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Step 1
Do your research. Decide what kind of people you want to target with your PR campaign, and do some research to find out what kind of sites they usually visit. Targeted PR is much more effective than a blanket campaign, so it pays to know who you’re trying to reach, and how is best to reach them. If you run a website, find out where your web traffic is coming from. What links are people following to get to you?
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Step 2
Decide on your approach. There are many ways to get publicity on the web. If your time or resources are limited, pick an approach and concentrate your energies there. You could contribute articles to other sites--websites are hungry for quality content, and will often link back to your site in return for a good informative article. You could run a competition--this is a great way to get traffic onto your site and create a focus for you PR campaign. Make sure you set up the competition so that you gather details from entrants like their email addresses--you can then use this data as the basis for further PR--send a “Sorry your didn’t win” email with a new offer.
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Step 3
Get your press release out there. There are several sites where you can post press releases, such as PR Web. There are also a multitude of online publications that are always looking for content and stories, so a well written and targeted press release sent to the right place may get results.
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Step 4
Target social media. Social media websites have become a huge phenomenon, and if you can catch the imagination of these communities then they will do your marketing for you. A dry, traditional press release is unlikely to get results. Think in terms of valuable content for users. Offering useful information will get people interested
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Step 5
Get blogging. Blogs are a great way to generate interest in a product or site. You can do it quickly and for free, and if you put the time into it the results can be impressive. Make sure you post on your blog regularly--search engines like regularly updated blogs. Make the content interesting by offering inside information or opinion that users can’t get elsewhere. Make sure it’s well written. Employ someone else to write material for you if this isn’t your strong point. Make it chatty and interesting--people won’t return to a boring blog. Comment on other people’s blogs as this will create more links to your blog.
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Step 6
Distribute a newsletter. Offer visitors to your website the option of signing up to a newsletter. It’s a good way of retaining contact with them even if they don’t want your product or service first-time round.
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Step 7
Optimize your website. Read up on search engine optimization. It’s not rocket science, but it’s useful to know about when you’re writing content for press releases and articles.
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Step 8
Have things like press releases, photos and logos readily available for download on your website. The Internet moves fast, and if someone is interested in featuring you you don’t want them waiting around for you to respond to an email.
