The Publicity Hound’s
\nTips of the Week
\nIssue #722 June 4, 2013
\nPublisher: Joan Stewart<\/p>\n
==========================================<\/p>\n
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”<\/p>\n
===================================
\nIn This Issue
\n===================================<\/p>\n
1. When It’s OK to Quit<\/p>\n
2. Why Alt Text Is Important<\/p>\n
3. Guest Bloggers, Finish the Job<\/p>\n
4. Hound Video of the Week<\/p>\n
—————————————–<\/p>\n
First, This Week in the Hound House:<\/p>\n
Eleven bucks. Eleven measly bucks! That’s all I made on
\nSaturday’s rummage sale. Lots of “drive-bys” but few people
\nbothered to even get out of their cars. I spent part of that
\nmoney on gas, driving to St. Vincent de Paul to donate the entire
\npathetic load. Live and learn.<\/p>\n
======================================
\n1. When It’s OK to Quit
\n======================================<\/p>\n
When you find yourself struggling to write a blog post, and the
\nwords just won’t come, it’s OK to quit. Really.<\/p>\n
Here are three instances when I bail out:<\/p>\n
–When the problem isn’t writing. It’s that I haven’t done enough
\nresearch on the topic to present it well, and I have no time to
\nresearch.<\/p>\n
–When I feel as though I “ought to” write on a certain topic
\nsimply because you expect me to, but I lack the enthusiasm
\nnecessary to do it well. I start writing. But I’m bored to death
\nby what I see on the screen.<\/p>\n
–When the post screams for a photo or illustration but I don’t
\nhave one. I usually save it as a draft and come back to it later,
\nwhen I have time to search the stock photo sites. Why bother with
\nthis? Because I can use the photo on sites like Google+ and
\nFacebook to catch people’s attention and promote the post.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, I can still get the job done, but I rely on other
\npeople’s writing instead of my own. This happens when I research
\na topic and it’s clear that several other experts have already
\ncovered it in far greater detail than I could.<\/p>\n
The solution: Write a short introduction, and give readers a list That solution is one of 21 I presented Thursday on how to write If you registered but couldn’t attend live, and you missed the If you missed registering and you want all the materials, you can ==================================== Here’s something that will help you pull more people–including Alt text is an attribute you add to an HTML image element to I sometimes give alt text short shrift, especially when I’m in a Blogging expert Marie Mosley explains it very well in her post ==================================== When someone invites you to write a guest blog post, that’s But your job isn’t done when the post has been published. Pay My post “Do You Know These 9 Huge Opportunities Even Smart<\/a> Several of those people also emailed me to comment.<\/p>\n By the way, if you don’t reply to comments at your blog, you’re If you’re blogging, but you aren’t making money from your blog, ==================================== Who says dogs can’t fly? Check out the DockDogs<\/a> that fly through The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week Issue #722 June 4, 2013 Publisher: Joan Stewart ========================================== “Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity” =================================== In This Issue =================================== 1. When It’s OK to Quit 2. Why Alt Text Is Important 3. Guest Bloggers, Finish the Job 4. Hound Video of the Week —————————————– First, This\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":0,"wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2,209,13],"class_list":{"0":"post-3310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tips-of-the-week","7":"tag-blogging","8":"tag-photos-and-graphics","9":"tag-press-releases","10":"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\/3310","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=3310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nof the terrific posts I’ve found elsewhere, with links. You can
\nsee how I did this in the post I wrote last week on “7 best<\/a>
\n articles on how to use ‘new’ press releases.” <\/a><\/p>\n
\nsuper-fast blog posts. I threw in two more ideas I came up with
\nat the last minute. And instead of offering a bonus package of 10
\ncut-and-paste templates, I offered 11 because there was one more
\nI didn’t want you to miss.<\/p>\n
\nemail I sent Sunday with all the download links, contact my
\nassistant, Christine Buffaloe<\/a>, and she’ll send it.<\/p>\n
\norder the webinar replay and the bonus package for “21 Ideas for<\/a>
\n Quick & Dirty Blog Posts When You Don’t Have Time to Write.”<\/a><\/p>\n
\n2. Why Alt Text Is Important
\n====================================<\/p>\n
\njournalists, meeting planners and potential customers–to your
\nwebsite or blog.<\/p>\n
\ndescribe the image. If you write it well, the search engines will
\nbetter understand the content of the photo.<\/p>\n
\nhurry. But no more!<\/p>\n
\n“All About Alt Text.”<\/a><\/p>\n
\n3. Guest Bloggers: Finish the Job
\n====================================<\/p>\n
\nvaluable free publicity.<\/p>\n
\nattention to the comments so you can reply and cement the
\nrelationship with people who took time to react.<\/p>\n
\n Authors Miss?”<\/a> at Joel Frielander’s blog last week and it resulted
\nin more than a dozen comments, some from people
\nasking questions. I spent a lot of time over the weekend
\nreplying, but it paid off.<\/p>\n
\nmissing a chance to show your readers you care about them. To
\nenable comments, do a Google search for “How to reply to comments
\nat a WordPress blog” or whatever platform you are using, and
\nyou’ll find tutorials galore. Or, better yet, check with your
\ntechie.<\/p>\n
\ncheck out “27 Ways to Monetize Your Blog,”<\/a> a training program I
\nhosted that includes ideas, tactics, tools and advice on how to
\nturn your blog into an ATM machine, without annoying your
\nreaders.<\/p>\n
\n4. Hound Video of the Week
\n====================================<\/p>\n
\nthe air with the greatest of ease, trying to catch a Frisbee in a
\nswimming pool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"