The Publicity Hound’s
\nTips of the Week
\nIssue #471 Sept. 29, 2009<\/p>\n
Publisher: Joan Stewart<\/p>\n
==========================================<\/p>\n
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”<\/p>\n
===================================<\/p>\n
In This Issue
\n===================================<\/p>\n
1. The #1 Press Release Writing Mistake<\/p>\n
2. Get Retweeted These 9 Ways<\/p>\n
3. Business Week Lets You Share Content<\/p>\n
4. How to Get Pro Bono PR<\/p>\n
5. Help This Hound<\/p>\n
6. Hound Video of the Week<\/p>\n
7. And at My Blog…
\n=========================================
\n1. The #1 Press Release Writing Mistake
\n=========================================<\/p>\n
When a consulting client asks me to critique a press release, one
\nof the first questions I ask is, “What keywords are you using to
\npull traffic?”<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
It isn’t a trick question. But it stumps nine out of 10 people.<\/p>\n
Most press release writers fail to use the right keywords, or any
\nkeywords, in their online releases, which renders the releases
\nimpotent.<\/p>\n
People who know a little about keywords go overboard and stuff
\ntoo many into their releases, making it all too obvious that
\nthey’re trying to trick the search engines.<\/p>\n
Keywords are like magnets. Let’s say somebody wants to buy boots
\nonline. The buyer types “patent leather boots” into the Google
\nsearch box.<\/p>\n
Google goes looking for that phrase. It sifts through billions of
\npieces of content. Within a second or two, it delivers a long
\nlist of articles, videos, blog posts and press releases that have
\nthe same keywords. If you sell patent leather boots and have
\nwritten a press release about them, but you haven’t used the
\ncorrect keywords within your release, it won’t be on Google’s
\nlist.<\/p>\n
But if you HAVE used keywords correctly, your release could end
\nup on the first page of Google, bringing a rush of traffic to the
\nrelease, and eventually to your sales page.<\/p>\n
Too many people spend too much time sweating the right headline,
\na clever news hook, or a killer quote. But all those are useless
\nwithout keywords. What good is a press release if nobody can find
\nit?<\/p>\n
Janet Thaeler, an online press release specialist and search
\nengine optimization expert, will explain the often confusing
\ntopic of keywords during a teleseminar I’m hosting at 3 p.m.
\nEastern Time on Wednesday. Oct. 21. It will include links to two
\nvideos that you’ll get before the call so you can watch her
\nsearch for keywords. You’ll also get a template for a press
\nrelease and a handy cheat sheet that explains, step by step, how
\nto research and use keywords. You can refer to it every time you
\nwrite a release.<\/p>\n
Everyone who registers and emails me one keyword-related question
\nwill be eligible to win a free press release written by Janet and
\ndistributed through PR Web. Full details are on the sign-up page
\nat http:\/\/budurl.com\/7ttk
\n=======================================
\n2. Get Retweeted These 9 Ways
\n=======================================<\/p>\n
One of the measures of your influence on Twitter is the number of
\ntimes your followers retweet your tweets.<\/p>\n
Viral marketing scientist Dan Zarrella, an avid Twitterer and
\nauthor of The Social Media Marketing Book, spent nine months
\nanalyzing roughly 5 million tweets and 40 million retweets.
\nBased on his scientific research, he offers these nine tips for
\ngetting retweeted:<\/p>\n
–Link, but don’t use Tiny URLs.<\/p>\n
–Ask your followers to retweet your posts. “Please” and
\n“retweet” were his third and fourth “most retweetable” words.<\/p>\n
–Avoid idle chit-chat like what you’re eating for lunch.\u00a0 Do NOT
\nanswer Twitter’s question, “What are you doing?”<\/p>\n
–Don’t be stupid. Use words instead of abbreviations and
\nemoticons.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n
–Use punctuation, especially colons, periods, exclamation
\npoints, commas and hyphens. But don’t use semicolons.<\/p>\n
–Break news.<\/p>\n
–Use proper nouns correctly.<\/p>\n
–Bottle your emotions. Nobody cares about your problems at work.
\nThey don’t like swear words either.<\/p>\n
–Tweet at 4 p.m. on Friday.<\/p>\n
Give Dan your email address and get his entire report at
\nhttp:\/\/budurl.com\/cnp7<\/p>\n
Do what Dan does. Capture email addresses by giving away
\nsomething for free, and then keep in touch with people on your
\nlist regularly, just like I do when I send you this newsletter
\nweekly. See “Special Report #51: 55 Free Things You Can Offer to
\nGenerate Publicity or Capture People’s Email Addresses.” Only
\n$10. Read more at http:\/\/budurl.com\/qnu4<\/p>\n
========================================
\n3. Business Week Lets You Share Content
\n========================================<\/p>\n
During my teleseminar yesterday for members of The Publicity Susan, a job search expert, shares information at her website at The site allows users to create business topics, collect content On Business Exchange you can:<\/p>\n –Search for information on any topic. Users can find a –After you register, collaborate with other users.<\/p>\n –Be the first one to share your expertise and perspective on –Create your own network by adding users.<\/p>\n I’m betting Business Week editors periodically review this site Find out if you’re a good candidate for my mentor program at This week, seven Publicity Hounds have tips for Vicki Young of “Contact or visit area senior centers and service clubs for “Dallas, like many states, most likely has foundations or even “Contact local PR firms and ask them if they can provide some <\/p>\n Read all the responses to this week’s “Help This Hound” question Send your own “Help this Hound” question to: Joel Kweskin of Charlotte, NC, asks this week?s “Help This Hound” ?What should I do when I send out press releases to, among ?Do you just keep throwing the proverbial stuff against the wall This is a great question, and one that?s perplexed many Hounds. Let?s see what other ideas my Hounds have for writing better ================================== Thanks to Publicity Hound Meryl K. Evans for this wonderful video http:\/\/stevebass.posterous.com\/home-alone-in-the-pool<\/a><\/p>\n DOG JOKES & QUOTES EBOOK: 170+ G-rated dog jokes and quotes, BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50 Did this PR pro err by chastising a reporter publicly? ================================================<\/p>\n Joan Stewart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week Issue #471 Sept. 29, 2009 Publisher: Joan Stewart ========================================== “Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity” =================================== In This Issue =================================== 1. The #1 Press Release Writing Mistake 2. Get Retweeted These 9 Ways 3. Business Week Lets You Share Content 4. How to Get Pro Bono PR\u2026 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":4,"wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[55,56,57,13,9,5,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tips-of-the-week","7":"tag-free-publicity","8":"tag-how-to-get-free-publicity","9":"tag-press-release-writing","10":"tag-press-releases","11":"tag-publicity-for-niche-markets","12":"tag-publicity-tips","13":"tag-social-networking","14":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHound Mentor Program, Susan Joyce, one of my proteges, mentioned
\nthe benefit of sharing articles on Business Exchange, Business
\nWeek’s content-sharing site at http:\/\/bx.businessweek.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/<\/a> and says she started seeing significant
\ntraffic when she also started sharing a few of her own articles
\nat Business Exchange.<\/p>\n
\nfrom the Web, and connect with other business focused users
\naround these topics. This is a great way to find business people
\nin your target audience.<\/p>\n
\ncollection of organized information on thousands of diverse
\ntopics.<\/p>\n
\ntopics that aren’t yet on the site.<\/p>\n
\nand pluck out story ideas for the magazine. Read the Frequently
\nAsked Questions Page at http:\/\/bx.businessweek.com\/about\/faqs\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/publicityhound.com\/mentorprogram\/intro.html<\/a>
\n==================================
\n4. How to Get Pro Bono PR
\n==================================<\/p>\n
\nDallas, Texas, on how to get free PR help for Captain Hope’s
\nKids, a nonprofit dedicated to helping homeless children in North
\nTexas.
\nFrom Ted Fuller:<\/p>\n
\nretired PR types. Also, drop in on Toastmaster clubs with a two-
\nminute pitch.”
\nFrom Terri Benincasa:<\/p>\n
\ntax-funded boards (ours in Tampa is called The Children’s Board),
\nthat provide ROI grants designed to provide non-profits with
\ntechnical assistance seed money for activities known to bring a
\nreturn on investment. This includes funding for marketing\/PR
\ncampaigns, grant-writing\/grant-writers, etc.”
\nFrom Janine Libbey:<\/p>\n
\nservices at no charge. Most professional service companies do pro
\nbono work but you need to make them aware of your needs!”<\/p>\n
\nat http:\/\/budurl.com\/vfe6<\/p>\n
\nmailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound<\/a>
\nand include your city, state or province. I need questions!
\n===================================
\n5. Help This Hound
\n===================================<\/p>\n
\nquestion:<\/p>\n
\nothers, the local newspaper and they simply don?t publish them?
\nI?m talking legitimate and even entertaining news items.<\/p>\n
\nuntil something sticks?\u00a0 Or, is there a tactic for following up
\nto better give the release a better chance to be picked up??
\nThe Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n
\nIf journalists are consistently ignoring your releases, you need
\nto solicit feedback from other trusted sources who can tell you
\nwhether THEY think the releases are newsy?or interesting.\u00a0 Do you
\nknow somebody who used to work in the media? Or somebody who does
\nmarketing or PR?\u00a0 Have you tried coming up with an angle or news
\nhook and pitching it, along with contact information for other
\nsources, to the media?<\/p>\n
\nreleases, and following up once you send them. Post your comments
\nto my blog at http:\/\/budurl.com\/85lh<\/p>\n
\n6. Hound Video of the Week
\n==================================<\/p>\n
\nthat solves the mystery of why the dog owners frequently returned
\nhome to find a wet patio:<\/p>\n
\nperfect for a dog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few
\ngood laughs.<\/p>\n
\nbest websites for dog humor.
\nhttp:\/\/publicityhound.com\/dogjokebook\/<\/a>
\n===============================
\n7. And at My Blog…
\n===============================<\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/budurl.com\/3665<\/p>\n