Public relations are challenging for large companies let alone small businesses. Since the social media era, small businesses and website owners have captured a larger piece of the pie in terms of accessing press channels and getting articles about their business. Still, there are some hard and true guidelines that can really help your website gain more exposure and real connections.
1. Start writing everywhere.
The single best public forum where you can share your thoughts, opinions, and facts is through a blog. Write, write and write some more. Having a blog is a great idea for a number of reasons:
- You have a forum to share your voice.
- Fresh content attracts more website visitors.
- Google favors new content, helping your website to rank higher for keywords.
- It has potential to go viral.
- You will hone and improve your writing skills.
- It connects you to other bloggers and the press.
2. Read and share everything.
Learn about your industry and what interests you and your website visitors. Comment on other blogs or press articles. Share things. This has the double benefit of helping you make connections with key contacts as well as helping you to build a good content calendar and provide your customer base with a consistent flow of interesting information.
Once you get into the rhythm of reading everything, you’ll notice patterns. Certain authors, certain blog outlets, certain tone of voice that general surround the industry. You’ll notice trends, have deeper opinions and become more knowledgeable. This will help you write everywhere, including the publications you notice that you read more frequently.
3. Build your list of contacts.
Contacts are important. Every single one, from media giants to local bloggers. While you start writing everywhere and reading everything, you can build a list of contacts.
Even if you don’t have their email or phone number you can start following different writers, learn where they publish and what they write about.
Keep a Google Doc and add the publication, author name and link to an article you found interesting. You can even add notes. If you do find an email address, add it in and contact that person when the time is right. If you end up writing for a publication or a publication writes about you, it’s all good for your website.
Follow these three steps, and press outlets will begin to notice you. If not there are always free services like HARO that connect you to journalists looking for feedback for their stories. Remember that for every article you write for someone else or every article that is written about you, always request a link back to your website. This will help with your website’s search ranking and credibility.
salam
salam all