Monday, January 21, 2008

Blog Marketing: How to Get Free PR for Your Blog

I recently “hired” a PR firm for my blog. Why is hired in quotation marks? Let me explain.

I turned a tip I got from reader Viqi French’s blog into a post on my blog. After I completed the marketing task written about here, I went back for seconds and completed another marketing task (#2) mentioned in this post on her blog.

This is when I got hit with a Eureka moment – why not “hire” this blog as my firm’s PR rep! After all, I was already implementing some of the suggestions listed here. If I checked back on say a weekly basis and just did even on thing suggested by this online marketing firm, in a year’s time, I could be deriving some real benefit from my PR efforts.

How to Hire a PR Firm for Your Blog/Website -- FREE

Following are some things to look for in an online marketing firm – whether it’s paid, or free.

Marketing Expertise: The first thing you want to look for is if the firm has the type expertise you’re looking for. Viqi French, the author behind FiercelyStrategic.blogspot.com is, according to her online bio, “… a Chicago-based publicist and writer who operates a marketing and publishing boutique, Pet Leopard Communications.”

Industry Expertise: Over and beyond overall marketing and PR expertise, any firm you hire should have expertise particular to your niche.

I like Viqi’s blog because she understands the industry I work in – e-publishing. So, she knows about traditional offline methods (eg, brochures and press kits) in addition to online methods like article marketing and ebook publishing (she’s authored her own ebook).

The fact that she’s authored her own book means that the advice she dispenses comes from firsthand experience – which I know from publishing my blog/website is the best kind of advice.

Detailed Advice: Some blogs are written as snippets. There’s no real meat; that’s saved for paid membership clubs or some kind of fee. And, let me rush to say, this is fine.

If you’re going to “hire” a blog to get some PR help from though, it needs to be one that is detailed. As you’re going to be doing the actual work, you’re going to need some kind of depth to the posts.

Check out my revamped, completed Squidoo Lens here. I had set it up a few months ago, but never published it. Upon reading this post on Viqi’s blog, I went back and completed it.

NOTE: Many of the tips you're going to run across you may already be familiar with. However, like hiring a personal trainer, you may know what to do, but when you "hire" someone to tell you what to do, you feel more obligated and dedicated. And, this is what most need to keep them on track with their marketing efforts.

Today’s a holiday; ostensibly you have some time. So, log on and see what PR you can get done to further your online marketing efforts! See this post to get started.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day everybody.

Sincerely,
Yuwanda Black, Publisher
http://inkwelleditorial.com/
http://inkwelleditorial.blogspot.com/
http://seo-article-writer.com/
http://seo-articles-for-sale.com/
http://money-making-videos.blogspot.com/
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ywanda, I really like your Squido lense. I have signed up for ne but don't really understand how to use it. Can you elaborate on it's function a bit more in another post!

Anonymous said...

Notable indeed. On the other hand, the benefit of hiring a team of bloggers for your business is on the number of unique web content that you can get from such unique individuals.