuss with the Reputation Management company you are interviewing. Take your time. There are many options available and selecting the right company will save you time and money. Below are some more questions we recommend asking a Reputation Management company during the selection process.

1. What exactly am I getting for the fee you have quoted me?
2. Does the content you are generating stay online forever or is it temporary?
3. Do you offer a guarantee?
4. What is your Reputation Management philosophy?
5. What are the main tools and resources you use?

Jason Taylor
Senior Case Manager
Please feel free to visit this site

Experience: 12 years in Search Engine Optimization & Reputation Management

Expertise:
- Corporate Reputation Management
- Financial Institution Reputation Management
- Personal Reputation Management
- Medical Practice Reputation Management
- RipoffReport.com Post Removal
- Remove my Name from Google Cases
- Search Engine Optimization
- Blog and Website Development & Design

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Tags: manage, reputation, online, offline, marketing

I find it extremely surprising that in this day and age such an obvious piece of advice is necessary. But it is.

You are as you are perceived, and if you don’t have a website, you either won’t be perceived at all or potential customers will contact your competitors who make it easy for the world to find them on the Internet.

Most organizations, businesses, service providers, consultants and professionals such as doctors, lawyers and accountants do realize that having a website and a place of their own on the Internet is as important as having a phone number or a mailing address. But some don’t care or realize how detrimental and diminishing it is when potential customers search for them on the Internet and come up empty.

Three recent incidents drove this point home for me.

I’d been searching for a law firm specializing in elder care law. A social agency gave me the names of three firms it had vetted to confirm that each handled this specialty. Two firms had websites and one didn’t. And of those two, only one included elder law in its specialty list appearing on the site. That’s the firm I called first.
A relative needed a surgeon skilled in performing minimally invasive kidney procedures. In addition to not wanting to endure the pain and lengthy recuperative period associated with open surgery, she wanted a doctor with expertise in the latest surgical techniques. Even though she had the names of many surgeons and urologists, she only considered those with websites where she could determine each doctor’s surgical capabilities.
After a very successful commercial insurance broker who’d been in business for more than 35 years launched a basic website, he began receiving calls from potential customers who’d found him on the Internet. By perusing the broker’s site, each learned he was expert in insuring their particular business facilities. They were largely pre-sold by the website when they first called the broker.
When a friend learned his family physician no longer accepted payment from his company’s insurance carrier, he had to select a new doctor from a list provided by that carrier. This chore would have been even more hectic and time consuming and less informative without Internet access to each physician’s very informative website.
My friend’s sudden search for a new physician due to a change in his insurance carrier’s policies underscores the point that physicians, dentists, other medical professionals and businesses of all kinds can lose huge blocs of satisfied, loyal customers through no fault of their own.

Despite their loyalty and satisfaction, your customers may move on for reasons beyond their or your control; reasons such as management changes, mergers, business restructuring, an economic downturn or other outside influences.

In such cases, one company’s loss can become another’s new business opportunity. That’s why, even when you’re enjoying a solid business base, you must have a website to inform and attract potential customers.

You must have a website to instantly provide answers for qualified prospects.

Where do you start if you don’t have a website? Just enter “website designers” onto your Internet browser and sort through the choices.

There’s a saying in television news that states, “If it didn’t happen on camera, it didn’t happen.” These days, that statement’s Internet equivalent would be, “If your company doesn’t have a website, it doesn’t exist.”

Does your company exist?

Brian R. Salisbury, a writer and a public relations and communications consultant, combines a wealth of communications know-how with an engaging writing style to help his clients shape the most effective messages and deliver them with the greatest impact where they count most. Visit Brian’s website and subscribe to his free public relations newsletter and receive his free report “Ten Key Components of a Successful Public Relations Program.”

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Tags: business, marketing, Media, online, public relations

The internet is a huge source of information. What makes you credible to search engines is the value of the information you put out.

Article PR is a tool that has become more common in just the last few years. It is a term that defines the ability to broadcast your knowledge and expertise to your p
rospective clients via the internet – namely article directories. These article directories or “banks”, as they are sometimes referred to, are depositories of online information that can then be distributed elsewhere… for free. Wouldn’t you like it if people found your articles and felt them useful enough to use them in their own newsletters, magazines, ezines, etc.? You are probably asking yourself why they would do that and what would be the value to them and then to you?

They do it because they are not experts on your subject and in the ongoing effort to provide quality content to their clients, they want experts that have already done the leg work for them. Using your content positions them as being a helpful source of information, which gives their customers more reasons to want to regularly stay in touch with them (and not just get blasted with promotions). The byproduct is that you get “unsolicited” coverage and possibly even clients.

The direct value to you is that your name, your company name and your website are all in tact in the article. Article PR works on the honor system. Anyone is allowed to use your articles as long as they keep the bio of the author and their website link intact. How cool is that?

The value of Article PR invaluable because it can create the perception that you have been around a long time, even if you have not, and that you are an expert in what you do. Article PR is basically a way to get useful content out about your topic of expertise. And as long as you write useful information that actually does help, then you are golden.

There is a right way to get your articles written, communicated and directed to the online directories that matter. What matters? The ones that will get you the best Return On Investment – higher page rankings, more unique visitors, more referring URLs and domains.

What else matters? Critical mass – you can create such an overwhelming amount of useful information on the internet from all sorts of sources, all linking back to your site organically that you become the expert in your industry. It is the foundation for other more targeted PR, like social media, print, radio and TV. Journalists will also start to be one of your fans – and that breeds reputation and credibility…which ties in perfectly with the next piece of the PR puzzle called Reputation Management.

After handling the PR for an Inc 500 company for several years Karla Jo Helms was ready to launch out on her own allowing her to bring her unique take on the world of PR to businesses both large and small. “Public Relations is a powerful tool that can garner wide acceptance and delve into arenas that marketing cannot touch,” says Karla Jo, PR Strategist and Published Author. Helms got her start creating and implementing PR Strategies for entrepreneurs, which helped her develop a keen eye for how to hone in on the best use of PR and technology to increase the Return On Investment of one’s marketing dollars. Her theory on how attaining critical mass by utilizing all areas of PR and Marketing in today’s world allows her to put together complete strategies for clients that attain measurable results. A background in sales, business management and media relations has given her the well-rounded understanding of how to harness the power of PR to communicate to diverse groups of people…the end result being a wider sphere of influence and the invaluable commodity of goodwill garnered on a broad basis for her clients.

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Tags: PR, communication, online, relation

Press releases have been in existence for over 100 years now and it’s amazing to think about the revolutionary changes in communication that have taken place over that time. In the Western economies the use of telephones is ubiquitous, while faxes and emails play a daily role in the life of the average business.

Some press releases are still printed off, placed in envelopes and then put into mail boxes to be hand delivered by the postman – but not many that’s for sure. Most are either faxed or emailed through. Increasingly, publicists are also placing news releases onto specialist websites that then distribute them via their own channels including even the microblogging platform Twitter.

There are still many full-time employed journalists writing for regional and national newspapers as well as trade and niche journals, but their numbers are dwindling year-on-year. The era of “dead trees” journalism will never end – there will always be printed publications; but at the moment it is certainly taking a battering from the new media on the World Wide Web.

Blogging, also called citizen journalism, has become a phenomenal success and is widely undertaken by thousands if not millions of writers. Clearly, it would be a huge boon for your business or website if you can effectively reach this mass of online writers as they don’t just reflect public opinion, but help shape it to.

There are a number of free press release sites in existence and to get the best out of submitting an item to these services it is best to take note of some guidelines.

The first part of any press release is, of course, the title. Here you need to make sure it is factual and to the point and preferably add your keyword(s) if you can. For those not familiar with keywords, these are what you expect people to use in search engines. For instance, if you have a shoe shop website you’ll be aware that “shoe shop uk” and “shoe shop com” are common terms used by the public to find information.

The actual style of the title must be dull and factual – “Google prefers this boring headline on Tuesday November 29, 2009″. Don’t create abstract headlines because you think it will stand out from the crowd. It won’t. People are looking for facts. Try these formats:

[Product] will be launched by [company name] on [date]

On [date] [company name] will launch the new [product] to [short description of product in a few words]

The headline is the most important part of an online press release because that is often all the reader will see as they scan down a page. If you can suck a reader into your item just through the headline alone then you have jumped the first hurdle.

The second most important part of an online press release is the summary. Usually no more than 300 characters this should repeat the information as laid out in the title but padded out with more detail.

After the title the summary is the next item that the reader will see and often as part of a long list of other press release titles and summaries all vying for attention. The main body of text itself shouldn’t be no more than three or four paragraphs simply because 79 percent of internet users scan rather than read the content on a page. So the less text the better. Keep all information to the minimum.

Finally, always add contact information which mainly means a contact name, email, website and phone number but also a postal address too. People tend to fell more comfortable with an actual postal address instead of just email details.

So hopefully this will give you a starting point to think about how to layout a press release for the free press release distribution sites on the World Wide Web.

You may not necessary write the perfect press release the first time at trying if you are new to the publicity game, but once you’ve written a few you’ll find that the correct formula is straight forward and you’ll be sending them here, there and everywhere for every event and news story.

Mark Woodham is an editor at free press release distribution site Press Release 001

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Tags: press, release, relation, online

Online Publicity – PR 2.0 is the way to go!

The internet is not going away. You’ve got to embrace. The Michigan Chronicle is even online and some of the editors blog there! So, how do you as an author or an aspiring – use the internet to the max? Here some tips:
1. Write a web site plan. Know what you want it to do before you build a site. Create a favorable buying experience for your ministry products. Make the web site easy to use. Provide good customer service by shipping products within 5 to 7 days. Use auto responders when people make purchases. Make your site “shopper-friendly.”

2. Attract people to your site by promoting it through frequent email campaigns linking back to the site. Have your site content-rich to keep visitors at your site, wanting to share it with others. This is called viral marketing.

3. Capture names of visitors by using a “squeeze page.” Offer something for free like a CD or booklet if they provide their contact information. Get their email address at the very least so you can send the booklet in a PDF file or the CD as an MP3.

4. Publish a regular online magazine called an Ezine. This is a motivational tool for people to look forward to receiving. It has the ministry updates in it.

5. Include recent news hits in your ezine. Stream TV interviews and audio clips. Use a template from an Internet database management company like Constant Contact. I’ve used them for years!

6. Join discussion groups and nings like ChocolatePagesNetwork dot com. You can learn a wealth of information this way in any particular industry. There are groups for pastors, ministry communications professionals, Christian authors, or whatever your specialty. Look up your area of interest in Yahoogroups, connectplatform.com or Google.

7. Put banner ads on other sites that your target audience may visit. If it is Gospel Today or DetroitGospel dot com, inquire about placing a banner ad on those sites. These ads are usually very inexpensive. You can promote your TV ministry schedule or other products.

8. Update your site frequently. Current information sends the message that you are current in your ministry. It keeps people coming back to your site. Try new things on your site like podcasting or webcasting. Keep it fresh.

9. Concentrate on great content so the search engine optimization will give you a high ranking when people are surfing online via search engines like Google or AOL. Adding links is another great way to increase your site rankings and get noticed among the search engines.

10. Add a “news room” to your site. The media will access your high-resolution photo (300 dpi), get a press release, ministry history and a good bio from this section. It makes their life easier and shows you’re a pro at handling media interviews. This is also a good place to list other media hits that you have received like magazine/ezine articles, radio interviews, and columns you’ve had published.

11. Create a blog. Do this only if you have time to keep it up. A good blogger posts about 2 to 3 times a week. A blog is like a personal journal online. A blog is an abbreviation of “weblog.” It is the online version of you. It’s more personal and informal than a web site and visitors can respond directly to you. Go to blogger dot com to set one up free. See the Ministry Marketing Solutions blog. It’ll give you ideas too.

12. Use a signature at the end of every email that includes your tag line, web site, blog and contact information. Please. The best form of advertising – and it’s free!

Ministry marketing pioneer and PR Coach Pam Perry helps African American Christian authors garner publicity and leverage online strategies. As a 20-year PR veteran, she is also the co-author of
“Synergy Energy: How to Use the Power of Partnerships to Market Your Book, Grow Your Business and Brand Your Ministry.”
For a free MP3 of “What Every Author Should Know,” go to this web. She’s also the creator of the ChocolatePagesNetwork, a social network for Christian authors and the Chocolate Pages Show at Blog talkradio.
She offers free help at her blogsite with her monthly Ezine and teleclasses.

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Tags: PR, web, publicity, online

An effective SEO press release can generate increased online visibility and introduce your products and services in front of a new audience, but they need to be distributed wisely. Otherwise, the news item will likely go unnoticed by important search engines and missed by potential customers. The main method of distribution is through online PR distribution sites. Not all sites have the same value, so you will need to choose wisely in order to get the best results.

Free Vs Paid Press Release Submission Sites

The benefit of free press release submission sites is that they are free! However, everything free comes with a ‘price.’ News stories published on free press release submission sites are generally supported through ads displayed along the sides of the piece. Free press releases don’t usually offer all of the aesthetic and search engine-friendly benefits of a those that have even a nominal fee. Some allow images and a limited number of anchor text or URLs. Others restrict an SEO press release to nothing more than just the basic text with no clickable items.

Paid press release distribution sites generally provide a variety of different options and perks such as pull quotes (large quotes that are pulled out of the text for added interest), images, and anchor text. They may also offer inclusion in search engine news feeds and various RSS feeds on the web. In some cases, you are required to pay a large monthly or yearly fee to join, but in many cases you can pay per press release submission.

What Features To Look For When Choosing A Press Release Submission Site

When selecting a press release submission site to enhance your internet marketing campaign, you’ll want to be on the lookout for those that offer the right combination of features:

Look for a press release distribution site that makes the title of the press release into the title tag for the item. This greatly improves its ranking in the various search engines and increases its visibility when you use your keywords in your press release titles.

While not a must, social bookmarking buttons are a definite benefit. Social media sites like Stumble Upon, Del.icio.us, Technorati, Furl, Digg, and others expose your item to millions more readers to increase the excitement around your news.

One of the most important features to look for in a press release distribution site is the availability of anchor text links. Building anchor text backlinks is an essential part of any search engine marketing campaign. Avoid sites that use text link advertising. These direct readers away from your news and generally clutter up your SEO press release.

Since press releases are ultimately written for the reader, look for sites that keep the reader in mind. The news items should be easy to read and use a standard format. This allows the reader to find the information he or she is interested in and directs their attention to the important things. Pull quotes, for example, instantly catch the reader’s eye and make the press release more visually appealing and work to pull the reader into your message.

A professional look makes it possible for you to send the link to potential customers. You can also include the link in newsletters and emails to current clients to keep them updated on the latest happenings within your company.

Christine O’Kelly is the founder of the SEO copywriting firm, SEO Content Solutions and the co-founder of Online PR News.com, a press release submission resource where businesses can submit free press releases or submit SEO press releases for just $6.

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Tags: public relation, press release, seo, online, news

Getting publicity for your business can be an elusive and intimidating prospect. Yet you can get the media to write about your product or company for free, if you make the effort to let them know about you.

1. Be Informed. Read the media in which you want to be covered. If you want a story in the local newspaper, study it and notice how it covers similar companies. Similarly, if you want to be in InStyle or Fitness, read those publications to find the sections where your product or company might be a good fit. Take notes on journalists’ names, story angles and coverage that can apply to your company. This will be the start of your publicity plan.

2. Be Topical. Notice what the media are already covering–the economy, celebrities, the housing market–and figure out what your company has to say on one of those topics. Perhaps you’re offering a new way for people to save money while grocery shopping, or your pet grooming service is offering “The Aniston” haircut for dogs. The point is to tap into what is already on the media’s radar.

*In addition, you’re an expert on topics related to your industry. Offer yourself to journalists to comment on topical news. For example, if you’re a Realtor, contact the media with suggestions about what homeowners can do to help sell their homes faster in these challenging economic times.

1. Be Shocking. The media like covering something with a bit of an edge to get people talking. The View is a great example. You could add shock value to your company by conducting a survey and releasing the results to the media. If they pick up the story, they’ll most likely say something like: “In a survey released by Acme Inc.” You can conduct a survey cost-effectively, using tools such as software that allows you to poll the audience on your website. If you have a cosmetics company, you might want to release news on who has the most kissable pout in Hollywood.

2. Be Seasonal. Throughout the year, the media are looking for stories related to various holidays. Don’t limit your ideas to Christmas. Consider Earth Day, Labor Day, Valentine’s Day, back-to-school, spring, summer, fall and more. Consider offering your services pro-bono for an upcoming holiday or event.

3. Be Initiating. Public relations is similar to sales in that, to some degree, it’s a numbers game. There are thousands of media outlets to pitch and generally more than one appropriate journalist at each outlet. Possibilities include local broadcasters, local radio stations, magazines, newspapers, daytime talk shows, evening talk shows and the internet. Someone will be interested in your company.

Once you have your first success and see your name in the news, it’s addictive. Even better, media coverage creates momentum: Once one person writes about you, more will follow. That way, if your first “hit” is on a small website or blog, you can leverage that hit to get to your local radio station. That can get you to the local paper, which can get you to a national magazine, and so forth.

Tiffany Pigee
Editor and Founder
Sugar & Spice Magazine
For more information visit her site

Bio:
Tiffany Pigeé is a rising star in the publication and media industry. She is the creator and publisher of Sugar & Spice Magazine, a dynamic publication calling women to the forefront of excellence and carrying her personal slogan for life, Celebrate everything you’re made of! Currently servicing as the CFO of Black Crest United Corporation, Tiffany is a focused entrepreneur and accomplished business woman.
Tiffany’s desire is to motivate and empower women to reach higher, dream bigger and achieve the impossible. A young and loving wife and mother of four, Tiffany has overcome statistical and stereotypical odds through her faith, perseverance and determination. She is driven every second, of every minute, of every day with a passionate calling to embolden women to the fact that they too can live a fulfilled life of purpose and destiny. Her commitment to excellence and integrity is evident in her exemplary leadership and dedication to the kingdom of God.
Through honest, quick witted and thought-provoking delivery, Tiffany Pigee has the ability to speak life into any situation. Her life experiences have provided effective examples and real life scenarios for her topic of discussion. She will leave your audience with a pro-active life perspective, profound solutions for their dilemmas and excited about their destiny.

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Tags: fee, online, pr, media, coverage

Having a difficult time getting noticed by reporters you’re targeting for your PR campaign? Here are a few proven ways to win them over. And the best part is it won’t cost you much money to do it.

Like just about everyone else, reporters get flattered when YOU notice THEM. They like it when someone reads their stories in a newspaper like The New York Times, a magazine, or even on television. After all, they got into journalism because they wanted to help make a difference by bringing news to people on a large scale. Believe it or not, few people out there actually let them know what a great job they did on a story. Plenty of people let them know when they didn’t like a story. But few people tell them when they did do a good story.

This is your chance to start perfecting a lost art of publicity – flattery.

The first thing you want to do is make a list of the reporters you want to get noticed by. This is probably not hard to do if you’ve already been trying to get some publicity for your business. But keep track of their name, their email address and phone number.

The second and probably most important part is to study what they write about, or follow their stories on television. The essence of this exercise is to comment on their stories in a positive way. But in order to be able to effectively do this, you do need to know what their stories are about. If their stories (both for print and television) can be found online, simply setup a Google alert to track their name and stories. This way, you will get email notification when one of their stories appears. This saves you lots of time because their stories are delivered to your email inbox, rather than you having to go look for their stories in the library or bookstore like Barnes & Noble.

Third, the art of follow up. When you do see a story, send them an email thanking them for sharing the story. If it’s a news story that doesn’t really move you one way or the other, you can still send them an email or give them a phone call thanking them for the story and sharing a comment. Many reporters deliver news hoping their stories start some kind of dialogue within their community. Plus, getting noticed translates to higher readership or viewership ratings – good for their business.

Fourth, if you happen to have a blog set up on your Web site, take their story and blog about it! Add in some opinions of your own. Spreading their story around even further on the Web in a positive way is extremely flattering. If you send them an email with “I blogged about your story” in the subject line, your email to them will get opened up.

In the end, by doing these steps, you are helping to establish a relationship with the reporter. Everything you do for publicity should be about finding an excuse to get noticed by a reporter you want to have write about you or talk about you. And by understanding marketing and PR techniques like this, you’ll go a long way towards attracting more publicity for your business since you’ll begin to develop relationships with reporters.

Even if you aren’t stuck in this situation, I challenge you to send a positive email to a reporter in response to a recent story he/she may have done. Don’t try to promote your company. Just say a little thank you and tell them you appreciated the story. But don’t get overzealous with the same reporter. Once or twice is all you need. Don’t start emailing them every week as the reporter will then get turned off by your aggressiveness.

John Sternal is a veteran public relations professional with more than 15 years experience serving clients in a variety of industries on both the agency and corporate sides. John has worked with members of the national media to develop stories that serve their readers/viewers in an effort to educate on topics that benefit his clients/employers.

John is the co-creator this website, an online resource for small business marketing and public relations information. Understanding Marketing allows business owners and managers to learn the basics of marketing and find “how-to” articles to do it themselves.

For more information on specific marketing or public relations techniques that will help attract customers please contact John at his website or connect on LinkedIn here.

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Tags: reporter, online, pr, write, business, story

If you’re thinking of producing a TV, radio, or newspaper series, you’ll no doubt be needing sources for your show. Here are the lessons I learned after putting out a call for sources for my TV series.

1. Have someone review your request. You know who you’re looking for, but it’s easy to not be 100% clear in your request. Have others read you request and note all ambiguities.

2. Create a special email address. Instead of using your normal email address, create a special address just for this purpose. It’ll make sorting your normal emails simpler.

3. Respond to every pitch. Having pitched my own business a number of times only to hear…nothing, I was determined that everyone that took the time to pitch me at least received a polite email response.

4. Use an autoresponder. Had I used a special email address (see above), I could have set it up so that emails to that address received an automated reply confirming their pitch. That would’ve saved me a bunch of time responding to every pitch.

5. Categorize the pitches. I used my email program to organize the pitches into five categories: Yes, Probably, Maybe, Probably Not, and Definitely Not. If you’re unsure about a pitch’s category, bump it up to the higher category. You can always downgrade the pitch, but you’ll be focusing on the pitches in top-down order.

6. Prepare an overview. Although you have an image of how you’ll use your sources, your potential sources don’t. Create a single page overview of your project with specific dates/needs. It’ll ensure that everyone is working together.

7. Pre-screen. Some people look great on paper (e-mail), and some look great in-person. Make sure that your sources match your needs. If you’re going to be doing an audio or video interview, pre-screen the potential guests (by phone). Although there are no guarantees, you will have a better idea of how they will be.

Jay Hamilton-Roth founded Many Good Ideas to help small businesses brainstorm, design, and implement effective marketing strategies. He combines creativity with common sense to demystify the process of getting great results. He has used his high-tech background from MIT to help him launch five businesses. He consults with companies in a wide range of industries and publishes a free monthly marketing newsletter (Creative Business Ideas) and a (daily blog). He is the host of the new TV series Business With Passion, and is also available for public speaking.

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Tags: pr, tips, interview, online, subject

Two years back I interviewed a self publishing millionaire who had sold 500,000 copies of his Special Effects Cookbook, and had a great way of getting free publicity.

Here is what he said ..

“As the author of a cookbook, I’ve been on full page in the food section of a Newspaper – full color. The whole first page is my face and my story and all my contact information. And if you get a big story in Boston or LA or Chicago or New York, millions of people are going to see that.What do you think happens when a full page comes out in a big city like that?”

I’ll tell you what happened to him…

When a full story breaks in a big city like that, you sell a lot of books! And he did!

As a self-published author, publicity becomes your new best friend. And in most cases, there’s no perfect time to launch a publicity campaign for your self-published book. You do it pretty much all year long.

He began sending press releases by mail during a time that email wasn’t as prominent, but even now, email and just doesn’t work as well. Neither does fax. Instead, direct mail is the way to go. There are special ways to do direct mail. You put your press release in a big red envelope and you use a magic marker for your return address and you just write in big letters all over it so that this envelope really looks special. I’m talking a big red envelope, 8 x 10, #10. You can get them at Staples.

Just be outrageous. Like the guy who wears a red suit, he walks into the room and you’ve got to see him.

So you send your press release out in a big red envelope and with a black magic marker you just write the guy’s name in big black letters. Use a couple of stamps, and hand-write the address. You only need ten a day.

He sent out hundreds a year for his book. You can do a little bit every day so that you get that constant flow of interest from TV, radio or newspapers, lastly of which can work the best because you can get a write-up; usually a full page.

He puts an 800 number in the press release, and a computerized system where it’s all automated that can handle 10,000 calls simultaneously. Calls can come directly to you from the press release.

The way a press release works and looks is that if you have to follow a format. At the very top of the press release, the upper left hand corner, you just type in for immediate release.On the other side, right across from that, you say for further information, contact… and then you’ve got to have your name and your office phone number. You can leave a number with an answering machine, but I don’t recommend that. You want to handle all the media contacts yourself.

The person who calls you is usually a journalist and they have an editor. And the whole point of writing a press release in the format that I recommend is that you’re not selling anything. You can’t sell anything with a press release. Make them look good with your story. When they go to their editor and they say “hey Mr. Editor, I found this great story”…. it makes the editor look good, so you let him write and let him sell it for you. It works like a charm. It really does.

If you want to see your sales skyrocket, put together a publicity campaign that will get you noticed. Be Unique. Let them know there’s no one like you out there. Use his advice on using this big red envelope. It works.

Michael Senoff is a sought-after Internet marketer, interviewer and business coach with more than 50,000 students on four continents. For a limited time he is giving away free over 120 hours of in-depth audio interviews with some of the richest and most successful marketers, copywriters and business experts in the world at his famous Website.

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Tags: online, pr, publicity, envelope, publish

Did you know that you can significantly improve your overall search engine rankings with the help of an online press release? For those of you without a marketing background, let me explain the nature of a press release and how you can use this little known SEO technique to improve your search engine rankings.

A press release is a written communication directed at members of the news to announce something of value. Today, most releases are distributed via the internet or emailed to reporters in a specific niche. Commercial press release services distribute thousands of news releases each and every day.

Many companies send out press releases to announce a new product, service, or event. The public relations industry has depended on press releases to both disseminate information as well as help cut through the clutter of millions of daily news stories. Reporters have come to rely on press releases as a way to sift through irrelevant stories and find actual news.

A press release is easy to create. Most include the date of the release, a headline, body copy, and a brief company description. Online releases include the same information with a link back to the company’s website or product page. The challenge is creating a release that’s newsworthy and gets attention.

Over the last decade, hundreds of online press release websites have come online, helping reporters sift through these notifications and find the information they need. What does this mean to internet marketing? It means that there are sites that publish your news and are viewed by tens of thousands of people seeking targeted information daily.

This is good news for anyone trying to promote a new product, service, website or blog. But how do you get noticed? When I started out in Internet marketing, I thought it was all about writing a fantastic release and having it distributed across the web. And even today, that still holds true. However, when using press releases for SEO value, the key is simply to write a good release that helps build back links to your website or blog.

There are a few press release services out there, much like article directories that allow you to submit your release and include a link back to your website. Unlike article directories, many of these sites are not free. However, a small handful cost nothing, dozens charge less than twenty dollars and others will charge more.

When I need to build a ton of back links to my website quickly, I always gravitate toward online press releases. You can implement this today. Do a Google search for free press releases and look at the top 10 results. You will find many that do not charge. Be mindful though that a lot of these sites do not let you include a link unless you are going to pay a fee.

I’m okay as long as the fees are less than twenty dollars. With a small budget, you can have your release, and your links, distributed across the internet. Try using press releases to build back links to your website. You will be amazed by the results.

Are you looking to improve your search engine rankings? Go now to The Marketing Tips Blog to get your FREE SEO lessons. Find more SEO tips to improve search engine rankings at The Webmasters Book of Secrets website.

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Tags: online, press release, press, news, coverage, media