Saturday, April 29, 2006

Citizen journalism vs. professional journalism - The world of press releases and the press

The Editor's Weblog has been looking at the question of whether amateur citizen-journalists can ever perform "true" journalism. The issue becomes more relevant as newspapers increasingly try to develop their interactive capacity by having journalists and blogs incorporated into their media mix - with mixed results too. My view is that - with few exceptions - old line media have remained in the jurassic age so far as embracing new media is concerned. Also, 'old line' journalists trained in taking an objective stance on issues of the day are not necessarily the world's most compelling bloggers.

Online Journalism Review conducted interviews with several online journalists to see what they thought about newspapers integrating blogs into their journalism. Results were mixed. Check them out.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Press Release: What they're saying about Tony Snow


So the President has announced his new press secretary. It's always an interesting exercise, diagnosing the temperament, background, proclivities and idiosyncrasies of a new press secretary and in Tony Snow he has a kind of lateral transfer from Fox News to the White House. PowerLine said he "was one of the nice people", while Think Progressive lined up his stance on a variety of issues. Either way, he's going to need every radio-host skill in his arsenal to put the spin on a White House way down in the popularity stakes. Even the President asked him about all those times Snow called him a “impotent”or “embarrassing” or “fuckface.” Evidently Snow tried the old “You shoulda seen what I said about the other guy” gag.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Press release strategies must include the Blogosphere. Here's why.

Blog-watcher Dave Shifry has posted his findings from href="http://www.toprankblog.com/2006/04/state-of-the-blogosphere/"State of the Blogsophere, which identifies some interesting facts on the velocity with which blogs are growing and - according - their importance for news release hounds out to get publicity.

Among the findings:

Technorati now tracks over 35.3 Million blogs
The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months
It is now over 60 times bigger than it was 3 years ago
On average, a new weblog is created every second of every day
19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created
Technorati tracks about 1.2 Million new blog posts each day, about 50,000 per hour

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Press release marketing, RSS Marketing and Real-Life Marketing Experience

Blogging as a press release or general marketing tool is all very easy, so they say, but so is sex, and look at the trouble you can get yourself in. The key, in both, is careful anaylsis, preparation, protection and performance. Who am I to comment on such matters, I ask myself, but hey, it's my blog.

One of the keys to good blogging has to be blog promotion, and this site from Rok Hrastnikprovides some useful tips on the all-important RSS - the syndication that gets your blog noticed and read.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Press Releases and optimization: This Boring Headline Is Written for Google - New York Times

New York Times columnist Steve Lohr has written an interesting article on writing for search engines. As Lohr reports: The optimizer wizards devise some technical trick to outwit the search-engine algorithms that rank the results of a search. The search engines periodically change their algorithms to thwart such self-interested manipulation, and the game starts again.

News organizations, by contrast, have moved cautiously. Mostly, they are making titles and headlines easier for search engines to find and fathom. About a year ago, The Sacramento Bee changed online section titles. "Real Estate" became "Homes," "Scene" turned into "Lifestyle," and dining information found in newsprint under "Taste," is online under "Taste/Food."

Some news sites offer two headlines. One headline, often on the first Web page, is clever, meant to attract human readers. Then, one click to a second Web page, a more quotidian, factual headline appears with the article itself. The popular BBC News Web site does this routinely on longer articles.

Nic Newman, head of product development and technology at BBC News Interactive, pointed to a few examples from last Wednesday. The first headline a human reader sees: "Unsafe sex: Has Jacob Zuma's rape trial hit South Africa's war on AIDS?" One click down: "Zuma testimony sparks HIV fear." Another headline meant to lure the human reader: "Tulsa star: The life and career of much-loved 1960's singer." One click down: "Obituary: Gene Pitney."

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Press Release Hell - What happens when a good press release winds up in bad company?

It's one of those things - when the best intentions in the world and some of the biggest brands wind up in the sort of company that just looks plain . . embarrassing. As the Wall Street Journal reports this problem is just like losing luggage. It's a damn nuisance, but it happens.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Press Release advice: Learn from the Politicos

It will be no surprise to learn that the Web is transforming political advertising and marketing, according to a report in The New York Times. Aspiring politicians are finding a new voice on the Web through Web sites, e-mail, blogs, podcasts, and chat and also because of the viral nature of the Web itself. All the more reason for press release-savvy operators to learn the tools politicos and others are using to employ in their own campaigns.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Press releases & the art of SEO

The art of search engine optimization and its practise is reported in a free report from FathemSEO. The firm conducted a study of 350 manufacturers across the U.S. and how they utilize SEO for their websites. It was discovered that many U.S. manufacturers resist natural SEO marketing for a variety of reasons, including a lack of education, it's not a priority, or it was too much to monitor.

This new SEO case study shows lack of search engine optimization for manufacturers is a result of a combination of incorrect page titles or lack thereof, little to no keyword phrases in their META descriptions and keywords, and the webpage content was not properly optimized.

Choosing the right keywords for your press release

In the search for the 'right' keywords in your press release, for maximum search engine visibility, you need to ensure you have actually fixed on the right word or phrase.

You should use tools like Wordtracker (www.wordtracker.com) to help in this search process, but more importantly do some brainstorming yourself and with friends, famiily and staff. Once you have the word or phrase that you know fits your business, use it in your headline and repeat it in the press release, particularly in the first 50 words. Once is enough 'up front', but you can use it later in the body of the release as well. Also, you a properly formed link to your site with the full http://www.yourdomain.com within the text.

    


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