HARO

Help A Reporter Out

This is an interesting website. So interesting that if I hadn’t found it in a quality online zine I probably would have passed it up as a “too good to be true” kind of thing. However – it’s free, it’s interesting and it’s easy so here it is.



What is Help A Reporter Out (HARO)?


HARO is an email list that sends out multiple emails a day with notices of stories for which reporters are looking for “sources”. You scan the list looking for something that applies to you – something you have knowledge and experience in and you respond to the lister (the person who is requesting a source) and if you are chosen you’re listed as a “source” for that reporter’s story – you get free marketing. This is a great way for you to get some free press, publicity – your moment to shine in the internet spotlight. The reporters are from all shapes, sizes and categories of reporting. I’ve read that the list includes both small and big names such as Fox, MSNBC.com and national publications.

How To

1. Go to Help A Reporter Out
2. Fill out the information
3. Click on Subscribe
4. Go to your email and verify your account

That’s it. You’re done

Digg

What is Digg?

Digg is a place to share your websites and discover the websites, news and products of other internet users. Digg is a social news aggregator that relies on the community of "Diggers" to share, and vote on links. Digg users site submit content by clicking on a Digg icon or submitting a website link through the site itself. Digg users add a description of the content along with the URL and tags (keywords) for reference. Content that has a lot of diggs in a short amount of time moves toward the home page at a faster pace.

Why do this?

By submitting your website(s) to Digg you are marketing the website(s) to the masses.

1. Go to Digg
2. Click on Join Digg
3. Fill out the form
4. Click on I agree, continue
   "Now, please check your email"
5. The email you receive from Digg.com will say Registration Verification‏
6. Click on the link
   This will open a new window and take you to "Your account is verified!"
   Fill out the form using your business / website name as the first & last name

7. When you click on Save you will then be taken to "You're a member!"

a) Click on "Find your friends" to add "Friends" to find your email contacts
b) Click on Customize your icon by uploading a photo to add a personal touch.

8. Scroll down to the day’s newest web links and leave comments

All of these features help you market your website.

How To Submit A Website

1. Click on Submit New
2. Enter The URL
3. Choose Media – is the link a website, a video or a image?
4. Click on Continue
5. Add a title and a Description
6. Choose Thumbnail (picture)
7. Choose a Topic (category)
   Scroll down
8. Enter the letters under Are You Human?
9. Click on Submit
10. Click on Totally original, I swear
    Success! Your story has been submitted.
    

Your done.

Every time you have a new website page / blog posting submit it to Digg.com

Tips & Tricks

• Use a good titles and descriptions for your Digg submits

• Start participating by leaving comments on other links. look for articles of interest to you and be the first to Digg them. This will get you noticed by other diggers.

• When you get dugg, add the digger of your story to your friends list. The more diggers you get the more friends you get.
  

Zoominfo

What is ZoomInfo?

A search engine focused on companies, website businesses and the relationships between them -- professionally-focused profile summaries.

1. Go to Zoominfo
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the web page and click on Add Your Profile
3. Create your free ZoomInfo profile – fill out the form
4. Click on the box next to: I agree to the Terms of Service ...
5. Click on Next
6. Fill out Free XING Account
7. Click on the box next to Yes, I accept the Terms of Service
8. Click on Submit
9. You're almost done! Email Verification Sent - Go to your email and click on the verification email link.
   
   After you have verified the account
10. Click on Continue with what I was doing
11. Fill out the different tabs that apply. You must fill out Employment for you to be searchable. To fill out Employment tab with your business / website information. I also definitely recommend filling out Biography.
12. On the right side click on Additional Information and click on Add to add your website(s).
    
    Your profile edits have been saved
    Changes can take up to 24-48 hours to be posted publicly.
    

Your done :)


Zoominfo Example

Promoting Your Blog

How to promote your blog

Today’s blog is an abridgment of a month long series by Pro Blogger which is a great resource for new bloggers. Every Monday and Tuesday for the few weeks I will post a digest from this wonderful series. If you would like to sign up for the series please go to http://www.problogger.com/


11 Ways to Promote a Blog Post


note: please be careful in using these techniques. Don’t use them all with every post you write. Choose your best posts and promote them selectively and in ways that are useful to other people.


1. Pitching Other Bloggers - asking another blogger to consider linking to your post. note: there’s a real art to this - read more on how to do it at 11 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Being Linked to By a Blogger.


2. Social Messaging - what social networks like Twitter and Facebook are you a part of? Attempt to leverage these to promote your post. The key is not to incessantly spam your followers and friends with your link - but use your network to ’seed’ the link and let your followers spread word of it for you (this won’t happen every time but as your network grows it can become more and more powerful).


3. Social Bookmarking - promoting selective links on a site like Digg or StumbleUpon can lead to amazing results. Further reading on this topic at How to Get to the Front Page of Digg and Using Social Media Sites to Grow Your Blog’s Traffic.


4. Internal Links - don’t just promote your post on other people’s sites - think about where you can link to it from within your own site. Perhaps you’ve written on the topic before and can add a link for further reading, perhaps adding a section in your sidebar for ‘latest posts’ could work. Internal linking won’t drive heaps of new traffic but it can help with SEO and increase page views.


5. Newsletters - if you have an email newsletter list - shoot out an email to your list about your latest post.


6. Other Blogs Comments Sections and Forums - leaving helpful and insightful comments on forums or other blogs can be great at driving traffic if your comment is genuine, relevant and sensitive to the discussion. Leaving a link is sometimes also appropriate if highly relevant.


7. Email Signatures - Adding links to your blog to your outgoing emails is fairly common place - but whatever including links to recent posts instead of just your blog’s front page URL.


8. Follow up Posts - write a new post on your blog that picks up where your last one left off. This builds momentum and if you inter-link the posts drives more page views.


9. Advertise Your Post - for posts that you’re particularly proud of and that are well received by readers you might even consider a mini ad campaign with a small budget using a service like AdWords or StumbleUpon advertising. Further Reading on this at Run a StumbleUpon advertising campaign on your blog.


10. Pitch Mainstream Media - occasionally posts will be relevant to mainstream media. You want to really pick a highly interesting post for this - it’s not something for every day.


11. Article Marketing - I wouldn’t recommend submitting exactly the same article you’ve posted on your blog to article marketing sites (this can get you into trouble with Google penalties for duplicate content) but I know of a few bloggers who rewrite their key articles for article marketing.

All About Blogging

Blogging for beginners

Today’s blog is a abridgment of a month long series by Pro Blogger which is a great resource for bloggers. Every Monday and Tuesday for the next few weeks I will post a digest from this wonderful series. If you would like to sign up for the series please go to http://www.problogger.com/

How to Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog

I’m sure there has been much written on the topic online but here’s some starting points that I use when doing this type of thing.

• Solve a Problem or Need - I’m a big believer in developing blogs that fulfill real needs and solve problems that people have. The problem need not be a big one (like World Peace) but you should be attempting to create something that people need on some level. Communicate this in your elevator pitch.
• Define Your Audience - who is your blog for? Who are you attempting to attract? IF your blog is targeting a certain demographic or type of person (and it may or may not) - include this in your pitch. If your blog is for teens, don’t develop a pitch for grandparents - target the reader you want.
• Be Clear - don’t leave people second guessing what you mean or interpreting jargon - make your elevator pitch crystal clear.
• Keep it Short - People have limited attention spans and capacity to absorb lots of information. Get to the point, eliminate unnecessary words and make it punchy!
• Stand Out - be willing to use humour or powerful imagery to grab the attention of those that hear your elevator pitch.
• Be Intriguing - your elevator pitch is unlikely to ‘convert’ people to read your blog all on its own - but it should entice them to learn more. You don’t need to say everything in it - but attempt to write something that is still in the mind of those who hear it long afterwards.
• Be Energetic but not Hyped - you convey more than just dry information when describing your blog - but you also convey what YOU feel about it. This is important - if you ‘pitch’ someone with language and a voice that is dry and uninspired you’re unlikely to convert anyone into a reader. Show people that you love what you’re doing, that you’re passionate and that you care about your topic. But don’t go too far and hype it up beyond what it is!
• Consider Using a Question - people are wired to answer and engage with questions. Ask them, even just rhetorical ones, in your pitch and you’ll hook people in.
• Be Ready to Expand Upon Your Pitch - at a recent conference I had someone come up and give me what seemed like an elevator pitch about their blog. It worked really well, they got me interested - so interested that I asked them to tell me more. The problem was that they didn’t really have much else to say about their blog. See an elevator pitch as a conversation opener - something designed to lead into further interaction with people. You don’t have to say it all in your initial pitch - but you should be ready to say more if people are interested.