Issue #791 Feb. 8, 2014
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- Reviews Sell Products
- Drive More Traffic to Your Blog
- New Posts at My Blog
- Hound Video of the Week
This Weekend in the Hound House:
I’m laying low this weekend, following through on many of the tips you suggested for this persistent asthmatic cough. My Hounds recommended everything from sipping ginger tea to praying to Nambu Nayakiyai, the Goddess of Healing. My sister in Ohio shipped a package of essential oils that should arrive today. I’m not optimistic I’ll shake this thing by the time I have my physical next week, but I’m grateful for your many tips and kind words.
1. Reviews Sell Products
Six out of 10 consumers refer to online reviews before they decide what to buy.
They trust those reviews almost 12 times more than product descriptions written by manufacturers.
But not all reviews have to be positive. Marketing studies show that when consumers find negative reviews sprinkled among the reviews that are gushing about a product, they’re more confident that the good reviews are trustworthy.
If you’re launching a product or publishing a book, ask for reviews from these three groups:
–Consumers. One of the best ways to do this is by creating an autoresponder message in your shopping cart that goes out, say, about a week after someone buys. The message asks them for feedback and provides a link where they can write a short review.
–Bloggers. Many bloggers–even those in narrow niches–have raving, loyal fans. An enthusiastic recommendation from the blogger to “buy this book” can be far more powerful than the slickest sales page.
–Journalists. Capturing a product review from a columnist for Forbes, Fortune or Real simple magazine can send your sales through the roof.
Within the last few weeks, I’ve gotten a slew of questions on how to get product reviews. The simple answer: You ask.
But don’t ask until you’ve researched potential reviewers and you know exactly what they want.
I’ll show you how to do that, and how to keep your request very short, when I host the webinar “How to Ask for Book and Product Reviews from Bloggers, Journalists and Consumers” from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Feb. 13. Everyone who registers will receive five short fill-in-the-blank templates that you can use. You’ll get these after the presentation.
2. Drive More Traffic to Your Blog
Here’s a powerful tip from Internet marketer Paul Colligan on how to use the “YouTube Roundtrip Tick” to drive more traffic to your blog.
Choose a question people ask you a lot–a question they type into the Google search box. Answer the question in the video.
But here’s the kicker. In the video description, and in one of the annotation that pops up while people are watching the video, Paul has inserted a little note that tells viewers they can find their answers to 20 more questions on the same topic at his blog, and he gives the URL.
Watch his very short video that demonstrates the YouTube Roundtrip Trick.
YouTube is you very own TV channel and it can drive far more viewers than you could ever get by appearing on a regular TV show because the video lasts–and drives traffic–forever!
Jeff Johnson’s YouTube course, which I took a year ago, unraveled all the mysteries of YouTube and showed me how to use my channel as a traffic generator that sells products. Jeff recently updated the course and he’s offering it again. I’m promoting it as an affiliate because it’s the very step-by-step guide, from start to finish, on how to use YouTube as a lead generator. It even includes a bonus that shows you how to make screen capture videos.
You can see how it works, and look at the cute monkey too.
3. New Posts at My Blog
When to use a press release and when to deliver a pitch
The pros and cons of press releases vs. pitches
9 ways to use these 9 PR posters
4. Hound Video of the Week
Hanky Alert! The last thing soldiers want to worry about before deployment is if their dogs will be cared for, so a couple created the website Dogs On Deployment. Watch as, Queen Latifah reunites this pooch with her “mom” after 12 months on deployment.
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