Psst - Wanna hear a really cool secret?
Would you like to know how to quickly and easily get included and linked to from the Washington Post's and Newsweek's websites?
(This is great stuff!)
Blog about them!
Yep, it's that easy. And it costs you nothing! Just a few moments of your time!
Both the Washington Post and Newsweek have now added a cool new feature to many of the pages of their sites - a box which reports what people who write blogs are saying about the stories and writers in their stable.
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Newsweek’s Trackback Box |
Technorati then includes a link to your article in their box, and a portion of it, including a link to your site, is run on the Washington Post or Newsweek site.
Total incremental time investment: 5 minutes. Value of that mention on their site? Priceless (sorry, Mastercard...) Do this 10 times a week and you could get some pretty significant additional traffic, while building your PR presence at the same time.
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The WashingtonPost’s Trackback Box |
This tactic is huge! Not only does it give you direct control over whether your comments get displayed on their sites, but:
- You get a link into your site that will generate visitor traffic
- You get into the habit (or better yet, systematize the process) of submitting your blog postings to Technorati, which is sure to increase your traffic and reputation in the future
- And probably most importantly, you raise your visibility to the writers at these key media outlets, improving your expert status and increasing the chance that they are going to call you the next time they need a quote in an article.
Think about that last point while I tell you about a conversation I had last week with my good friend, blogger extraordinaire, Dave Taylor (Intuitive.com - Leadership for the 21st Century and AskDaveTaylor.com - Tech Support and Business Questions being among my favorites >
I was asking Dave about why he invests so much time in tracking the blog postings of other people. His answer was very revealing.
Dave makes it a point to track blog postings from opinion leaders in the spaces he covers. When he sees something interesting, he quickly posts a comment to their blog, and oftentimes writes something about their posting in one of his blogs.
After a few instances of this, that opinion leader starts seeing Dave's name over and over again in his comments and trackback links section and wonders who this Dave Taylor guy is that seems to be so fascinated with their work. So the opinion leader checks out Dave's sites, finds him to be a brilliant thinker and someone who deserves respect. Then oftentimes they drop him an email, give him a phone call, make some comments on Dave's blog, and eventually set up meetings and conversations that go way beyond the content of the original postings.
In other words, Dave is using blogs as a way to develop personal relationships with a number of key individuals, people who are normally so insulated from the general public that there would be no way he could otherwise get into contact with them.
And, once personal contact starts, Dave finds that it's already progressed way beyond the normal "let's get to know each other" status, because both parties have already developed a positive opinion of each other, know the other's opinions and capabilities, and are interested in seeing how they can benefit from the relationship.
Another way to get publicity on these sites is to post comments on their blog postings. Here is an example of a comment from the Washington Post site. Note that it contains a link to the site.
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Now let's take Dave's excellent points and bridge them to working with members of the media.
As you know, reporters and editors are oftentimes difficult to contact and are, by training, skeptical of people who approach them.
But what if you were to find their blog (many media outlets are now providing blogs for their key personalities and encouraging / forcing them to write in those blogs), read it regularly, then when you see something where you can add intelligently to the conversation, you post a comment to their blog and / or write about their posting in your own blog, linking back to them?
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Repeat this several times. Eventually they're going to notice you and want to find out more about you. You'll get an email or a phone call. Conversation will ensue. Pretty soon, you'll be seen as an expert in your particular subject area in their minds.
The keys are
1. You've got to have a blog!
(Don't have one yet? Get one today! Don't know how? Check out our Blogging For Business training manual
This report will not only teach you about blogs, but will show you many of the techniques you can use to make blogs work for you!)
2. You need to make sure that you always add value to the conversation.
"Good post" or "Check out my site for more on this subject" do NOT add value to the conversation. Think of Bambi's Thumper the rabbit, who was recently quoted with a modification of his famous statement for the blogging world by saying "If you can't say something well, don't say anything at all!"
Need some guidance on how to write comments that work while attracting attention to your company or cause? Check out our special report How to Write Crisp, Compelling Letters to the Editor that Promote Your Product, Service or Favorite Cause. It's about letters to the editor, but the content bridges very well to writing comments and blog postings in a way that will be seen as contributing to the conversation.
3. Be consistent.
Doing a single post can get you listed on their website once, but it probably won't develop a relationship with the reporter or opinion leader. That takes repeated, brilliant comments over a period of time.
Try these techniques before your competitors do. The results could be phenomenal!
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