Four Benefits of a Google Profile

The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #492 Feb. 16, 2010

Publisher: Joan Stewart

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“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

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In This Issue
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1. Four Benefits of a Google Profile

2. Video: Facebook Changes

3. New Media Leads Service

4. Promoting Book Videos

5. Help This Hound

6. Hound Joke of the Week

7. And at My Blogs…

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1. Four Benefits of a Google Profile
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Have you ever Googled your name, and then flinched when you saw
what showed up on the first page?

If so, you might be able to push what you didn’t like onto Page
2. That’s the first benefit of creating your Google profile at
http://tinyurl.com/createmyprofile

It’s sort of like a mini version of a Facebook profile page.
After you list your name, occupation and location, your profile
will appear in a box on the first page of Google’s search results
for your name. Next to the thumbnail information and your photo,
people can click a link to your full Google profile.

Three more benefits of creating your profile:

–It’s needed before you can start using Buzz, the hot new social
tool that Google introduced last week.

–You can link to your website, blog, Twitter and Facebook pages,
social bookmarking profiles, photo-sharing sites, and other
places where you want traffic.

–Your profile page can be your main home on the Web if you don’t
yet have a website.

After you’ve created it, here are five ways to share it:

–Add it to your IM status message.

–Link to it in your email signature.

–Note it in Google Reader.

–Post about it on Twitter.

–Share it on Facebook.

How you write your profile often determines whether someone wants
to learn more about you, or bail out. See “Can Your Social Media
Profile Pass the 10-Second Test?” at
http://tinyurl.com/socialmediaprofiles

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2. Video: Facebook Changes
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Last week, I wrote about Facebook’s redesigned home page and
heard from lots of readers who said they were still having
problems navigating it.

Thanks to Publicity Hound Christine Buffaloe, my virtual
assistant, for sharing this video tour of the redesign:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=484066065483

Do you have a VA yet? Knowing where to look and what questions to
ask these independent contractors will save you time. See “How to
Hire a Virtual Assistant to Help with Your Publicity Campaign” at
http://tinyurl.com/prassistants

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3. New Media Leads Service
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Here’s another free media leads service designed to give you
daily email updates, Monday through Friday, of queries by
journalists, broadcasters and bloggers who are looking for
specific types of sources to interview.

Reporter Connection, created by Bill and Steve Harrison, tells
you which journalists are looking for sources with your
expertise. You respond, and then you wait to see if the
journalist wants to interview you. You can sign up for the
service at http://ReporterConnection.com/JoinFree/?11577 (I’m an
affiliate).

Almost every week through March 20, they’ll choose one subscriber
and give away something cool like an Amazon Kindle, digital
camera or GPS.

Publicity Hound Steve Hines, of Marketing Resource Management,
said a query he saw in Reporter Connection resulted in almost a
dozen radio interviews about the Olympics.

“I had covered four Summer Games, one Winter Olympics and 15+
world championships in a variety of sports as a photojournalist,”
Steve said. “The stations were looking for comments on being a
part of the Games.”

You could be next.

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4. Promoting Book Videos
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This week, four Publicity Hounds have suggestions for Jenni
Bowring-McDonough of St. Paul, MN on how her husband, Tim, can
let authors and publishers know about the promotional book videos
(trailers) he creates.

From Meryl K. Evans:

“Go the extra mile and add captions or subtitles to your
trailers. You’ll make a lot of people happy, not just those who
rely on captions. So few videos are captioned so folks like me
mention those that are by word of mouth. The website
http://www.22frames.com/ lists all captioned videos or videos
without words, so submit your videos there to reach that
audience.”

From Martine Ehrenclou:

“Maybe you can connect with independent publishers through the
Independent Book Publishers Association (formerly PMA). They have
a monthly newsletter that goes out to all the publishers. You
could place an ad or write an article on the advantages of book
trailers for book promotion and list your name and website
address.”

From Alexis O’Neill:

“It seems that the real buyers of trailers today are authors,
since the houses claim they have no money. Find out from the
houses/agents what their upcoming lists will include and have
them pass your information along to their authors.”

The Publicity Hound says:

Tim should write a series of articles on how to create book
trailers, how to use the videos, and examples of success stories
from authors who have used them. See “How to Write How-to
Articles” at http://tinyurl.com/howtoarticles

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5. Help This Hound
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Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli, of Rochester, NY writes:

“I just launched the Global Network of Expressive Arts
Facilitators at http://www.expressiveartsfacilitators.com/ and
need to get the word out about it and attract new members on an
international scale.

“It’s a membership-based organization for facilitators, all non-
therapists, who use the creative process (painting, drumming,
singing, journal writing, collage-making) with their clients with
the intent of self-discovery, clarity, enjoyment and healing.

“Our mission is to build community for these heart- and soul-
centered facilitators, and also to publicize our members and what
they do by listing them on the online directory, highlighting
them in the Member of the Week, a BlogTalkRadio show and giving
them an opportunity to submit their articles on videos to the
website.

“We have Twitter and Facebook pages and a blog. I’d love to hear
other ideas of getting the word out to this global niche market.
Also, how do we go about finding speaking engagements to talk
about the network?”

The Publicity Hound says:

Gabrielle, your topic lends itself perfectly to video. Let’s see
what my Hounds suggest on ways you can use it, and any of their
other ideas. Hounds with suggestions for Gabrielle can post them
to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/artsfacilitators

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6. Hound Joke of the Week
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The front door was accidentally left open and our dog was gone.
After unsuccessfully whistling and calling, my husband got in the
car and went looking for him.

He drove around the neighborhood for some time with no luck.

Finally, he stopped beside a couple out for a walk and asked if
they had seen our dog.

“You mean the one following your car?” they asked.

Dog Jokes & Quotes Ebook: 170+ G-rated dog jokes and quotes,
perfect for a dog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few
good laughs.

BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50
best websites for dog humor.

http://publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/

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7. And at My Blogs…
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Consider retweeting these blog posts:

Don’t be anonymous at social media sites: Use a gravatar
http://ow.ly/15RAq

Let people comment at your blog without logging in first
http://tinyurl.com/commentatblogs

Action Sports Hub magazine needs articles
http://tinyurl.com/actionsportshub

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Joan Stewart
a.k.a. The Publicity Hound