PR

Demand Studios and the Impact from Google’s Algorithm Change

April 30, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

There seems to be some serious back-and-forth about the state of Demand Studios since the Google algorithm alteration. Initial impact indicated that they may have lost ground on the search driven traffic of some of their sites. Citing eHow.com as one of the locations where the change may have triggered a down-turn, Demand Studios initial statement indeed, indicated that even they knew that the new algorithm may have relatively lasting impact on their page views.

Demand Relies on SEO

Demand Media does rely heavily on search engine optimization to boost traffic to their content which is created by over 13,000 freelancers worldwide. So Google’s announcement that its change would impact almost 12 percent of search engine queries, was definitely destined to negatively affect Demands current page views by sheer numbers alone.

With sites like eHow being a large part of their company’s content, often ranking high on search engine queries before the change, and afterwards, there can be little doubt that the effect was in fact, a minor one for them. However, falling stock values are also a cause for concern for Demand. Some searches even provide Demand Studios content ranking higher than before the change.

Google Panda

Continued updates, codenamed Panda, have provided a different viewpoint altogether. Just over a week ago Google enacted the Pandora update worldwide. This time stating that two percent of Google queries in the U.S. would be affected.

Sistrix, a site that had previously released the results of impact on content farms after the first update, also released new information on the Panda change and how it has definitely affected the page views of eHow content. Although in general, the second update was not as search engine query altering as the second, or Panda update, it did land on eHow this time, even though it is rumored that it was actually one of the targets of the first update in February 2011.

Demand Demands Acknowledgement

While admitting a slight decline in search engine traffic on eHow sites due to the recent changed, Demand still insists that the Sistrix numbers are way off. Citing a predicted 2/3rds decline in eHow traffic, Demand reps responded that the numbers were greatly so grossly overstated that they must comment.

Demand CEO Richard Rosenblatt shared with MediaMemo that the relationship it shared with Google was a highly valued and mutually generous one.

They stated their relationship with Google made much sense for many reasons.

That they help to fill gaps in Google’s content when other high quality content is not available.
That they are the largest suppliers of YouTube videos.
That they are a huge Google Adsense partner.

Stating that the current losses are projected to cause them to suffer around 10 million dollars in lost revenue, they are assured that with projected sales this year reaching around $311 million, they do not consider it a substantial, nor a 2/3rds percent loss.

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Writing a Great Press Release

April 18, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Press Releases are a crucial part of marketing, in fact they are one of the few traditional marketing tools that have flourished in the new media or Digital Brand Age. There are six major types of press releases.

General News
Event
Launch
Staff or Executive Announcement
Expert Positioning
Product

Each of these press releases may have differentiating information, but should take one single overall format. And while it is important to be certain that your press release will help to boost your company’s search engine rankings, it is also critical to consider what will happen once people do find and read your press or news releases.

Creating Your Press Release

Many elements in the creation of the press release are very important.

Title Creation

Above all, you need to make sure the title is compelling. This is what draws the reader in and drives them to continue to read past the first sentence. It is good practice to be sure your title supplies a question that would appeal to those whom your marketing efforts target.

Subheadings

Subheadings or bullet points provides visual breaks in the content. Although some readers may not be bothered by massive chunks of text that contain many sentences, most readers can quickly become overwhelmed by the ‘job’ that reading five hundred words in a few paragraphs may be.

Body Content

Create the strongest lead paragraph you can formulate. Try to remember the five important W’s that should be incorporated into the first two paragraphs.

Who
What
When
Why
Where

Try to make these two paragraphs read to a viewer so that even if they do not continue to read beyond this point, they understand the general idea of the press release.

Supply quotes and statistics. Depending on the direction your press release is taking, gather related quotes from company engineers, experts in the industry or even customers who have tried, and enjoyed your products or services. Select the most shining example that you have.

Boilerplate

The last part, or the last few sentences of your press release can sometimes be referred to as the boilerplate. The text used here should be very standard and for this reason could be used on any other press releases regardless of their nature. This information always immediately precedes the use of # # # which signals the end of a press release.

This informative selection of text should include the contact information or instructions on how or where you can get more information on the news, product or service behind the press release itself. Phone contacts, physical location and website information are all common elements of the boilerplate.

Before setting your press release in stone by submitting it online or even to a physical news source, be sure you have reviewed it and while doing so keep an eye out for common mistakes in press releases.

It should never exceed one page and a half. Even if you have much more to say, this size of press release is fairly large. The ideal press release will fit on one digital document or one sheet of paper.
Avoid writing in singular or plural. Stick to a third party, neutral source point-of-view.
Use reader-friendly English, not tech jargon understood by only a few.
Do not use overly hyped language in your press release. Phrases such as breaking news, most unique, the best are all considerably generic terms that may turn your viewers off instead of compel them to read on.
Most important aspects of the press release are in the first two or three paragraphs.
Always include a means to reach a live contact.
Proofread and edit for typos or other grammatical issues.

All of these elements are important in creating a press release that can provide coverage for your news and information on your company’s products or services in one tight article.

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Press Release: Submission Software & Easy Self Serve Sites

March 23, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

One aspect of online business marketing may require the distribution of press releases for special events, products or even discounts or other coupon or seasonal promotions. And although drawing up a press release may not be that difficult or time consuming, submitting it to the many directories available can be a definite time-killer.

Many have heard of article submitters or even article directory software, however, this is not the same as press release submission. While article or content farms are a dime a dozen, legitimate press release sites are not as abundant. This is a good thing as with less available sites to choose from, comes more coverage and hopefully views, for the content submitted to the quality press release websites available.

What Tools Are Available?

Although there are tons of article submission tools, there are only a couple of press release targeted submitters.

Traffic Mania Pressbot

Traffic Mania Pressbot is also known as Press Release Submitter. Released by Incansoft, this press release submission tool is available under a couple of different titles. The most valuable package it is bundled in includes many different tools available by this developer. Though it is also listed sold individually, with a different cover, but at the same price.

It is hard to find a bad review on this product. Most who use it seem incredibly satisfied with its capabilities and ease of use. The fact that this tool comes with a one-time cost and offering solid technical support and lifelong free updates may make it well worth it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mn6dGCuHq8]

Submit Like Magic

This is a heavy duty marketing tool. It allows users to create and submit articles and press releases, upload videos and even one-click social media bookmark to hundreds of sites. Although this tool is a literal powerhouse, some user reviews suggest that it hasn’t quite worked out all of its initial kinks. Overall, the kinks that Submit Like Magic does have are seriously overshadowed by its capabilities.

This tool will also come with a hefty price at $67 USD per month. They do allow a quick trial period of thirty days for a small fee of $4.95 to test out the software as well. Although this may not be the right tool for those who dabble in marketing, this is definitely the perfect tool for powerhouse marketers. There is little that you cannot do as far as social bookmarking, article directory submission, video uploading, RSS feed submissions and captcha support is concerned.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNih3yAboQ]

Easy Self Submit Sites:

If your looking to just do a little self promotion and want to create a nice simple Press Release then PRLog and FreePressReleases are great sites that will allow you to create a single press release that will be added to the digital world with all the formatting done for you. This is great for small businesses that want to just create or pitch a story from time to time to their local media. Both Sites have the ability to email or send once the Press Release is live.

What Can Press Release Submission Software Do for Small Business?

It can absolutely save a small business owner loads of time and money. By utilizing PR submission software, users are able to eliminate the hours of manual submission and complete their PR submissions to many sites with a few entries and the click of a submit button.

For the minor marketer, Traffic Mania Pressbot is plenty of software, but for the power marketer, Submit Like Magic may be a multimedia marketers dream.

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Facebook Success Stories

February 16, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

We have heard and read a lot about Facebook, about its 500 million users, about it overtaking Google as the most visited site per day. But what does it have to do with your small business? Those businesses who don’t have a department for social media? Can Facebook help small businesses expend above and beyond what they could have done with traditional advertisement?

Facebook enables business owners reach their targeted audience. With users profile information posted and open for all to see, with details about their hometown, relationship and employment status, interests, religious affiliation, education and favorite books , TV shows and movies – small businesses can target their potential customers.

Here are some success stories from different walks of life:

Sprinkles Cupcakes – Los Angeles. A small cupcake store opened in Los Angeles. To get the word around, the owners, both former investment bankers, turned to Facebook. Every day they post a ‘code word’ on their page and give a free cupcake to the first 50 customers who whisper that word. Their fan base grew and they now have 254,785 followers and branches in other cities across the US. “Be patient with it.” Mr. Nelson, one of the owners, advises. ”People are not going to flock to your social media site overnight. Technology is about the network effect. It takes time for those connections to build.”

Wedding Photography – Mr. Meyer is a wedding photographer from Woodbury, Minnesota. He had very little luck with traditional advertising. A full page ad in a bridal magazine didn’t bring any new clients, and a trade show yielded only 4 bookings, not even covering the cost of the booth. So he turned to Facebook. Aiming at women ages 22-28 who listed their status as “engaged” in the Minneapolis – St Paul area, he connected with them and offered to join his page. Mr. Meyer estimates he spent about $300 on Facebook ads in the past 2 years and has generated about $60,000 in business. The majority of his clients now come from Facebook, either from ads or from recommendations.

Equine Dentist – Mr. Geoff Tucker from Palm City, Florida, has a very specific business. He’s a dentist for horses. His business is driven by word of mouth and personal recommendations. People like to do business in his profession with people they know and Facebook allowed him to express himself and let people know him. That led to appearances in a magazine, radio and TV. Over the past year, he estimates, Facebook has generated about 100 leads and 10-15 new customers he would not have had without a page on Facebook.

SteelMaster – of Norfolk Va. deals with steel structures. About a year and half ago they decided to go on Facebook. What does a steel company do on a social media? They found that posting pictures of their constructions is very helpful. Not only do the pictures engage existing customers, they demonstrate to potential customers what the company can do in other areas. In this case, chicken farmers and woodworkers that usually don’t think about using steel structures, suddenly showed interest. It opened a new market for SteelMaster which they didn’t have before.

Neenah Paper – the manufacturer of high quality paper products found it extremely hard to reach new customers. Their traditional ways of making business, phone conversations and personal meetings, were not working very well. Since most of their customers; designers, graphic artists and printers spend a lot of time on their computers, they thought that social media can provide a better way to engage them. Today they have 10 sales representatives across the country and their business is on the upswing. “Social media is an invitation to have a conversation. You’re getting permission to have a conversation – a conversation that used to happen in person.” says Jamie Saunders, Neenah’s marketing manager.

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Twitter: A five year review

February 14, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Here is what everybody is talking about: Twitter. Twitter is a free social network, which enables its users to write what’s on their mind, at any given moment, at any given place, and share it with a group of their friends.

It is called micro-blogging because the “tweets”, as the messages are called, have a limit of 140 characters. People send and receive tweets through the Twitter website, or, with the help of external applications, through cell phones (SMS), smartphones, iPad etc. Users may subscribe to other user tweets and become their “followers”. An e-mail or other kind of alert is sent every time that member posted a new tweet. You can reply to someone and engage in conversation back and forth in real time (Just like SMS).

Users can post links as well. It may be a link to an interesting article or a link to their personal, more elaborate, blog. Posting a link is a little bit tricky since some of the URLs are longer than 140 characters. To make it easy, the Twitter button on many sites shorten the URL for users, or they can do it through an external website (Tinyurl.com) if they so choose.

There are many reasons why people use Twitter.com; some sign in to get updates from their friends, young adults sign in to get updates from their favorite star (Justin Beiber is the # 1 subject tweeted about). Newspapers use Twitter.com to spread the news fast, businesses use Twitter to keep in touch with their clients and let them know about promotions and discounts. Tweets about news may include a link to the whole article and blog owners tweet to let their followers know that a new post has been uploaded.

The idea for Twitter was conceived by Jack Dorsey when he was part of the board of directors of a podcasting company called Odeo. The first prototype was used at Odeo as an internal service. A few months after Twitter.com went public, some members of Odeo board formed a new company and bought Odeo and Twitter from the investors and shareholders. Twitter became its own company in April 2007.

It has been 4 ½ years since its launch, in July 2006. Today, Twitter.com is processing 65 million tweets a day – about 2 billion tweets per month.

Activity on the site spikes during International events like the 2010 FIFA World Cup, or the Lakers win in NBA 2010 finals. When Michael Jackson died, the servers crashed when users used the words ‘Michael Jackson’ at a rate of 100,000 tweets per hour.

Twitter is sometimes called SMS of the internet age or Facebook for the ADD age. It’s short, quick and simple. Users can also retweet –tweeting what someone else has said. It’s a way others give credit to the person who produced the original tweet.

Privacy – why would you like to be private? The whole purpose of tweets is to let people know what’s on your mind. Well, you might not want all your tweets to be seen by all your contacts on your ‘following list’. Once you choose the option ‘private’, you’ll have to approve all those that the tweet is meant to reach.

Since micro blogging became very popular the last few years, people started to think how to make money using Twitter. Today there are several companies with which users can sign up and sell advertising space on their Twitter profile or tweet stream. Advertisers will pay the owners of a Twitter page to let them promote their business on their page, but the users allow them access to their accounts. In one model, the company places an advertisement on the profile page, and on others it will insert advertising directly into the stream of conversation. Many people however find this to be offensive.

Smart use of Twitter.com

Newark Mayor Corey Booker, got $100 million for Newark schools through keeping himself visible and in the conversation. In the recent snow storms he turned himself into a one man snow patrol by asking people who are stuck in the snow to tweet him. That is how he keeps in touch with the residents of his city.

For businesses, there are a few ways to utilize Twitter:

Creating a buzz: Tweet about events you are going to participate in. Talking about a new product, a launch, etc. The simple fact that activity is news in real time means that there is value in knowing where you are, what you’re doing, or even who else you see doing it.
Develop On Demand Promotions: One company that is very successful on Twitter is the San Francisco based ModCloth.com, seller of vintage clothing. They are in constant contact with their followers, even asking them what they would like to see on sale. Businesses can tweet about sales, specials etc.
Tweeting Teams or Teaming up with another account holder: If you see an event coming or an important launch or promotion, you can help them by tweeting about it, and they agree to do the same for you. The best could be by leveraging employees as people and their own social networks, after all everyone always promotes themselves first and always to the people they know best, get your employees or clients to promote themselves and you for a big win!
Public Relations: Imagine the ability to counter public opinion by creating the next trend! A new company or new product is out, it may be the next success, but others are waiting trying to get a feel for the product or company. Using twitter to show the overwhelming trend of others that are buying, talking or investing into that product or company might seem mediocre on a local level at 2 to 3 sales a week, but if you can combine the reach of hundred or so local markets into one location the twitter feed would run at 5 – 10 sales an hour during a business day, how’s that for creating the next hot trend!

Info: Twitter.com ranks # 10 in the world in traffic, and # 8 in the USA, according to Alexa.com. The users tend to be childless, disproportionately highly educated. High income women ages 25 and 45 who browse from work are the majority of the users, but only by a little (48% men to 52% women). About 29% of users come from the United States.

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Blog 2.0 – Puglisi’s Blog 2011

December 28, 2010 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Puglisi’s blog has seen a slow and steady increase in its visitors, so much so, that it will undergo a few upgrades and looks for 2011. The blog founded by Brand Marketing Educator, Basil C. Puglisi will move from text based blog articles to media…. after all if it’s a blog about digital media it should include some of the web 2.0 feel.

The blogs original intention was to be a personal space for Puglisi to store research thoughts, track stages of development in digital trends and develop a base of knowledge to act as a resource to reinforce his seminars and events.

In Jun 2010 – 32 visitors that where tuning in to read about Digital Media and Visibility Marketing. As of Dec 28, 2010 the blog had 208 visitors a month and continues to grow despite little if any advertising.

In 2011, we be stepping up the professional brand of the blog, you can expect to see everything that Basil C. Puglisi has learned over the last decade with a healthy mix of digital and academic expectations being executed.

Changes coming in 2011:

1) Citations: It’s just good practice to make sure that you share sources when writing. This reinforces that your work has research value and is developed from more than one point of view.

2) Charts, Pictures and other visuals: If we are talking about growth, locations or people, we should show you what we have seen or found.

3) Video: This is the fastest growing trend in the world, be it for learning, marketing or documentary videos is no surprise that YouTube is the second largest search engine.

The road map to developing a successful blog is a process, one that must develop a good foundation and then add the bells and whistle, or in this case the sources, and media. While some have criticized the lack of advanced features on the blog, it turns out that the development of a good content foundation still supersedes any social media or technology driven media. In this case, now that the foundation has been laid, we move into the more advanced features in 2011.

Happy Holidays!!! Social Media Do and Don’t

December 24, 2010 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

So as we hit Christmas Eve, I like to take a minute and share a few Social Media etiquettes for the general year, but ring even more true for the Holidays.

1) Don’t sell anything!

At this point if you haven’t capitalized on your call to action you lost that chance by now. After all social media is about trust, consistency and professionalism, not selling.

2) Engage in genuine content.

Find ways to thank people, share info for free that has value to it, even if you hold back a little at least your getting in the spirit of giving and those on the other side might do them in return come the new year…hint, hint…

3) Be at peace with the (social) world.

This is a time for peace and relaxation, there is enough stress without you adding to it, expect the site visit to be short. Put away the sword, find things positive about what you agree with, reinforce similarities even with competitors… being the fair and honest (you) will mean everything to people when it comes time to spend money.

4) Stay engaged.

While now is not the time for long drawn out affairs, stay true to what others expect, if you check in everyday, hour, whatever, stick to this, consistency is almost as important as content.

5) Have fun.

This is what makes you different, just like someone smiling over the phone, you can tell when the person engaging you in social media is doing it because they are having fun, or because they are forcing it.

Happy Holidays!!!

Please be safe & responsible!

Can You Get Free PR?

November 12, 2010 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

How to make the most of your internet presence and increase your visibility is a subject many small business owners are grappling with. With the enormous speed in which social media is evolving, you probably have this question reverberate in your brain: am I doing all that I can do to advertise my business?

Even if you don’t have a big advertising budget, there are some things you can do to get free – or almost free – PR. But you have to know how to do it.

– Do your homework – know what is happening in your niche, what makes you different and better. Identify local publications and trade magazines. See which writer writes about your area of business and what is he writing about (personal story, facts, sales?)

– Build your story. It has to be compelling, short and to the point. It has to entice the writer to look into your new venture.

– Choose the date carefully. Does your business have something to do with dates? Holidays? Writers are looking for things to write about which are relevant to the date of publication. They are more likely to look into your business if it has something to do with the date of the next issue.

– There are few site you can go to which will cost relatively very little but will start you up on the road to a PR campaign:

PRWeb is one of them. Their site helps you create a press release and they will send to search engines, news sites, geographic location sites and 5 industry sites. Press releases start at $80 and go up to $360 if you want your release to appear in big newspapers like New York Times or USA today.

1888 Press Release – a similar service to PRWeb but more variety in pricing and more control over the message. They also have editors going over your press release to check for grammar mistakes and appropriate content.

MediaSync. A site that aggregates material according to subject or market and allows you to see who writes about your kind of business. It also lets you contact the writers or bloggers to offer them new information to write about. Their service is free. In the future they will introduce a paid subscription for going deeper in measuring the influence the writer has had.

Handle Your Own PR. A service designed for medium and small businesses, it offers PR tips, media lists and press release writing assistance.

These are but a few initial steps to increase the visibility of your small business, but these steps cost you – in time, not money. It has been said that the most expensive element a small business owner has is his time. If time is an issue, contracting a consulting firm that knows all the ins and outs of online advertising world and social media websites. There is much more that can be done to increase your business visibility.