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Blogs, WordPress and Google

// February 1st, 2010 // No Comments » // Blogging, Lessons, SEO, Search Engine

It’s no secret that a continually updated website with new content being added regularly stands a good chance of doing well in Google. One of the long standing methods to regularly expand a site’s content is through the use of a blog.

While there are numerous platforms to choose from for managing a blog, few can compare with the immense flexibility offered with WordPress, and at a cost of free, the price can’t be beat either. Continue Reading

How to Spring Clean Your Website

// January 25th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blogging, Business, Marketing, SEO, Search Engine

Spring is a wonderful time of year but it might not be so wonderful for our online business. The weather is getting nicer and people are spending more time outside, away from their computers. One way to get more people to come to your website is to do some spring cleaning and I don’t mean your house! Our websites can get stale and outdated if we do not clean them up periodically.

There are lots of things you can do to freshen up your site and bring new life and new customers to your online business:

1. Add a new section filled with resources, information and maybe even some special deals for your customers. Continue Reading

To Define an Entrepreneur

// January 18th, 2010 // No Comments » // Business, Entrepreneur

When you encounter a new word, what do you usually do? Do you ignore it or do you try to look up its definition in the dictionary? For smart individuals, they will surely look up for the new word’s meaning. If you’re engaged in business undertakings, perhaps you want to define entrepreneur. Are you an entrepreneur?

There is a specific definition of entrepreneur. According to most dictionaries, an entrepreneur is a businessperson who finances or initiates emerging commercial enterprises. Basically, he or she is the person who provides for the capital of the business. However, providing capital alone is not enough to be called an entrepreneur. How is that?
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MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN WRITING PRESS RELEASES

// January 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Press release, Search Engine

Mistakes to avoid when writing press release

1) Grammatical Errors:

We all make mistakes, but it is highly important that you proof-read your article several times prior to submission. A badly written press release can receive lots of views, but very few taking the time to visit your site because of the grammar errors.

2) Content:

A good press release always has some form of content. Ensure that when you write your release that you excite the user and deliver exactly as promised in regards to the content. Do not have a title that misrepresents what you are offering in the body of the press release.

3) Advertising:

As mentioned prior, always stay away from seeming like a commercial. A press release is a news related item. Do not try to pitch sales within the press release; always present the information as news related.

4) Exaggerated Comments:

Stay away from hyping your news release with comments that seem far from the truth. Your press release must sound believable or it will be ignored. Do not fill your press release with hype and exaggerated statements that cannot be backed up.

5) Email:

Never include an email address that you treasure and consider personal. Every press release is made public; therefore if you post your email address within the press release you are subjecting yourself to the ever unfortunate spam offers.

6) Website:

Some users actually forget to include a link to their website in their press release. Always include your website link, as more than likely it’s what you are trying to promote

SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE
Here is the *full* layout of the press release, headline, summary & body.

Top Secret Recipes Of Famous Chefs Revealed.
Closely guarded restaurant recipes are now available. The food recipes, and drink recipes of famous chefs unveiled in an easy to follow book that was just released! Within the past few months quite a few closely guarded recipes have now become available to the average consumer. The incredible part of all this, is that each recipe is usually formatted in great detail, with an easy to follow step by step chart that allows anyone to whip up famous delicacies right from their kitchen. The top secret restaurant recipes of famous restaurants such as Hard Rock Cafe, The Cheesecake Factory, Red Lobster, and even fast food outlets such as McDonald’s and KFC are now widely available. Are the owners of these restaurants happy about this leakage of information? Probably not, but at this time the recipes are sweeping the internet at a feverish pace. The website www.recipelibrary.info offers many free recipes in a variety of categories. It also highlights “America’s Most Wanted Recipes” which deals primarily with the secret recipes of famous chefs. A strategic partnership with “America’s Most Wanted Recipes” allows anyone to get access to hundreds of the most sought after recipes in the world. You can visit the website below for complete information.
Contact website for more information: http://www.recipelibrary.info

SKYROCKET YOUR PRESS RELEASE TO #1
This method is *not* for everyone, but only for those who can afford to spend a bit of money for extra exposure. Prweb.com ranks releases based on donations. If you are confident in your release, and have a product or service that you *know* can be a success, it maybe worth the investment to boost your press release into the top ten of releases submitted for that particular day. This can be done by making a donation to Prweb. I’ve seen days where the highest contribution is approximately $150-$250. That’s a lot of money to invest for some people, for others it is not. On most occasions a donation of that size will guarantee you a top 3 position on their site and many other sites in regards to the Press Releases that are released for that day. This will give you an insurgent of traffic.

If your press release donation is listed as being one of the top 3 for that particular day, your released is then listed as a FEATURED PRESS RELEASE! These releases are given high exposure, and the page views are in the hundreds of thousands. You will soon notice from my example that I will provide on the upcoming pages, that my release was seen by over 100,000 people and it also allowed my website to be indexed by the search engines quickly since PRweb.com is spidered regularly. Your press release is also injected directly into the Inktomi database which powers the Yahoo Search Engine, so in a matter of 24-48 hours your press release is not only showing in the news section, but also the main search index. If you have crafted your release as outlined earlier, you should see a surge of traffic for the next few months.

NOTE: Please do not consider this as a recommendation for making a donation. I am simply informing you of all the options you have available. It is recommended that you submit free releases first to test the system, and then upgrade if you see fit.

TIMELINE FOR PRESS RELEASE SUBMISSION
When submitting your press release, you can decide the day you want it released for publishing. Usually it is set two days from the day you submit. The actual time of day your Press Release is released depends on what time of day you submitted it to PrWeb.com. The average time for releases is approximately 12 am and it will be made available on Prweb.com and possibly Emediawire.com if your release received a score of 4. Once it is released on these two sites, it is then fed to media outlet websites all over the country. These outlets then decide if they are going to publish your article on their website.

If you have paid the $10 donation, you’ll be able to see how many outlets have picked up your release for publishing, along with how many people have read it. If your article makes it on the Emediawire.com website, then you are assured of placement on Yahoo News, MSN News, & Google news. Each of these sites indexes your press release and makes it available within their news search index the very same day it was submitted.

Once your article has made it to their news index, you can be assured that the main search index will follow shortly afterwards. Within a few days of publishing, you’ll notice your press release being accessible within the main search index of Google, Yahoo & MSN. This is the key to your success, as it is important that your article is posted within the main search results, so that you can receive highly qualified search engine traffic.

By association, the links posted within the press release can expect a boost in PR ranking, and will be spidered by the search engines. Research has also shown that they do appear in the index quicker than any other method currently available on the internet.

GET YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON GOOGLE, YAHOO, MSN & MORE
As I mentioned the service I used is located at PrWeb.com. This site allows you to submit your press release FREE! There is no charge to make the announcement.

Registration is FREE: https://console.prweb.com/prweb/register.php?languagecde=en

NOTE: They do have an upgrade feature that would allow your press release to get more exposure. An upgraded release starts at $30 for Google & Yahoo Inclusion. In actuality the first donation price is $10, but that is to have the ability to track the number of reads and the number of media outlets that have indexed your release.

I have always paid the $10 to at least have the monitoring capabilities. It’s a small price to pay to get real time stats of how many people are reading your press release. This is always OPTIONAL; you do not have to make a donation to get your release live or indexed. Once you have filled out the simple forms, it will ask you at the very bottom if you want to Save the Press Release.

As soon as you do this, it will give you a tracking number. This means that your press release has been submitted successfully. Immediately below that it will then give you the option to continue to make a donation. Always keep in mind, that once you have been issued a tracking number that you do *not* have to continue to make a payment.

NOTE: Prweb.com does give preference to those who have submitted a donation, so you’ll need to keep that in mind. If you want your release to appear higher on their page and be easier seen and picked up by Google, Yahoo & MSN, then you should make a donation.

The reason I say this is based on my statistical analysis. Prweb.com rates each press released submitted. To be *GUARANTEED* inclusion in Google News and Yahoo News, your press release *must* have a score of 4. I have been noticing that many of my *FREE* submissions have been getting a score of 3 and not 4. For this reason it may take more time for Google/Yahoo to spider your site or include it in their news resource.

It should be noted that even though your Press Release receives a score of 3, and it doesn’t appear in Google News, it still has a strong possibility of appearing on Google’s main search index within a few days. Obviously for the extra security of guaranteed inclusion, it would be best to make the donation. I’ve included some screenshots below to show you the difference between an upgraded release and a release that was not upgraded.

This should give you a basic idea of the traffic patterns for an upgraded release. Screenshot of Not Upgraded Release (Over period of two days, the $10 I submitted was to be able to view stats) The above screen shot shows that I have had 7,138 people read my Press Release, along with 32 websites picking up the article and adding it to their news resource section. Screenshot of Upgraded Release (within the top ten for the day submitted, paid $290) The above screen shots shows that I have received 108,921 people who read my Press Release, along with 1,376 websites who picked up the article and added it to their news resource section.

The major difference between this listing and the one above is the contribution made. The $10 contribution, entitled me to view stats only. While the donation of $290 guaranteed me a spot on Google & Yahoo news distribution, along with being in the top ten of all Press Releases for that day. NOTE: Prweb.com is *not* the only press release site that you can use to submit your article. There are others out there, but they do charge upwards of $250 for submitting one release. That is *very* expensive, and for that reason I choose not to list them here, as we are looking for affordable advertising mediums.

It is highly recommended that you use Prweb.com because of the affordability, and the excellent relationship that they have with Yahoo, MSN, and Google. I have listed below another reputable press release site: Site Location: PR News Wire http://www.prnewswire.com/