I got this e-mail the other day, another spammer looking for publicity:

Hello , I am Katherine Villete and I am writing to offer you my services. I have been a consistent blogger and I have learned that you have been looking for bloggers to make a review on your site. At present, I can offer my 130 blogs with different IPs, and all blogs are technorati claimed which can surely help you increase ranking in SERPs and increase your Technorati authority which is good in SEO. I will write you good and well-written reviews which will be composed of 150 to 200 words each review with 3 links with your keywords and image in each of the post. I will be creating 130 completely unique articles about your site. Also, if your interested on sitewide link then i have 10 PR6 blogs i can offer you. If your interested, please let me know. Katherine Villete ————————— reply with “remove me” and you will deleted to the mailing list.

First, Katherine, I didn’t ask you to e-mail me so you’re guilty of spam. That’s illegal. But aside from the obvious illegal aspects of this e-mail I’d like to address the offer.

I’m not sure where you learned that I was looking for bloggers. I have not been looking for people to review my site at all. I think, rather, that you just made it up. After all, you are a spammer and a lawbreaker so why should anyone believe you when you say “I have learned”? The fact is, I’m not looking for bloggers to review my site at all.

Wow, 130 blogs? You write that many? You must not have a life. It’s great, though, that they all have different IPs. That way, if I was interested in the unethical practice of paying for a positive review then it would be nice to know that these reviews didn’t sit side by side together on the same server so that Google would know that I’m not abiding by their guidelines. Oh, and you’ve claimed them all on Technorati? That’s an even better bonus. It would be nice to know that Technorati would see the links from your 130 blogs to mine and give me credit for those.

But I didn’t know that a higher Technorati authority was good for SEO. It might help, a little. But, honestly, the best SEO in the world is quality content every day and content on your blogs is not going to help my blogs a whole lot. Content on my blogs will help tremendously. As you can see, I post to my blog every day and it seems to be doing quite well on its own.

Your offer to write reviews of 150-200 words with three links and an image in each review is such a meager offer even though you don’t mention price. You see, I know that three links is no more valuable than one. Google isn’t going to give me link juice for all three links - it’s one of their spam control measures. They’ll give me credit for the first link and after that linking is beneficial only as a traffic-driving measure. How much traffic could I expect from your 130 blogs? You never tell me that.

Images won’t matter. They’re not crawlable. I’ll get no SEO benefit from the image. And what would it be anyway? A screenshot of my blog? No thanks. No benefit there.

Completely unique articles? That’s nice because you know that 130 articles that were exactly the same would be duplicate content articles and that wouldn’t help you much. I really couldn’t care less because 130 articles on your websites will only serve as content issues for you, not for me. Oh yeah, but you mentioned links, didn’t you? Only one per blog post and, yes, the fact that each article would be different from the next would help - as long as the search engines don’t discover that I paid for them.

Sitewide links? Besides the obvious grammar errors, which won’t look good for either of us if I decide to use your services (not likely), what do you mean by “sitewide links”? Are those links that point to every page on my site? And why do you offer 10 PR6 blogs? Since PageRank is almost useless as a measure of success now, it doesn’t really matter what your PR is. And if I’m supposed to be impress by your 10 PR6 sites then tell me what PR your other 130 are. If they are below PR5 then they won’t help a great deal because, as you can see, my website is a PR4. While links from PR3 sites might be OK, they are not going to be as powerful as links from a PR5 site nor will they be as powerful as links from sites that are within the same niche as mine. But you never tell me what kind of sites your 130 sites are, do you? Are they rubber manufacturing sites? Travel sites? General spam sites? If they are not Internet marketing site as mine is then they will be of very little value to me.

Katherine, I am not only NOT interested in your offer, but I would report you to Google if I knew which URLs to report. Your offer provides very little benefit to me and actually risks doing me harm if I were stupid enough to accept it. It looks like you’ll be looking for another sucker today. Good luck in finding one.

Sincerely,

Caroline Melberg
Chief Executive PITA (Pain In The A**)
Small Business Mavericks

If you have a blog and you are wondering what you can do to increase its effectiveness without breaking your budget then take a look at these five free Internet marketing strategies that compliment blogging well:

• Article Marketing - Article marketing has been around for a long time. You can write an article and distribute it online quickly and easily. Totally free unless you use a ghostwriter or hire someone to do the distribution. Even then it’s relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of marketing. It requires consistency and you can use your author resource box to drive traffic to your blog.
• Social Bookmarking - Social bookmarking is the natural sister to blogging. If you have a blog, promote it through social bookmarking. Very easy and free if you do it yourself.
• Press Release Distribution - Press release distribution is more expensive than any of the others on this list. To be most effective, you’ll have to pay something for the best distribution. But if you do this only when you have a great promotion then you’ll get a good response from your efforts.
• Podcasting - To do podcasting correctly you’ll have to spend some time on it, but you can do it yourself for no money. And it does drive traffic right where you want it to go.
• Video Marketing - Many bloggers use videos on their blogs. It’s called video blogging and it’s very effective. If you can speak into a camera you can do this. YouTube makes it very easy to upload your photos and it has a huge traffic base from which to draw.

These five Internet marketing methods are great compliments to your blog and easy to incorporate into your daily routine.

For any business owner who wants to be successful with their PR, it´s necessary to build a relationship with the media. This really can boost your chances of getting some free PR and with internet, it´s quite easy.

Online networking is fairly easy and you basically just need to dedicate the time to it more than anything. Leaving comments on news blogs is a great way to get started on building a media relationship. But it isn´t the only method.

• Writing an email to ask a question or let the writer/editor know what a great job they´re doing.
• Linking to the news blog or site. This may not always work, but it could be a great way to get noticed.
• Writing quality press releases that are targeted to their market.

Successful PR is far more likely if you make the effort to become friends with those involved in media. You´ll boost your chances of getting your press releases picked up and it will be far easier to stay in the news.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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Online PR is very effective because you can reach huge numbers of people. But the first thing you need to do is catch their attention, which can be difficult to do when everyone else is trying to do the same thing. Rather than simply set up a sales page and a website to sell your services or products, participating in a little online PR is a great way to boost your sales. It requires a little extra work, but you can´t expect people to come flocking to your small business if you are just sitting around, twiddling your thumbs.

Press releases. Sending out a press release is a pretty basic PR move, but don´t just send them to the big press. Look for blogs and websites that are related to your topic and send them email press releases. Many won´t publish anything, but you never know!

Free tips. Offering free tips on just about any subject is an excellent and very effective method of PR. People will flock to your site to download your free videos, ebooks or reports that will help them improve their lives. You will require a name and email address, of course, before they can get the freebie.

Article marketing. This is still a very good way to boost your online PR. Many news-type publications pick up on articles that contain information that they can use, so if you can provide it, you´re in luck.

Contest. Many people will participate in a contest, even if they wouldn´t normally give your website a second glance. Put this to work for you and offer a contest. You´ll see lots of websites and blogs picking up a great contest and promoting it to their readers, especially if that gets them an extra entry.

Online PR really isn´t that different from offline, but it is definitely more cost effective and you can reach a far wider audience than you would with offline PR. This is a big factor for small businesses who need to keep on top of things without spending much money.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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PR for small business is extremely important and with more and more information being made available online, it´s important to be able to write press releases specifically for the internet. This is actually quite different from the traditional press release for a variety of reasons. Let´s take a look at what an internet PR campaign should include.

PR for the Internet

• Keep your press release under 300 words. It´s more difficult to read online and most people won´t read much more than 200 words of your online press release.

• Use bullet points and subheadings to make the press release easier to read. The majority of editors will only skim at first to see if there is anything of interest, so make sure your highlighted points sell the press release!

• Use the press release as an opportunity to build PR and get the editor to check out your website or blog for more information. You don´t need to include everything in this release, but it should be indicative of what they can expect from you.

• Keep the style casual. Most online publications are pretty easy going and are looking for a writing style that can communicate rather than preach. Match the site´s style in your press release and you´ll do better.

Online press releases will need to be shorter and easier to read than an offline one. People simply can´t read as long on the computer screen as they can on a printed page, so keep that in mind when you are working on your online PR. You want to capture their attention, but not ramble on so long that their eyes are burning by the end of it!

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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Any PR is good PR, right? Not necessarily. While bad PR might work for Britney Spears, it isn´t good for a small business, but many businesses make some big mistakes when they are getting started.

Sending out ads instead of info. Whether you are sending a press release or an email newsletter, making it an ad in disguise is a bad idea and will get you nowhere. In fact, it can destroy your reputation and cause you to lose potential clients. Send out press releases that are actual news and email newsletters that contain real, useful content and you´ll be fine.

Spamming forums. We all know that forums can be a great PR place, but too many small businesses use them as simply an advertising medium. Answering questions with something like “Please check out my website for the solution to your problem.” will probably get you banned, though even if it doesn´t, very few people will look at your site because they already have a bad impression.

Using technical jargon. While you might be trying to impress someone, using technical words in any type of PR is probably a bad idea unless the vocabulary is pretty common. Editors don´t have the time needed to dig out the dictionary just to understand your press release and they probably won´t bother with it since their audience won´t understand either.

Sending emails to hundreds of editors. This is considered spamming, even if you have a fairly decent news story. Pick a few relevant people to send your information to and it is far more likely to get picked up.

Bad PR can sink your business, or at the very least, not help it move forward. If you bug people or spam them, you can bet you´ll be blacklisted and your press releases will never make it through, so be careful, be responsible and be successful.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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PR is especially vital for small businesses because often they don´t yet have the brand to maintain a steady stream of clients coming in. However, doing a little PR once in a while isn´t exactly going to bring you a massive amount of traffic. In order to really make it effective, you´ll need to keep your business in the public eye on a continuous basis. One way to do that is to build a relationship with the press.

You should be sending out press releases at least three or more times a year. Each time you do so, you are asking the press to help you out and give you some of their precious space. If you maintain a good relationship with someone influential in the media, you have a far better chance of getting your press releases and even interviews accepted.

It´s usually a good idea to foster at least a couple of relationships. You´ll want one with the local newspaper and perhaps the local radio or cable station as well as an online medium. Rather than just send off a press release or announcement, strike up a conversation. If the editor publishes something on your business, send him or her a thank you card. Be appreciative and they will be happy to do more.

While you don´t want to be a pest, writing or speaking with your contacts outside of PR related things can be quite beneficial. You are able to build a better relationship and they won´t feel that the only reason you speak with them is to get free publicity. In some cases, these PR relationships can even turn into something more . . . a friendship.

Do you have an online business? Use pay per click and other online advertising methods? Then you are probably ready to branch out into the world of offline advertising for online benefits.

That´s right, advertising outside of the internet can be excellent for your online business. There are still people out there who look to traditional print materials like newspapers and magazines for their daily info input and by advertising to this market, you can reach people who might not normally look for you online, but who will be sufficiently curious to go ahead and look your URL up once they have read about you in print.

You´re probably thinking that offline PR can get pretty expensive and this is very true. That´s where press releases come in. Newspapers, radios and local television stations need content. If you have something newsworthy to report, chances are you can get it into several local media types and get quite a bit of publicity. If this happens, you definitely want to make sure that you´ve got an easy to remember website address, so people can hear it on the radio and then remember it to look you up online.

Offline PR helps you reach a market that might want more information about you but simply isn´t into using the internet to research. However, when given your URL, most people are likely to look for you online, if they are interested in your product or service. So, why not try a little Offline PR?

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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There has been some discussion in the comments lately about using widgets as a form of SEO and PR. While I´m not an expert in the area, I can definitely tell you that widgets are a great idea and a very good method of creating backlinks. Here is the definition, according to ByteSurgery:

Widgets are standalone application containers that can be shared between users. Typically embedded within another application or web page to distribute information, provide an interface to a larger application or for branding purposes.

Common examples of popular widgets include Facebook Applications, Google Desktop Gadgets, sidebar badges, YouTube embeds and news or weather tickers. Many widgets read their data in from the internet using standard data feeds which are often provided with an API key to perform requests.

You see widgets used all over the place to boost SEO and brand recognition. I´m sure you´ve added a widget or two to your own blog or website at some point, most people have. Whether you use something like BlogRush or any other community widget to your blog, you are giving these companies links. It´s a very useful method of getting one way links, and a lot of them. But there are a few things to keep in mind when you create your widget.

• Make it useful. A widget that doesn´t really add any value to someone else´s website won´t get used.

• Offer color options. A lot of people won´t use a widget that clashes with their blog design, so offering different colors will help your widget get used more, also boosting your SEO.

• Make it work. If you don´t know anything about code, hire someone else to do the job. This isn´t a good place to be cobbling things together from assorted articles that you´ve read. A non-working widget won´t bring you any SEO traffic!

A good widget that offers some quality and usefulness to other people´s websites will be used often and is not only great PR, but will provide the backlinks to boost your SEO and help you move up in the search engines.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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Every small business needs a social media strategy. If you don´t have one yet, then this is the perfect time to create your social media strategy for 2008.

Source:

The “SEO value proposition” of social media is that you get your message out to communities and individuals entrenched in an innovative online environment. You become a part of the community which understands online relationships; and that community brings forth new connections, networks and inbound link opportunities.

Social media is a part of internet marketing that is becoming more and more important and valuable. It´s not just a bunch of college kids sharing silly photos, though there is still a fair amount of this going on. Now, businesses and consumers are using social media as a business medium.

Things to keep in mind when planning your social media strategy:

Set a time limit. You can get lost in the depths of Sphinn or Zuggu . . . so set a timer and make sure you limit yourself to only 15-30 minutes of social media a day.

Promote others. Don´t just promote your own business blog or website on social media sites. You should have a well-rounded profile, with plenty of other websites bookmarked. A ration of 7/1 is a good rule of thumb.

Stay appropriate. Not all social media sites welcome all types of content. Some are niche communities and you´ll just be spamming if you add inappropriate links.

Make friends. Your friends network is the biggest advantage to social media. Otherwise, your vote is just a drop in the bucket. But get your network of friends going and you could send your website into social media heaven.

Stay consistent. If you post to one social media site intensely for a few days, then abandon it for a month, you´ll lose your friends and no one will be following you. Consistently use all the social media sites on your list and you´ll gain more page views.

Social media is definitely something you want to use this year to help promote your business. It´s a powerful method of free publicity and with a good strategy that implements the points above, you should see more visitors to your business site in 2008.

Caroline Melberg
Small Business Mavericks
Small Business Mavericks Blog