Categories
PR for small business

The Press Kit Principle: Why Your Web Site is Holding You Back

Things are going well in your business, but something seems to be missing. Something, but you aren’t sure what, is holding you back from the next big thing. A new partnership, client or direction.

Let’s say you are a life or health coach. It’s no big secret that the coaching market is pretty competitive.  You are feeling like the best kept secret in your industry as you’ve got happy clients and major experience. But there’s another coach

The Press Kit Principle

or someone you look up to that seems to get all the attention. Let’s call this person your business nemesis. (And don’t pretend you don’t have one, we all do and it’s totally normal.)

Ever wondered why your nemesis gets guest posts, podcasts appearances, telesummits, and more? First because they ask, they are open and then extend themselves. You simply cannot wait for people to come to you.

But reason number two, especially if you are starting to put yourself out there…is your web site. It may be hard to hear, but your web site may be majorly dropping the ball.

Your Web Site Isn’t Just for Your Clients

While your web site is there to serve your customers, it needs to serve a critical secondary audience that most coaches overlook – media and industry influencers.

Yes, you need to woo your clients when they visit your web site but you also need to be wooing media, influencers, show organizers and everyone else who can help you reach your goals.

Tweet This: Why your web site is holding you back. And it’s not what you think. http://bit.ly/1e2Nbve via @magspatterson

Enter the Press Kit Principle

Quick history lesson. Back in the day before the interwebs were the way to do business, companies used to put together press kits as a way to sell their client. As a junior PR person doing primarily media relations back before email was all the rage, let me tell you, I sent a lot of press kits, created a lot of press guides and faxed a lot of press backgrounders.

Press Kits were the way we’d sell stories and our clients to the media. It was a single place for them to get the info they needed.

Fast forward to 2013. Press Kits have largely been replaced by web sites as information can be accessed in a few clicks. All that stuff that we used to but in the press kit needs to be on your site.

Your web site is your press kit.

Every single time you connect with people online or in person, they are going to check you out.

BAM! 10 seconds to make an impression.

If you are out there pitching yourself, media are going to look specifically for a few things and decide in a split second if you are worth talking to or not. If you are credible or not. In that second, your fate relies on your web site.

The Press Kit Principle: Straight Up Human Psychology at Work 

We are trained from the time we are born to make snap judgments. We make them all day long without even realizing it. Some experts estimate that the average person makes 612 decisions every single day. (Thank you Ask.com)

There’s a lot of things that go into each decision from experience to intuition. The reality is that while you may truly be the expert on an issue, your web site visitor is going to make a decision based on their own biases and assessing limited information.

If you don’t cover all your bases, you aren’t going to make the cut, regardless of how good you may be. Your business nemesis who gets all the attention is beating you by providing better information.

Aside from your actual design, you are going to get judged on a number of things which make up the Press Kit Principle:

  • Your Home Page – Do I know what they do? Are they credible?
  • Your About Page – Who do you work with? Are they experienced?
  • Your Media/Speaker Page – Where have the been featured? What areas can they address?

If you nail these you’ll be ready for primetime. By applying the Press Kit Principle, you greatly improve your chances of making the cut and securing the opportunities you need to build your business.

When a blogger, influencer, journalist, producer or show organizer arrives, they can decide in seconds flat that you are an expert. You tick off the boxes which say you are a good person to work with.

Right or wrong. It’s true. Pay attention to how fast you make judgements next time you land on a web site. See? You don’t even realize it. It’s primal. That’s what people are doing to you and you can’t afford to make a bad first impression when you are out there hustling.

Ready to learn more? You can get the Press Kit Principle Guide for free below or you can book a consult your strategy call to talk about how we can work together to apply the the principle to your website.

Tweet This: Ever wonder why your business nemesis gets more time and attention than you do? @magspatterson has a theory http://bit.ly/1e2Nbve

Tweet This: Big web mistakes that are holding you back – The Press Kit Principle  – via @magspatterson http://bit.ly/1e2Nbve

presskitbuttong

Categories
content marketing strategy

Bust Out. What’s your Blue Ocean Strategy?

blue ocean strategy The more time I spend in entrepreneurial circles, I’ve noticed a big mistake that many of us are making. When it comes to networking and hanging out online, we tend to flock to our own kind.

For  support and the occasional referral, I’m a huge advocate of the value this offers, but for building your business, we usually aren’t doing ourselves any favours.

Hello, comfort zone. The more time you spend there…the less action you are going to see in your business.  Stating the obvious, I know. But stick with me for a minute.

Wondering why you aren’t bringing in new business? Could it be that you are a writer hanging in groups full of writers and you are only guest posting on blogs that writers read?

Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.

I’m looking at you coaches, marketers and designers too. Guilty as charged. (Myself included.)

Ever had that moment in a group where you are excited that someone mentions your name…but then you read the thread and 10 other people in a similar line of work have been recommended? No matter how awesome you are it’s pretty anti-climatic. 

So, what’s a smart and savvy entrepreneur to do? Get out of dodge and find places where you can truly be the expert.  Wouldn’t you rather be the go-to web designer for wineries and breweries instead of grinding out any job you can get by swimming in the sea of many?

What’s Your Blue Ocean?

If you took Marie Forleo’s B-School, you are totally nodding along as the Blue Ocean Strategy is something that she covers in the first week. If you aren’t familiar with this concept, the idea is that for you to truly stand out you need to create your own blue ocean, otherwise you’ll be grinding it out swimming in a bloody ocean along with your competitors. (And definitely pick up the book, worth a quick read to get your head around this concept.)

When it comes to products or offerings, you’ve likely nailed your Blue Ocean. But what about when it comes to your target audience?  Out of fear we tend to go too broad and say our audience is “creatives” or “entrepreneurs”.  It’s safe. It’s easy. And when you are starting out, you sure as sh*t don’t want to turn away a possible client.

And yes, yet again, I’m guilty as charged. I’m writing this post as I’ve been digging deep on this one over the past two weeks.

Be the Best Damn {Fill in the Blank}

Brace yourself for my harsh reality check. You’re welcome.

Staying in the echo chamber is going to stunt your long-term growth potential. Do you want to grind it out to fight for clients or have a line up of clients dying to work with you?

Wouldn’t you rather work in a niche where you are the best damn {fill in the blank} in the history of the industry?

Raises hand. Me, pick me! I’m in!

For me, this means it’s time to sit down and define those niches where I have expertise and can show up and rock their work with sweet content and communications. Less competition, more market opportunity and guess what, even more media and speaking opportunities. Win-win-win.  I’m willing to bet, the Association of Legal Administrators isn’t getting a lot of proposals on building your personal brand or Social Media 101 for legal administrators for their annual conference.

If you want to see this strategy in action, check out Sophie Bujold (travel industry) and Carrie Smith (financial services). Thanks to both of them for inspiring me and helping me realize what I already knew – stop trying to be everything to everyone already.  File under rookie mistake.

Who’s with me?

Are you ready to dig deeper and do better for your biz?  Hit me up in the comments below.

Categories
PR for small business

Seriously Spooky PR Mistakes You May Be Making

spooky PR mistakesWorking with the media, you become hyper aware of the seasons and holidays. Always thinking of a tie in or a way to package your story so that it is timely. So when I started off writing this post on PR mistakes you may be making, I couldn’t resist tying it into Halloween.

Let’s face it, PR can be a bit of a mystery, so it become easy to make best guesses and figure it out as you go. While I love hands-on learning, there’s some things you simply cannot afford to mess up, especially as you are first out there trying to build your reputation.

With that in mind, I present, seriously spooky PR mistakes you may be making (with some practical tips, because that’s how we roll):

You’re a PR Ghost Outside of Launch
You are gearing up for the launch of your next e-course or info-product and you decide to throw some PR in the mix to round out your marketing. It’s the natural course of things to want more PR around the time of certain events in your business, but you need to avoid being a PR ghost when it isn’t launch time.

PR is about relationships and building credibility, so if you only “do it” when there’s something in it for you, that’s going to make people less receptive to your pitches in the long-run. PR isn’t seasonal, it should be something you focus on all year long.

Your Pitching is Right Out of a Horror Movie
You are in get it done mode, so you just want that speaking proposal submitted and that guest post pitch sent. So you slash through it to get it off the list.

Pitching is an art, one that requires preparation, starting with doing your research. Know who exactly you are pitching and what they are looking for. Understand the kind of content they publish or that speakers present at events.

Without your research, you know the stereotypical horror movie scene where the girl is running away from the killer? That’s the media or show organizers getting as far away from you as possible. You’ll be Freddy Krueger, Jason and Michael Myers all rolled into one.

You want to be the lovable heroine, think Sandra Bullock or even Katniss Everdeen if that’s more your style, but avoid pulling a Carrie and scaring off influencers for good.

Your Bio Makes You Sound Like a Zombie
As an entrepreneur, you probably have a bio that’s hanging out on your sales and about pages and selling you as an awesome expert of some sort. Often, the bio is an afterthought that gets done after these pages are written, which is wrong in so many ways.

That bio paragraph is probably more critical than you realize. It’s a first point of reference for customers and media, so it needs to sell you in 10 seconds or less. Go look at your bio. Does it sell you or do you sound like a zombie?

No matter what industry you work in, your bio should have some color. You are very much alive so you need you bio to show it. Sure, you need to be audience appropriate, but it should not read like it could be anyone in your industry’s bio.

{Need help with your bio? Check out the new Media Moxie offering – now in beta for only $99. Click here for the details.}

Tweet This

Click to Tweet: Does your bio sell you or do you sound like a zombie? Spooky PR mistakes you ma be making via @magspatterson http://bit.ly/H7ni1N

Click to Tweet: Is your media pitching out of a horror movie? @magspatterson shares spooky PR mistakes you may be making. http://bit.ly/H7ni1N

Categories
business storytelling

Three Unexpected Lessons from My Online Business

unexpected lessons about  online business Since I started this blog three months ago, every single post has literally flown out of my fingers. Not a moment of hesitation as I shared my ideas, tips and PR secrets. Until now. Complete idea paralysis.

I was supposed to write about bios today, but I wasn’t feeling it. Then I decided I’d write about media pages and then Google Authorship. And finally, I decided to do about a million other things instead of writing this post. Folding the laundry was starting to look good. Not a good sign.

Like many of you I’m a master procrastinator when I feel resistance. And for some reason, I realized I was not going to write about bios this week, or anything specifically about PR.

After a day of decisions and planning, I decided I’d rather write this post about my business.

I’m eight years into my journey as an entrepreneur as a PR strategist and freelance writer. But when it comes to the online world, I’m a fresh new baby still figuring this thing out, so I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned so far. Consider it my 90-day recap.

1. Transparency is Where it is At
Up until now, transparency has meant being straightforward with my clients and that’s about it. Because, let’s face it, PR is about telling a story and more often than not you are going to stretch that story to the most believable claim. That’s PR speak for finding a story and being creative, but staying within the lines of what’s true.

Online entrepreneurship is like the wild west in so many ways. So many claims and sales pitches, it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s spin. It’s noisy and it’s tiring at times.

That’s where transparency comes in. I find that I personally respect those entrepreneurs with authentic transparency. That is, they are honest and share, but not to the point of ridiculousness or so much so that it just doesn’t feel real. Sharing insights and inspiration (and not the humble brag about the time you made 7-figures) is what resonates with me.

Click to Tweet – Why I don’t want to hear your humble brag and other lessons about online business from @magspatterson http://bit.ly/1amik8v

So, in the true spirit of business transparency, yesterday I decided to kill my Claim Your Fame workshop. It wasn’t the right time and I’m more than okay with that. Sometimes you need to cut your losses and I’m surprisingly good with it. (Insert cartwheel here if I could actually still do one.)

My mission is to focus on my one on one offerings and writing services through 2014 and see where this adventure takes me. And so far, so good. I love being able to get down and dirty in someone’s business, digging out their stories, nailing their PR strategy writing their about page or ghost writing their killer content. The point is to do more of what you love, right?

2. I’m Beyond Grateful for My Clients, Corporate and Otherwise
Shifting from corporate, service-based consulting services to a fully online business is going to take a long time. Hello, elephant in the room.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ve realized that I’m deliriously happy that I can take my time and figure this out as I go, and not be worried about my bottom line.

For someone who’s a full speed ahead, let’s make this shit happen kind of girl, that’s a biggie. Major. Possibly earth shattering.

Doing things slowly isn’t really how I roll. Eight years ago I quit my job, without a client in sight, so I sort of had it in my head that I could pull that off again.

Three months in I realize that idea is going to be a recipe for disaster. Could I do it? Totally.

I know that I don’t really want to. Maybe my hustle is approaching middle age and I’m willing to try a different way. I want to have the cash to bootstrap this baby so I can grow it the way it was meant to be. I truly enjoy the work I do every day for my corporate clients and there’s no reason I can’t do that and work with entrepreneurs too.  I know, totally obvious, but I was in all or nothing mode.  Bad business decision adverted.

Good news for my corporate clients, you are safe for a good long time, I’m not going anywhere. Your guest posting programs, blog posts and whitepapers are still going to get all the TLC in the world from yours truly.

3. Crazy Good Relationships
As an adult, especially when you work from home, your opportunities to meet people, especially ones you have things in common with are limited. I have no coworkers to bond with and leaving my house requires putting on real pants. (Only partially joking.)

It’s not like I’m hurting for friends. I’ve got a circle of friends that truly get me like no other. They’ve seen the good, bad and seriously ugly cry. If I was going to give them a them a hashtag it would be #knowswherethebodiesareburied or #friendswhoholdbackyourhair.

To have the opportunity to meet even more smart, strong women that share my passion for the Internet, books and so many other things has been incredible. This has been probably the biggest surprise of all about doing business online, the crazy good relationships I’m forming with women that are beyond awesome. (I know that’s a lot of effusive language, but I promise you, it’s all true.)

Words truly escape me trying to sum this up. And that’s saying something. Because, I’ve got words, words and more words at all times.

There’s always someone willing to help, to answer a question or to pick you up. Amazing. And something I now realize that I’ve been sorely lacking in my business. I may be in business for myself, but I am definitely not alone. I’d list you all, but it’s a long list , so I’m sending a special shout out to the Fresh Crew, and Thrive Hive.

Tweet This – 3 Unexpected Lessons @magspatterson has learned from her online biz. http://bit.ly/1amik8v

Got a lesson learned from your online business? Comment below.

Categories
how to guest post PR for small business

Your Guest Post is Published. Now What?

  • You’ve waited weeks or even months for your guest post to be published. The post goes live, you tweet it out once and wait. And wait some more.Taps foot. Twiddles thumbs. Still nothing. Disappointment creeps in.

    I’m active in a lot of Facebook business groups, and often hear grumbling about guest posting opportunities that didn’t quite go as expected. Sure, maybe you didn’t get 100 new subscribers or an immediate booking, but this is a marathon not a sprint.

    Each guest post, on its own, isn’t going to amount to a lot. The real power comes in the momentum of guest posting and the body of work you’ll build over time.

    But enough with managing expectations. Your sweet words are out in the universe, so now what?

    Remember all that hard work and hustle it took to get the opportunity in the first place? Time to summon it up and get ready to promote the ever lovin’ out of that guest post.

    This is all on you. You can’t wait for people to find it. And definitely do not wait for the blog it’s running on to promote it. It’s your content, so own it and create a plan for promoting it.

    Let’s break out the “how” promoting your awesomesauce content on publishing day and for months after that!

    Your Guest Post is LIVE – Sharing is the Name of the Game 
    Today’s the day and your little slice of genius has been shared with the world. Don’t drop the ball now and let your guest post go unnoticed. It’s time to share, loud and proud what you’ve been up to:

    • Share Guest Posts with Your List. In your next regular communication with your list share your latest guest posts. This builds you up as an expert with a little bit of old fashioned third party credibility. If appropriate, you could also ask them to share the content to their networks.
    • Share on Your Social Networks. Share it widely – vary your intro to it, pull out different things as most appropriate for the platform. Be sure to cover off all of the ones you are active on.
    • Share an Excerpt on your Blog. Just an excerpt with a link back to the original content. Do not post the entire article, because Google has a hate on for duplicate content.
    • Ask Friends and Supporters to Share the Content. Ask for people to share it when appropriate. It’s amazing what can happen when you simply ask. Write the tweet or post for them to make it dead easy for them to share it.
    • Post in Groups. If you are active in Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn groups, you can share the content there as a resource for the other members. If you are going to go this route, make sure you don’t only show up to shamelessly plug yourself.

    A few other things you want to make sure you have on the radar for when the post goes live:

    • Monitor and Respond to Comments. Responding to comments and being active with those engaging with your post is one of the key areas that many guest bloggers miss. This is just good follow-through and helps add to your credibility. Plus, the blog owner will notice if you do or don’t do this.
    • Track Results. In the days following the post, you want to track sign ups to your list, referral traffic and other key metrics. Don’t get too stuck on the numbers, this is more to give you a snapshot, numbers don’t always tell the whole story.

    Ongoing Promotion – Recycling Guest Post Content for Months to Come 
    The true value of any guest post (or media coverage) is what you do with it in the long-term. The majority of the content shared in guest posts is evergreen meaning it has a long shelf-life.

    Here’s some ways to keep your guest post content front and centre for months to come:

    • Use it to Answer Questions. Seek out opportunities to answer questions on your areas of expertise in Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn Groups. Find industry forums or communities to participate in. Your guest post becomes a quick way to answer questions as they arise.
    • Keep on Sharing. As you plan your social media content, add tweets and posts about older guest posts. Think “from the archives” or “you may have missed”. Add something new when you share it to dress it up, or highlight something you think is timely.

    Are you ready to get out there and promote your guest posts? If you have one coming up, create a checklist so you can make the most of it.

Categories
how to guest post PR for small business

Guest Posting: Writing and Editing Tips for Your Post

tips for writing a guest blog postLove it. Hate it. Writing is an all too necessary reality when it comes to guest posting. No matter how your feel you’ll need to embrace it wholeheartedly.

That said, it doesn’t have to be a chore. There are some specific things you can do to make your writing comfortable and fun. I know for me, much of the stress around writing comes from being strapped for time and then “having” to write something.

Inspiration doesn’t always strike on a schedule…

Batch it, Baby

By doing solid research and writing pitches, you’ve got a lot of the hard stuff out of the way. So, it’s just a matter of making time to write the post.

Writing is one of those things where you need to get in the groove. So if you can, but aside time every week for writing your guest posts. If you are pitching on an ongoing basis you’ll quickly have a couple to write each week.  By batching them this way you can save time and energy.

Set up shop somewhere that inspires you or at a time of day that you find super productive.  If you get distracted turn off the Internet to help you stay on task.  Just do what you need to do to get the post written and ready to share with the world.

Creating Compelling and Complete Content 

Sure you’ve got your pitch as a starting point, but when you sit down to write, there’s a few things you do not want to miss as part of the writing process.

First stop, SEOville.  That’s right, time to talk keywords:

  • Title: If possible include them in your title for the piece, as close to the beginning of the title as possible.  If you want to learn more about great titles, check out Using Titles Effectively on ProBlogger.

  • Body Copy: Use your keywords throughout your copy but avoid using too many links, particularly back to your web site. This is a complicated issue and really needs its own post, but the bottom line is to not add a whole pile of links back to your web site in the post. If you are interested, you can check out this article from PC World on all the Google ins and outs on backlinks.

Now that we’ve got that pesky SEO stuff out of the way, here are some additional things you need to check as you write your post:

  • Tone: Avoid sounding like a professor. Yes, you want to write with authority, but you want to approach it from the place of “hey, I’ve totally been there” instead of “yo, I’m all-knowing”.

  • Research: Ensure you back up what you are writing as much as possible. It’s not about your opinion but an industry best practice or proven tactic. That’s where statistics, quotes and other things come in handy.

  • Be Specific: Deliver content that readers can take action from instead of talking in generalities. What do you want them to walk away and be able to do?

  • Create Original Content: Whatever you do, do not simply take another blog post you’ve written and slap a new title on it. Google wants original content and you want to serve your desination blog well with quality content not something you grabbed out of the recycle bin.

Edit Like a Pro or At Least Like You Mean It 

Once you have a finished piece, get ready for editing. This is where you should spend the bulk of your time.  The goal is to cut, tighten and improve your copy time and time again. So, last minute Lucy, this is why you do not want to write your guest post the night before the deadline, okay?

For your editing, if you can, trade off with friend or someone with a keen set of eyes. Recruit your VA or business BFF to get them to review and make changes.  A second set of eyes is always a good idea as sloppy mistakes can quickly kill your post if you submit it that way.

Self-editing is always a challenge, so try one of these tried and true editing tricks:

  • Read your text backwards. It’s a great way to find spelling or grammar mistakes.

  • Print it up and read it in hardcopy. It’s easier to see mistakes offline.

  • Read out loud. Does it sound like something you’d actually say? Does it make sense?

Finally, once you’ve written and edited, if you can give the post a day or two to mellow so you can come back to it with a new perspective. This is the perfect way to ensure you can chop sections that aren’t relevant and spiffy things up as you aren’t as attached the product. It’s no longer the masterpiece you just wrote but that post you are working on so you can definitely polish it up.  Good luck!

 

Categories
how to guest post PR for small business

Guest Posting: Avoiding Looking Like the Freakin’ Amateur Hour

If you’ve done your research and taken the time to write a pitch that is targeted to the audience, you should be confident about sending your pitch.  I get all the mental stuff that goes with pitching, because after 15 years of pitching the media, I still get a feeling in my gut.   It’s a cocktail of excitement with a sprinkling of the “what ifs”.

The good news for you is that we are doing this pitch on email, so really you only have a few possible outcomes:

1. They like the pitch and say yes.

2. They like your pitch and forget to respond to you.

3. They don’t think it’s a fit and delete it.

Not so scary now is it? You can totally deal with being deleted.  No pain in that one.  You won’t even know about it.

Notice I didn’t say anything about being yelled at or publicly called out? If you’ve followed along with the past few posts, you are going to be pitching the right way. I’ve got you covered. So no fear of ending up on the Bad Pitch Blog or being the subject of Ash Ambridge’s ire.

Before You Hit Send on the Pitch – The Top Five Check List

So, you’ve got your pitch, you are nearly ready to hit send, so here’s your last minute checklist to ensure you don’t come off looking like the freakin’ amateur hour. Hard to look like an expert when you make rookie mistakes, right?

1. No Dear Editor. Make sure you are pitching the right person and using their name.  Do everything you can to find the name instead of just sending them to “hi editor”.  Double check spelling and names.

2. Review Guidelines. Do a quick review on any guidelines they may have to ensure your pitch complies.

3. Have a Clear Subject Line.  This is not the time to get all cute and clever. Be clear with your subject line using something like Idea for Guest Post or Proposed Guest Post for X Site.

4. Proof It.  Double, triple, and quadruple check that your pitch is correct and complete.  Typos are a deal breaker.

5. Send More than the Pitch. Remember you want to send an intro, your pitch, your two line bio and a couple writing samples. Make it simple for them to say yes to your guest post.

Are you ready to hit send? Do it, you’ve got nothing to lose and expert status to gain. Deep breath and go!

If they don’t get right back to you, do not despair. How many unread emails do you have in your inbox. Exactly! Your pitch probably hasn’t been read or was missed. After a week or two, go back and follow-up to see if they are interested. The key is to be gentle.  Usually then they will get back to you with a yay or nay.

If they don’t get back to you, feel free to recycle the pitch for another target. Whatever you do just don’t threaten to do this in your follow-up pitch, because that’s like stomping your feet because you are pissy. Not cool.

The key to great guest post pitching is to be professional and patient. And just know that not every single pitch will be a success. It’s all part of the game.

 

Categories
how to guest post PR for small business

Writing Your Guest Post Pitches: Why Pitching is Like Dating

Once you’ve done your homework and figured out where to guest post, now you’ll need to start working on your pitches.

Before you start sending pitches, you may want to spend sometime connecting with the people you are going to pitch.  Start by following them on Twitter, engaging on their blog by commenting and getting on their email list.

The goal, if possible, is to make yourself a “known” entity before you land in their inbox.

 In doing this, be genuine, because fakery and B.S. can be smelled a mile away. And then your guest post efforts are going nowhere fast.

Think of dating – people know when people are desperate, right. Total turnoff! If you were meeting Ryan Gosling, would you go all fan girl, or would you play it cool?  Experts add value, but they don’t go all fan girl.

Remember, good relationships are built over time and are based on trust.  Being helpful, knowledgable and of service can go a long way to helping your business in the long-term.

Be Unique – Create Stories that Sell 

As part of your preparation you should have developed specific stories for you guest posting. So before you  start writing your pitch,  do a full search on the blog/site you are targeting and make sure they have not had this story appear on their site before.   If they have, find an approach that will make it fresh and new.  Create a story you can sell.

If the blog has already done this topic to death, they are going to delete your pitch as you aren’t saying anything new.  True experts have something new and interesting to say, so take your expert status seriously.

Elements of Your Successful Pitch

For each of your desired targets, you will want to prepare:

  • Title of your post

  • Summary paragraph outlining the key points for your story

  • Short two line bio that jives with their site

  • Links to your best writing samples

The bulk of your time should be spent on creating a short and impactful summary paragraph that sells your story.  Remember, you want to establish the issue and outline what you are going to talk about in your story. Keep pitches short, short, short. (Seriously, I mean short!)

People skim over emails, so you are going to lose the blogger/editor if you send an epic pitch.  If they want more detail, they will ask for it.

Your bio should be short and to the point as well. Give them enough to know that you are qualified to write on the topic you are pitching and have experience in your field. Two lines maximum.

More than anything, pitching is about providing everything they need so they know they can trust you to execute and you are legit. Before you send that pitch, consider things from the decision maker’s point of view – is your pitch correct and complete, are you credible, are you professional? If you can cross those things off the list, you’ll greatly increase your chances of success.

Categories
how to guest post PR for small business

Preparing For Your Guest Posts: Sydney Bristow Spy Style

find places to guest postAre you ready to start guest posting?

Before you can really get going, you’ll need to channel your inner super spy so you can sleuth out some seriously sassy guest posting targets.

This is probably going to be one of the most time consuming phases of the guest posting process, but it will be well worth it.

Are you ready to get all bad ass like Sydney Bristow? (Yep, I was just waiting to drop in an Alias reference.)

Where Should I Guest Post?

A lot of marketing experts and blogging gurus will tell you to only go after “authority” sites with lots of traffic.  Solid advice because you totally want the maximum number of eyeballs on that post and driving traffic back to your site.

But it is also misleading, as you are often going to need to a certain level of credibility in your niche to be accepted to post on these sites. Not to mention, a smaller, highly focused site can go a long way to helping you reach customers in your sweet spot.

If you are just starting out and have never had a guest post published, focusing only on higher authority sites is likely going to be a recipe for frustration. Insert banging head against desk here.

Smart entrepreneurs like you don’t have time for that. You need to be making progress and building up a body of work for your “as seen on” page.

Start with some smaller, more targeted sites ones and then work on pitching the big kahunas.   This gives you time to learn the guest posting process and avoid rookie mistakes. I’m all for the stretch goal, but you don’t want to choke on your first big mission, right?

Already been guest posting for a while? This means you have published posts you can share when you are pitching, so look for targets where you can play a little bigger. Maybe a more general site in your area of expertise or even a higher tier business site.

Keeping Track of Opportunities

Before you jump in, you want to create a place to keep track of any and all opportunities you find. Create a spreadsheet and include details such as site address, contact, link, guidelines, page rank, Alexa rank, any story ideas you have and notes.

How Do I Find Guest Posting Opportunities?

There’s many ways to go about researching opportunities, but my favorite way to find guest post opportunities is to reverse engineer the process. Find top bloggers in your target market and go to their media pages and see where they have guest posted.   Check out where your competitors have been guest posting. By using this approach you’ll save yourself a lot of research as you’ll know most of those sites are open to guest posting.

Another sure-fire way to find them is Google. Use the main search and the blog search function and then topics you want to write about as your keywords.  Simple.

Try using a few different tactics to seek out your information such as:

        • Questions – how to, why, what

        • Tips – tips for, five easy steps for, three tips for, top 10

        • Common Search Terms – use variations on common search terms people would use searching for information on this topic. For example, for guest blog posting, I may search for blogs focusing on PR, marketing, online marketing, blogging, search. Think of all the adjacent areas.

Also, you want to go back to your story ideas from the storytelling worksheet. Do you have an idea outside of your niche that you feel passionate about and want to pitch? Look for specific targets using your story ideas. Perhaps you want to write about tips for working moms, as most of your clients are busy moms.  So you’ll use search terms related to working moms like work/life balance, mom blogs, and more.

Next Steps: Determining Your Top Five

You’ve done all the hard work, so now you want to pick five of your targets that you’ll work on preparing pitches for.  The rest of the targets you can file and save for later as you don’t want to create a situation where you pitch 10 at once and spend two straight weeks writing guest posts. (Unless you have time for that, but I’m guessing you likely don’t as you have a business to run.)

Great research will help you feel much more confidence about the pitching process, so time spent before your start pitching is time well-spent.

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how to guest post

Get Ready to Fuel Your Fame with Guest Posting

guestblogposting

September is here, which means it is the perfect time to create a game plan and get moving so you meet your 2013 goals!  Before you call me on on a total and complete cliche, hear me out.

It’s a cliche, because it is TRUE. For reals. 100% correct. Something magical happens with back to school. Think back to when you were a kid.  The anticipation and excitement of a new year…oh the possibilities!

As an “adult” – we feel it too. We’ve all been conditioned, so why fight it?

So, let’s capitalize on that excitement and do something good for your biz.

All month long I’m offering a free course all about guest posting that you won’t want to miss. I’m going to walk you through the process of researching, pitching and writing your guest posts.  I’m not making this stuff up either.  I didn’t just wake up one day and think…hey, I’m going to teach fellow entrepreneurs how to guest post.

What I’m sharing is based on years of actual work I’ve done as a PR pro in the trenches. Stuff my corporate clients pay the big bucks for.  All in a bite sized, entrepreneur-friendly package.

Guest posting like most parts of PR is totally something you can do yourself. However, you need to do it RIGHT.  Some discipline will help keep you out of the pitching black hole, or even worse being slaughtered publicly as having a “bad pitch”.  That’s not to scare you, but rather to reinforce that there’s some steps you want to follow as part of your outreach to bloggers. And not to worry, we’ll make this fun!

You may be thinking, hey lady, I know what I’m doing already.  Great, then play along and pick up a couple tips and tricks. Or you haven’t even started and you want to throw up when you think about guest blog posts.  Awesome. Let’s get you going!

I want to address a few quick things before we dive in. First, when I say fame, I don’t mean the paparazzi following you kind. I mean the kind where you are known and respected as an expert. (Can I just say, I don’t even like the words fame or the word expert, but they are the most apt terms, so I need to use them.)  In short, fame = where you are credible and people trust you to deliver your product or service to them. No glitz, no glamour, just business success on your terms.

What you can expect is four weeks of cheat sheets and content to help you make this a priority and make it happen for your business. Content for you to action now and get results.

I am going to be straight up so there’s no confusion, because there’s nothing I hate more than free content with a hard, cheesy sales pitch at the end. It’s not how I roll, or how I want to do business with any of you. I respect you too much for that garbage.

Fuel Your Fame is the “light” version of the Guest Posting Workshop I’ll be leading in October. And by light, I do not mean fluffy. I mean it is a taste of just some of the awesomeness that will be the Guest Posting Workshop.  It is your way to get started, figure out if I’m a “fit” for you or if you need the workshop at all.  No BS. No obligation either.

Are you ready to rock your world with guest posting?  Get yourself signed up below and watch your inbox on Thursday for all the details!