HARO (Help A Reporter Out) is a free service that sends out 3 daily emails with queries from reporters who need sources for stories they’re working on. I’ve been signed up on HARO for years, and I’ve found it to be one of the most valuable tools in my marketing and PR arsenal.

Why should you be on HARO too?

• Get free publicity—The most obvious reason to use HARO is that it gives you the chance to share your expertise so you can land the media opportunities you’ve been looking for. Free publicity can do wonders for your company. Getting your name out there in the media will help you increase brand awareness, improve your credibility, drive traffic to your website, and a host of other benefits. You get media opportunities delivered to your inbox 3 times a day, so there are always fresh opportunities for you to get publicity for your company.
• Build valuable media connections—A strong network of media connections can be an enormous asset for building your brand and spreading your messages. If you use HARO on a regular basis to respond to relevant queries, you’ll eventually start building important relationships with key reporters who cover your industry and who can help publicize your company.
• Refine your pitching skills—The way HARO works is an email gets sent out with queries from reporters who need sources for their stories. You find the queries that you’re qualified to respond to, and you email the reporter, giving them your pitch. A lot of times, you’re going to strike out. Remember, a ton of other people are responding to these same queries. But this is actually a good thing. It helps you improve your pitches over time, making you a stronger, more effective marketer.
• Discover new media outlets—There are tons of blogs, podcasts, TV shows, magazines, and other media outlets out there that you probably don’t even know about. Following HARO will open your eyes to more outlets that you could be targeting to get publicity for your company.
• Identify trending topics—HARO offers a great way to see what’s hot in the news. You can read the queries to see what reporters are writing about, making it easy to spot hot topics and developing trends so you can stay ahead of the curve.

Do you use HARO? Have you had any success with it?

Share your experiences by commenting below.

The conversation moves fast on Twitter, and that makes it incredibly challenging to get your Tweets noticed and read. See, too many times, we talk only about what it takes to get followers. But the reality is that getting followers is only a small part of the battle. Getting your followers to notice you is the real fight.

So, what can you do to start getting more on Twitter?

• Repeat important Tweets at different times of the day—Not only do you probably have Twitter followers located all across the country or even around the world, but even your local Twitter followers get on at all different times day and night. If you have something particularly important that you’re Tweeting, try posting it a couple of different times maybe a few hours apart so that you increase its visibility and have a better chance of reaching more of your followers.
• Interact with followers on a one-on-one basis—When you’re sending out Tweets to your entire base of followers, most people probably won’t pay much attention to what you’re saying. But when you Tweet your followers individually, you can be sure that you’ll get that person’s attention. This is especially important if you’re trying to get noticed by influencers. Reply to their Tweets and try to start conversations with them.
• ReTweet key followers a few times—This is similar to my last point, but it’s more about stroking the ego of influencers time and time again to get noticed. People love it when you ReTweet them. It’s a sign that you think they’re saying something important. So, if you’re trying to build relationships with influencers in your niche, start by ReTweeting them here and there. Eventually, they’ll start to pay attention to you.
• Ask your followers for help—This is a smart way to get noticed. Ask your followers for help with something and request that they ReTweet it. For example, you might Tweet the following, “Does anybody know a good web designer? Please RT.” Many followers will want to help you, so they’ll ReTweet you, and in the process, you’ll get some attention.
• Be consistent—The most important thing to do is be consistent. It takes time to build your presence and to get people to pay attention to you. You can’t rush it. If you’re consistently sharing great content, interacting with your followers, ReTweeting influencers, and so on, you’ll eventually get people to notice you. And that’s how you’ll build strong, long-lasting relationships that help you for years to come.

What are some other ways you can get more attention on Twitter? Share your best tips below.

Recently, Experian Marketing Services issued its 2013 Digital Marketer Report, which has provided search engine marketers and small businesses alike with some interesting information. In short, the report essentially says what we’ve known all along, if you can’t climb the rankings, no one is going to click on your site. However, the report pounds the point home using some eye-opening statistics:

1. For every Google search made, the odds are one in five that the searcher will click on a link leading to Amazon, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, or Wikipedia.
2. Approximately half of the time someone searches, they click on one of the top 500 ranked sites in the world.
3. About three-fourths of the clicks go to the top 10,000 websites in the world.

What We Can Learn From the 2013 Digital Marketer Report

So what exactly does that mean to you, the small business owner looking to get his head above water in the land of Google? Well, there are a few key takeaways here.

• If you aren’t trying to get to the top, you need to be. Do you have a plan for climbing the search rankings? If you don’t, then you won’t. And if you don’t, then you’re missing out on customers and profits…and you had better have an alternate plan.
• The more niche you can go, the better off you are. Search engines aren’t getting any less competitive. In fact, as the numbers suggest, it’s more competitive than ever. So if you are going after highly trafficked keywords, it’s going to prove difficult (if not impossible) to get your head above water. With that in mind, the smaller the niche you can find, the better off you are. Why? Well, there are less people fighting for those search terms. You can be a big fish in a small pond, rather than one of trillions of fish in a pond where there’s no way a fisherman’s going to catch you (how do you like that metaphor?).
• You need to be using those top 5 sites. You probably aren’t going to beat the top 5 sites. But you know what they say: if you can’t beat them, join them. For instance, you should be producing YouTube videos as part of your social media outreach. And you don’t necessarily have to launch some high dollar campaign. They can be simple educational webinars or whatever. Just something to get people in your industry sharing, and to get your name popping up with those YouTube videos when people are searching.

Same thing goes for Wikipedia and Facebook. Get active so your pages pop up instead of someone else’s. Remember, people visit Facebook pages to find out who you are. And they go to Wikipedia because it’s a hub for all sorts of useful information. Make use of it!

What can you take away from the 2013 Digital Marketer Report?

As social media becomes more and more entwined with daily life, it continues to change how we do business at virtually all levels. Most importantly, it has redefined marketing as we know it, and created an entire new segment of jobs (yes, I’m talking about you, guy running your company’s Twitter and Facebook accounts). Case in point—look what it’s done to press releases. What was once arguably the most bland part of a copywriter’s job, composing a third person release with the facts and nothing but the facts, has transformed into something a whole lot more complex. I’m talking about the social media news release.

Is There a Big Difference Between a Social Media News Release and a Traditional Press Release?

You betcha. Sure, they both provide breaking news, but the similarities pretty much stop there. Think of the difference between the two as the difference between the average guy working out at the gym and the meathead on steroids who can bench press your entire family. The social media news release is the meathead, with bulging biceps, protruding veins, and all.

Thought up by the brain of SHIFT Communications principal, Todd Defren, the social media release is built to appeal to and attract media reps online. It takes into account all social media-related tools at their disposal, and is put together in an easy-to-read, web-friendly format.

Beginning with a title and single sentence summary like a traditional release, it breaks the mold with things like:

• Eye catching photos.
• Bullet point facts to get right to the point, rather than long paragraphs that require reporters to dig for information.
• Links to social media accounts, information sources, and company blogs.
• Embed buttons to allow people to easily share your release.
• YouTube videos embedded for quick viewing.

Are There Any Cons to a Social Media News Release?

The way I see it, the only negative here is that the social media release fails to replace the traditional release. Why? Because:

• To get all the press you want, you still need to reach out to traditional outlets. So for example, if you want to get coverage in your local newspaper, you need to send them a regular release.
• Many press release sites will only take traditional releases. So to get seen there, and to get those links, you have to compose a standard release for submission.

But the negatives stop there. Other than those, composing a social media news release can only increase your exposure. And that’s exactly what you need for your business, right?

Do you use social media news releases? Or do you stick with the traditional? 

With the recent hacks to Burger King’s and Jeep’s Twitter accounts, Twitter’s hacking problem has become clearer than ever. And as the linked article mentions, these aren’t the only companies to be hacked. Fox News, PayPal, and NBC News have all been hacked, and so have many other companies.

You might think that because you run a small business, you’re not in danger of being hacked. You assume that the hackers only care about taking down the big boys to make a statement, but you’d be wrong. Every business (and individual) that has a Twitter account is at risk of being hacked, and we all need to be on alert.

Getting hacked can cause serious problems for your company. It could cost you followers and customers, cause damage to your brand’s image, and cause false messages to be spread about your company.

What can you do to reduce the odds of your company getting hacked on Twitter?

• Make your passwords difficult to guess—Don’t use personal information as a password, and avoid simple, obvious passwords (like “Password”…it’s not clever). Instead, choose complex passwords that are difficult to guess. Use multiple words or short phrases, include numbers, capitalize certain letters, and maybe even intentionally misspell a word. The stronger your password, the better.
• Don’t give your password out to anyone who doesn’t need it—The only people who should have your Twitter password are you and any individuals who also Tweet from your company account. No one else needs your password, so don’t give it out. Guard it so that it doesn’t get exposed.
• Change your password regularly—At the very least, you should change your password every 2 months. If you want to change it more often, go for it. Updating your password regularly can reduce the chances of your profile getting hacked.
• Pay attention to where you login—Chances are that you login to your Twitter account through a variety of sources. You might login directly on the website, from your mobile phone, or through an app like TweetDeck. Only use reputable apps to login, and always pay attention to the URL when logging in on the web to make sure you’re actually on the Twitter site and not a bogus third-party login screen.
• Change your password after firing an employee—If you have to let an employee go (particularly one who had access to your Twitter profile, but any employee just in case), you should change your password immediately. You don’t want a bitter ex-employee to get on your Twitter page and post harmful stuff about your company.

What are some other ways to avoid getting hacked on Twitter? Share your best tips by commenting below.

From web designers to copywriters to SEO experts, there are a lot of different freelancers you might work with when executing your marketing campaigns. Hiring freelancers can be great for a number of reasons. Freelancers offer specific expertise, don’t require a full-time employee income, are often affordable, can offer fast turnaround times, and so on. I’m a freelance copywriter myself, so of course I’m all for companies using freelancers whenever they have the chance.

Of course, I’m not going to lie and say there aren’t any risks to hiring contractors. The truth is that not all freelancers are good at what they do, and some are incredibly difficult to work with. There are some freelancers who will rip you off and not deliver the work as promised. Or there are those who are impossible to get in touch with or who just do sloppy work.

However, if you take the right steps, you can hire quality freelancers who will do a great job and be easy to work with. Here are some tips to help you out:

• Never hire a freelancer without seeing his or her work—Every freelancer will claim to be great at what they do, but the proof is in their work. Don’t take any freelancer’s word for it. Ask to see samples. If you’re hiring a copywriter to work on your website, ask to see samples of websites they’ve worked on. If you’re hiring a designer to create a brochure, ask to see their brochure design samples. You need to see their work!
• Always ask for referrals—A good freelancer will be able to offer you referrals and testimonials from past satisfied clients. If a freelancer can’t provide you with these, it’s probably a sign that they’re either inexperienced or that they don’t do satisfactory work.
• Talk to the freelancer on the phone or in person—It’s important to hire a freelancer that you click well with. You want someone you can count on to execute your vision, so there needs to be chemistry between you. The best way to determine if this chemistry exists is to have an actual conversation with the freelancer, either on the phone or in person. Don’t rely solely on email during this important early stage.
• Give the freelancer ample direction—Even the best freelancer can’t meet your expectations if he or she doesn’t know what they are. It’s your job to give the freelancer all the direction they need to complete the project.
• Follow up regularly—If you’re working on a long-term project with a freelancer, it’s important that you follow up with him or her on a regular basis to ensure the project is staying on schedule. You don’t want to be a pest, but you also have to remember that you’re probably not their only client, so you don’t want your project to get lost in the mix.
• Pay your freelancers on time and be a valued client—Be good to your freelancers. The best ones work hard for you, and they rely on you to pay them on time so they can keep food in their mouths and roofs over their heads. If you do a good job of taking care of your freelancers, you can be sure they’ll make the extra effort to satisfy you.

What are your experiences working with freelancers? Comment below to let us know.

I’ve long been singing the praises of guest blogging. With a good guest blogging strategy, you could:

• Build links back to your website for improved search engine rankings
• Drive traffic to your website
• Increase brand awareness
• Position yourself as an expert
• Increase readership on your own blog
• Generate leads
• And more…

There’s a lot to be gained from guest blogging; that much is for sure. But in order to get something from guest blogging, you have to have a strategy. And before you can create a guest blogging strategy, you need to know what you want to get out of it.

If you think that you can just start submitting a lot of guest posts and get results, you’re sadly mistaken. You won’t have any direction, and your guest blogging efforts will never be as effective as they should be.

For example, let’s say that your main reason for guest blogging is to improve your search engine rankings through link building. Once you’ve identified this as your goal, you’ll have more direction with your guest blogging efforts. You know that you’d need to get guest posts published on trusted websites (you don’t want bad links ruining your link profile), you’d need to get guest posts published on many different blogs to mix up your back link sources, you’d want to target certain keywords and target pages in your links, and so on. This would give you a clear path to follow with your guest blogging.

Or let’s say your goal is to raise awareness for your brand. You’d need to identify which audience you need to raise awareness with, which blogs they read, what topics they’re interested in, etc. This way, you don’t waste your time submitting guest posts that people who aren’t in your target audience will be reading.

It’s all pretty simple. Know what you want to achieve from guest blogging, and come up with a plan for achieving that goal.

Longtime readers of this blog will already know that I’m a big believer that bloggers should accept guests posts on their blog. I’ve run down some of my top reasons for accepting guest posts in the post, but to recap, accepting guest posts on your blog:

• Gives you fresh content
• Offers your readers a new point of view
• Lets you expand the topics you cover by bringing in people with expertise different from your own
• Helps your network with other bloggers
• Opens the door to guest posting opportunities for yourself
• Helps lighten your load
• Allows you to learn from other bloggers
• Brings new readers to your site

In my view, accepting guest posts on your blog just makes sense. It offers so much upside that it’s worth considering at the very least.

Not All Bloggers Agree

Of course, not everyone out there agrees that it’s a good thing to accept guest posts. There are some bloggers who adamantly refuse to allow guest authors on their blogs.

Why do some bloggers not allow guest posts?

1. They believe guest posts can alienate readers—The theory is that readers are coming to your blog to read what you have to say, not what someone else has to say. I certainly understand this concern, but I believe that as long as you limit the number of guest posts you publish (e.g. you should be publishing far more of your own posts than guest posts), clearly identify posts from guest authors, and hold your guest authors to certain standards, this won’t be an issue with the majority of your readers.
2. They worry that their voice will get buried—Some bloggers don’t allow guest posts because they’re afraid their own posts will get lost in the shuffle. Again, this is a fair concern, but it’s one that can be addressed by not publishing guest posts too often and by focusing on improving the quality of your own posts.
3. They worry about visitors leaving their site to visit the guest author’s site—It’s customary to allow guest bloggers to include one or more links back to their site. Some bloggers worry that these outbound links will lure loyal readers away and cause a leak in their funnel. I disagree. If you’re offering readers quality content they can’t get anywhere else, they won’t abandon you.

What do you think? Do you think bloggers are right to worry about the cons of allowing guest posts? Share your thoughts by commenting below.

You’re busy, and you might not have time to keep up with your blog. So, what are you to do? Shut your blog down and miss out on the chance to increase brand awareness, engage your target audience, drive traffic to your website, generate leads, make sales, and so on? Of course not!

Instead, you should consider getting outside help in the form of a ghost blogger. A ghost blogger is someone who will write posts for your blog which will be published under your name. Now, some out there don’t like the idea of using ghost bloggers, claiming that it’s deceptive, inauthentic, and dangerous, but I disagree. And the truth is that it doesn’t really matter what you or I think about it; companies are hiring ghost bloggers and that’s not going to change. My goal is to help people hire the right ghost blogger.

That said, here are a few tips that will help you hire the right writer for the job.

1. Don’t be cheap—As a freelance writer, I’ve encountered many people out there who are just looking to hire the cheapest writer they can find (it’s not me, that’s for sure). That’s all they care about – spending as little as possible. Guess what? If you’re cheap when you hire a ghost blogger, you’re not going to attract the best talent. Instead, you’ll probably end up hiring a blogger who has a poor command of the English language and who will crank out low-quality posts that drive readers away and reflect poorly on your brand. If you want good talent, you’re going to have to pay competitive rates. It’s that simple.
2. Talk to the blogger to make sure you are both on the same page—Remember, the ghost blogger is going to be posting under your name and the posts will be representing your brand. It’s important to make sure the blogger is someone you click with…someone who gets your brand and can write posts that fit the image.
3. Always ask for samples of the blogger’s work—You should NEVER hire a writer without first seeing his or her work. Anyone can claim to be a good writer, but until they can prove it, you shouldn’t hire them. Any good blogger will have plenty of samples to show you.
4. Hire a writer who is responsive and easy to communicate with—I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten new clients because another freelance writer dropped the ball and was difficult for the client to reach. When taking applications and interviewing candidates, find the job candidates who are most responsive whenever you email or call them. These are the ones who will be easiest for you to work with.

Have you ever worked with a ghost blogger? Have any tips you’d add to this list? Share your thoughts by commenting below.

Been thinking about writing an eBook? Not sure if it’s worth the time or effort? Here are 6 good reasons you should consider writing eBooks.

1. You can position yourself as an expert—When you have your name on a book, your credibility instantly goes up. You begin to be seen as an expert on the subject you’ve written about in your book. And when people begin to see you as an expert, they start to feel more comfortable doing business with you.
2. eBook giveaways are great for building email lists—Getting people to sign up for your email list can be pretty tough. One of the best ways to collect email addresses is to offer people something in return for signing up for your list. eBooks can be a great bargaining chip in your quest to build your email list.
3. You can sell customers on your products and services—No, your eBook shouldn’t be one big advertisement for your company. First and foremost, your eBook must offer useful information to readers. However, there may be certain places in the book where it makes sense to plug one of your products or services. Take advantages of these opportunities, but don’t go overboard and turn off your readers.
4. You can reach a larger audience—People have their own preferred means of consuming information. Some people prefer to read eBooks, but they’d never read your blog or sign up for your email newsletter. By publishing an eBook, you have the opportunity to reach an audience that you might not be able to reach otherwise.
5. You can repurpose content you’ve already written—If you’ve created a lot of content for your blog, articles, podcast, newsletter, etc., you can take that content and repurpose it into an eBook. That doesn’t mean you should straight cut and paste your old content into a new eBook but find ways to draw from it so you can save time on research.
6. You can create a new revenue stream—You don’t have to give your eBooks away to build up your email list. People do buy eBooks too. In fact, eBooks are hot sellers right now. So, publishing a high quality eBook could help you create a new revenue stream to bolster your bottom line.

Have you ever written an eBook? Thinking about writing one? Share your experiences by commenting below.