Create quality content on your blog as link bait. Network through social media. Recruit some guest bloggers who have an incentive to promote blog posts to their circles. And traditional PR methods work, too.

Don’t forget to have fun while you’re doing it!

Actually, reporters are still reading press releases as much as ever. They’ve just supplemented their news sources by checking out blogs and other sources. But assuming they’ve got a system and know how to track RSS feeds, it’s not going to take them much longer to read these other sources. They’ve got time for both.

If you’re not getting enough (any) response from your press releases, there could be a number of issues. It could be the release itself. Was the headline grabbing? Was the content actually newsworthy? Did you remember to put in your correct contact info (You’d be surprised how often that problem comes up).

Assuming your press release was written well, the problem could be your distribution. Are you sending your releases to the type of reporters who cover the news you’re putting out? Have you put in a phone call, email or Tweet to follow up to build your relationship? I’ve often called reporters the same day I sent out a release and discovered that they simply hadn’t seen it (Reporters’ inboxes get inundated), so they thanked me for the heads-up. A follow-up contact isn’t necessary every time, and there’s a blurry line between cultivating a relationship and bugging the reporter, but it’s definitely OK to check in for those occasional releases that are perfectly up that reporter’s alley.

Soon after our initial consultation, we provided Vampire Hunters Inc. with a website content audit that made recommendations for updating the site with SEO-friendly content that would help them connect with their customers. The next step was developing a detailed website map and plan for introducing the new content in phases. Steven approved the plans (along with a quote) and in just one month, he had a brand new website he could be proud of.

“We’ve seen a big jump in traffic and we’ve got leads coming in fairly steadily from our website,” Steve says. “You can’t argue with results. Our customers tell us the information on our site is a lot clearer and more informative. They’re downloading our white papers and calling in more often to schedule consultations and vampire removals. We’re noticing a boost in business and web traffic when we publish on our blog and newsletter.”

Vampire Hunters Inc. now retains copywriting services to maintain the site with fresh content. “I have to admit that I’m the kind of business owner who likes to keep things in-house whenever possible,” Steve says. “It comes with the territory, since it’s hard to get insurance for contractors when you’re fighting the undead.

“But the fact is, I need to focus on the core functions of my business. What I do well is hunt, capture and kill vampires. Maintaining the website always came last in my priorities, so it didn’t get done properly.

“But now that we’ve got a professional copywriter ensuring our website gets the attention it needs, we’re getting sales leads from our website every single month. We’re really seeing a return on our investment. And let’s face it, we’re taking down way more vampires these days. When our business is good, that’s good for everybody – well, everybody who likes sunlight, anyway.”

Blogs are not just great for building a connection with your target market, promoting your brand and sharing information. They’re fantastic for search engine optimization. Google and other search engines love fresh content. And when you write on consistent themes, you’ll be building up keyword density that helps your customers find you.

“We’d just got back from a Dracula-Class Vampire Removal gig,” Steve recalls. “It was a really challenging job. We lost some good people that day. But that’s why they pay us the big bucks, right? Anyway, I get back to the office and my heart is still going a mile a minute. I can’t sleep, so I post a quick update on the blog, along with some video that I edited on my Macbook and uploaded to YouTube. Suddenly I’m exhausted, so I pour some holy water on my bites and fall asleep on the couch.

“Next morning, I see we’ve got links coming in from every vampire-focused blog and news feed in Canada and the phone starts ringing off the hook. The thing had gone viral. I tell you, that was a red-letter day for our business. We doubled our accounts receivable for that month.”

To be continued in part 5

Congratulations to Amanda Farough of the violet Minded design blog, who won two tickets to the Neanderthal Arts Festival running from July 21 to August 1 in Vancouver. (Thanks to superblogger John Chow for picking the winner out of the hat!).

My fellow VBM assistant coordinator and Left Right Minds website development god Shane Birley will be in touch so Amanda can claim her prize.

In the meantime, here’s a quick shout out to the participants. Despite admittedly lackluster service and unusually under-par refreshments at our location, I think we all had a good time meeting other creative types, getting introduced to new blogs and learning a bit about how to make our online dreams (well, the G-rates ones, anyway) come true. Cheers to:

Get up, grab Starbucks, go for a walk. Next, sit down for three hours and tap out a few proposals and blog posts for clients.

Eat lunch. Go for another 20-minute walk. Come back and develop a website content site map. Then update some content. It’s end of month, so time to do the bookkeeping.

One more blog post to go.

I’ve been sitting down too much. My ass hurts.

I should go for a walk. Why the hell am I sitting here writing this blog post? No one’s paying me to write on my own blog.

It’s a compulsion.

I shouldn’t complain. I mean, let’s face it: I’ve got a great gig where the odds of getting the black lung are pretty low.

Actually, it’s quite simple.

If you’re interested in learning more about social media for business, specifically Strategy, Business Intelligence & Metrics, then go to the SMCV event.

If you would rather gather together with some smart, fun and quirky people with nothing in common except for the fact that they (A) have a blog (or blogs), (B) are thinking of writing a blog; or (C) will never have a blog but are extremely attractive and desirous of meeting local bloggers for the purpose of recreation and procreation — then you should come to the Vancouver Blogger Meetup.

Either way, you can’t lose. Have fun out there.

It’s happening at 1:15 pm on Friday, May 7 at the Life Sciences building on the UBC main campus. Here’s a description of the panel:

A plethora of self-appointed social media consultants have emerged in the past two years. It would seem as though knowing how to set up a Twitter account or creating a Facebook page has become this decade’s snake oil. Despite (or perhaps due to) the fact that social media is an ever-evolving field, there is still a dearth of best practices on what and how to teach about social media. Even more frightening, interesting and challenging, there is a whole field that has just barely recently begun to be explored: teaching with social media. In this panel, we will share our experiences in the educational field, both teaching about social media and teaching with social media.

We will share our concerns, questions and worries about social media as a field to be educated in and as a platform/tool to educate in other fields. We will ask the tough questions that need to be asked, and hope that through this exploration, we will be able to further both social media as a field of study and as a technological tool for educational purposes.

The panel will include:

• Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega (otherwise known as Hummingbird604)
• Dr. Glen Lowry, writer, educator, and editor
• Tris Hussey (MscM.S.) a long-time technologist, blogger, and writer
• Andre Malan, a Computer Science student at the University of British Columbia specializing in human-computer interaction

Tell your friends! Tell your mom! I’m sure it will be an informative and entertaining panel that will fill you with love of all things social media-ish.

Thus, the acid test:

Can a competitor’s product name be substituted? If so, you haven’t differentiated yourself.

The seminar also included some excellent overviews and self-assessments entrepreneurs ought to be taking while refining their messaging and taking their product to market. Definitely worth a read.

On related news, here’s a quick shout out to a few of the very cool entrepreneurs I’ve met at the NVBC seminars over the past month. All of these people seem to have big ideas, solid business plans and bright futures (Angel investors, where are you?).

Bradley Coleman, co-founder of ProxyDemocracy. Think “corporate governance”. ProxyDemocracy provides a set of tools to help investors use their voting power to produce positive changes in the companies they own. Seems timely, eh?

Eric Brooke, owner of Ignitia. Eric is frequently engaged in a leadership capacity or as a strategic adviser to executives, as well as to offer his wealth of expertise in communications and marketing. Very smart guy.

John Gray, CEO of SKRIPT Foundry. SKRIPTfoundry specializes in multifaceted solutions using Web standard coding practices. John’s got serious ambitions for this company and it sounds like they’re on the cusp of big things.

Ian Clark, President of RealSpace. His company creates innovative solutions for interactive 3D. Good for training in a virtual 3D world for employees in a range of industries. Their offering sounds awfully useful.

Positioning: How to Stand Out in a Cluttered Market

The client said he wanted to ramp up his “social media” campaign, which so far included a Twitter account and a Facebook fan page. But a social media campaign without a blog often is like a cheeseburger without the beef, or a car with no engine. A key element is missing.

Unfortunately, he seemed a bit confused.

“Tell me again why a blog might help my business?”

I decided to switch gears. This is what I told him:

#1. Search engines love the fresh content that blogs provide. If you want customers to find your website, you need to populate it with new articles… like blog posts, for instance. This also applies to any other fresh stuff you put on your site, though (eg. case studies, press releases, newsletters, etc.).

#2. Blogs help you tell your story. With a blog and a stream of interesting content, websites will help visitors understand what they’re all about.

#3. Blogs are the “home base” of many effective online marketing campaigns. Write a blog post and then syndicate it through your social media platforms. A customer reads a Tweet or an update, clicks to the blog and then hopefully begins to explore the rest of your site (such as your checkout page).

Even for businesses that recognize the benefits of having a blog, keeping the site updated can be a challenge. That’s where WRITEIMAGE comes in.

We write your blog posts so you don’t have to do it. You concentrate on running your business. You get more visitors to your site who can then go on to buy stuff from you. Interested?

To get a free initial consultation to learn more, contact WRITEIMAGE today at 604.230.2638 or email info@writeimage.ca

SPECIAL INVITATION
Do you already have a blog for your business (Perhaps one that you’ve been neglecting lately)?

If you live in Vancouver and want to get inspiration from some fellow bloggers (for business and non-business websites), you ought to check out the Vancouver Blogger Meetup happening this week.

Date and Time: Wednesday, April 28, starting at 6:30 pm
Location: St. Augustines, 2360 Commercial Drive

More details at http://blog.meetup.com/30/calendar/13245316/

Business Blog vs. Normal Website: A Simple Explanation by Remarkablogger