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While getting your news directly to MSNBC, Yahoo! News or Google News may be a far-reaching goal, there are other ways to get to the big time. Several news wire services exist online to help you facilitate the process of disseminating press releases. Businesswire.com, PRnewswire.com and PRweb.com route your news by category to journalists in various fields of interest, including international, arts and entertainment, sports, technology and more. Taking it a step further, BlackPRWire.com, HispanicPRWire.com and USAsianwire.com distribute news to culturally specific media.

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Reach the consumers in your neighborhood, city or region with local search. This is a great tool for small businesses looking to advertise on the Web, by Yahoo! and Google offer local versions of their search engines. Citysearch is another site to look into. With this marketing tool, small businesses such as restaurants, hair salons, insurance agencies and boutiques will be able to target a localized consumer base through search results.

Continue reading ‘Roll Out the Welcome Mat with Local Search’

That web page title in the top bar of your web browser may be something you regularly overlook as an Internet user, but search engines know its true importance. In fact, they have placed a great deal of trust in what you put on the page title, and it’s a high-ranking factor in current search engine algorithms.

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In paid search campaigns, buying your own branded keywords helps ensure your company will appear in search results the way you want them to, with your website as one of the lead results. On the other hand, by not buying your own branded keywords, your own website (let’s call it XYZ Cruise Line) could appear after a dozen different travel agencies that sell trips on your cruise line.

So, what’s the big deal? I had a client who insisted buying his own name and branded keywords was a waste of money, that his company had such a prominent identity, he didn’t need to pay for it. Well, we turned off the paid keywords, and his website visits declined almost immediately. The next day, he insisted we turn them back on.

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Because your customers can come from anywhere at anytime – and because a web address is easier to remember than a phone number – it’s important to put your URL on everything. After all, the Internet never closes. Letterhead, invoices, hold messages, bus benches, packaging, shipping labels, signage and, of course, ads are all opportunities to promote your URL and drive business to your site.

Continue reading ‘Promote your URL: Put it on everything’