Issue #799 March 11, 2014
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- 35 Million Free Getty Images
- Less is More When Pitching
- 3 Crowdfunding Musts
- Hound Video of the Week
This Week in the Hound House:
I’m so grateful that I downloaded the “Find My iPhone App” onto my iPad a few weeks ago–and just in time! I had to use it Saturday night when I went out to eat and realized after I returned home that I had lost my phone. The app showed me a map and pinpointed where the phone was–at the French bistro where we had eaten. I sent an audio signal that made the phone beep loudly, and a restaurant employee found it on the floor and called me. Here’s the rub. The phone has to be turned on and the battery charged. Miraculously, it was.
1. 35 Million Free Getty Images
You now have 35 million free Getty Images at your fingertips.
Getty has acknowledged that many people pirate its images anyway and concluded that allowing free access to about one-fourth of its photos means they can at least dish up an ad or two next to your free image.
Its free embedding tool is for non-commercial use only.
Bloggers and others can embed images that show up within a Getty player, with the photographer identified and a link back to the site. Ads will most likely start appearing next to the images. If you’re willing to deal with that, you’ll have a lot from which to choose.
You’ll find far more feature photos than news and celebrity photos. And you’ll have to be careful that you don’t use the photos to promote yourself, your business or anything you’re selling, or you could find yourself in legal trouble.
My blog post explains more about the embed tool and how to view the free Getty Images.
Now that you know how to access free photos for your blog quickly, it’s time to learn how to write blog posts lightning fast. I show you how and give you 10 templates with the video “21 Ideas for Quick & Dirty Blog Posts When You Don’t Have Time to Write.”
The video replay comes with the checklist “101 Ways to Find Content for Your Blog and Ezine,” my list of “103 Calls to Action” to include in your posts so your readers do EXACTLY what you want them to do, and the cheat sheet “17 Super-fast Ways to Promote Your Fast Blog Posts.” Grab ’em all and use coupon code 21IDEAS for a 50 percent discount, good only until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, March 12.
2. Less is More When Pitching
Stop sending the same pitch to 100 people on a media list.
Media audiences are more fragmented than ever, and there’s no way one pitch can appeal to 100 bloggers and journalists whose audiences are different. Instead, I’d rather see you pitch only five, or even three.
That will give you time to research each of them and then write a pitch that lets them know immediately that you’ve done your homework.
Mention my dog’s name in the subject line of an email, and there’s no way I’m hitting the Delete key. Those people you’re pitching are no different.
Want to find the name of a journalist’s or blogger’s dog, cat or kid in less than 60 seconds? Read my step-by-step instructions, and then see if there’s a way to weave the name into your pitch without making it look gratuitious.
In an article I wrote for the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association, I explained why When It Comes to Pitching the Media, Less is More.
I’ll be doing two presentations for BAIPA on Saturday, April 12. During the morning, I’ll talk about “Free (or Almost Free) Tools for Authors and Publishers for Getting Publicity.” The afternoon workshop is devoted to book publicity.
If you live near the Bay Area, c’mon by. You could be the lucky winner of a Green Bay Packers Cheesehead hat. Register here.
3. 3 Crowdfunding Musts
If you’ve been fascinated by what you’ve heard about crowdfunding, and you want to use it to raise money for a publicity campaign, or to write a book, or launch a product, don’t dive in until you know what you’re doing.
With more than 1,000 crowdfunding platforms, you want to make sure you’re using the right one, or you’ll waste your time.
Here are three important things you need to know when choosing a site:
–Some crowdfunding sites won’t let you create a campaign for personal use, like if you’re trying to raise money to pay doctor bills.
–Always ask for about 15 percent more than what you think you’ll need. That’s because some crowdfunding sites have a fee of 15 percent.
–What happens if you don’t meet your goal? Can you keep all the money you’ve raised? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
My crowdfunding webinar with Judith Briles last week went almost two hours, and included a list of about two dozen very important things must do if you ask for crowdfunding. The video replay is ready, and it comes with a list of 10 crowdfunding sites and how they differ and Judith’s special report on crowdfunding for authors. Grab the replay and the bonus package.
4. Hound Video of the Week
If you can stand two and a half minutes of cuteness, watch this mama Husky love her baby, and watch the pup tell its mom in puppy-speak, “I love you more.”
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