I’ve been talking with article expert Eric Gruber and I’m impressed with his ideas about article marketing. It’s interesting how we have these parallel but related niches. He has it right. You do not just want to submit content to article web sites who then publish those articles on their site. They essentially put ads on the articles and collect revenue. They also make your content available for other sites to publish.
I would also say to promote the articles on social sites, which is a part of this I haven’t seen from Eric (though I’m just getting to know his expertise).
The problem is that most article sites are low quality. The barrier to entry is low (it’s free) which opens the door to spam. If the site has good editors they reject low quality articles. However, it seems up to chance that a decently rated site will republish your articles. I’m sure it happens but I don’t imagine it’s common.
However, if you develop relationships with quality web sites and submit quality articles, it can be a win/win. It’s essentially like guest posting or being a guest columnist. They get content, you get exposure to their audience, and a link.
I prefer press releases – although they are similiar. That’s because when you pay to distribute your news online you have more control of structure AND you automatically get distribution. Press release sites distribute your news to online news sites. They should also have a database of journalists and editors who get your news. If you do send your news out to people who might be interested you increase your chances of getting coverage.
Another point is with a press release your “news” can go to the top of the list when someone does a search on Google. If you’ve noticed, Google groups news and when it’s new it comes up higher. Also, when you use a news distribution web site, your news goes to Google News, Yahoo News, and other news portals. It doesn’t stay there, but for several weeks it gets you a ticket often to the front page of search results.
What to me is really powerful is combining the concept of article marketing – which is distributing valuable or helpful information – with social media. To me, that is the social media press release. More work but also a greater chance of being noticed.
For example, you can organize your content around a newsworthy theme. For now that would be something like how to land a job, save money or something else people are wondering about right now. Then put up video, pictures, graphs and other elements to tell the story. Share that story on social sites (Pitch Engine has this built in). Essentially it’s a feature story and you’ve done the work. Much better chance of being printed elsewhere.
Online you have to think of yourself as the reporter and the publisher. Because you are. The challenge left then is your time and your creativity to come up with something worth people’s time. Then to broadcast it. Both press releases and articles help you do that.
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2 Responses to “The reason I Love Press Releases as an Online Marketing Tool”
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January 7th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by C.F. Jackson, Janet Thaeler. Janet Thaeler said: New blog post: The reason I Love Press Releases as an Online Marketing Tool http://bit.ly/7Ch3ua [...]
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January 7th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
I want to send out a press release about my blogsite. I just don’t know where to look or how to set up a press release. I know I need to back up press releases with other forms of advertising. Thanks for a great blog
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