15 Days of Marketing Day One: Make Your Blog or Site More PR Friendly

The number one question I get asked by other bloggers and entrepreneurs is,

“How do you get so much coverage of your projects and your brand?”

I’ll tell you.  I stopped looking at all those public relations people as the enemy.  Sure, some of them have not a clue about approaching me, or anyone for that matter, the right way, but I’ve made it a point to make PR people my friend.  And you should too.  My theory is I’d rather be pitched to and say no than to not be pitched to at all.  In a way, a lot of what I do to promote my own brand is PR so I appreciate what these professionals are doing.

So today, on our first day of “15 Days of Marketing with Jessica Knows”, I’m going to ask you all to do a few things to make your sites more PR friendly.  This means more than stating the obvious so let’s get started.

1. Make sure you include your contact information somewhere on your website.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be your phone number, but I would definitely include your email in the following format to deter spammers: jessica at jessicaknows dot com.  Also, if you’re not on Skype already, that’s a great way to make yourself available via IM, voice, and even video chat.  Oh, and it’s free! (I like free.)
2. Sign up for Help A Reporter Out.  This handy dandy brainchild of Peter Shankman sends you three emails a day (trust me, this is not something you want to get in a daily digest) with reporters looking for authentic sources for their story (hello, that’s YOU!).  My tv news segment about working a part-time high level job that’s already aired on different affiliates in New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, and Boston over the past week?  That’s all thanks to HARO.  So yeah, when Peter says not to abuse his system or respond to queries with irrelevant information, please heed his request.  In other words, don’t go making me look bad. (Also free!)
3. Sign up for a service that gives you site analytics in REAL TIME.  I highly recommend GetClicky.com for this.  I’ve tried a few others but what I like about GetClicky is that I not only get to see who’s visiting my site in real time, but what company they’re with.  So when I blog about Walmart, I can see how many people from Walmart are reading it for how long as well as any of their associated vendors.  Same goes for when I post about Ford.  One little trick I share with you though is also find out what other major brands are checking me out too and you guess who I blog about next based on that little tidbit of information.  This is called being proactive my friends.  Check it out and you’ll see why I like it so much. (Free trial for GetClicky, but the cost of a cup of coffee per month and for me, so worth it).
4. Now for those who are just starting out, it might seem fruitless to blog about something just because a PR agency asks you too.  But this is how you establish yourself as a marketer.  Think of it as a portfolio of your work.  As advertising budgets get cut companies are looking for organic and authentic ways to reach their audience.  And who do you think costs more: you or the ad agency?  Trust me…once you establish yourself as a consistent and creative marketer, paid opportunities will open up.

I know a lot of people participating in 15 Days of Marketing are here for different reasons so at the end of every post I’m going break it down for those different needs.  If I don’t cover yours, please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

For Bloggers: Pretty cut and dry.  Follow all the points listed and you’re golden.

For Entrepreneurs: Here it’s a little different, instead of paying attention to what companies are looking at your site through Get Clicky, you’ll want to focus more on who your incoming links are coming from.  Especially, if you sell a product. So points 1, 2, and 3 are probably the ones you want to focus on.  You’ll want to definitely watch HARO like a hawk so you can pitch your product or service as much as possible.

YOUR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

You didn’t think I’d give you all this information and not assign homework did you?   For homework, I want you to think about your favorite brands, whether it’s a product, a service, a social networking tool, whatever.  Then I want you to share with us in the comments what your three favorite brands are and why.  Who knows?  Maybe a publicist for that brand will see it and reach out.

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