Article Directories can be a great source of online publicity. Submitting articles to directories does multiple things.

First it can establish you in your field as an expert. By providing information on your service or product you can make yourself known in your field of expertise as an expert. By nature the internet is an information resource. It is well known that most people turn to the internet when looking for information. Articles are regarded as an excellent source of information.

Articles also provide links to your website. Links can be placed either in your article body or in the biography of the author. Either way when the article is placed in a directory or picked from the directory for publication the links must remain in place, thus you can garner many more links to your site than just the directories that you submit the article to.

Most people do have a problem with article publication that is they think that they cannot write an article. More and more those same people are realizing that they can write a basic article. However if you are completely sure that this is not your area, then search out the services of a good article or ghost writer. There are many organizations that provide this service at a very reasonable price, and the return on that investment is beyond measure.

Online publicity is one of the marketing tactics that any company should take advantage of. Most of the publicity outlets online are low or no cost and very easy to use. Unfortunately if you do not plan your publicity path they can be as much an evil as they are good!
Planning your online publicity track is not much different than planning the traditional track. It actually involves the same principles.

• Do a competitive analysis- you need to know how the public see you and your competition.

• Map your key messages- Know before you start what message you want to send and aim all articles, press releases and announcements toward those messages. This should directly tie into what you are doing offline as well.

• Press Materials- Just as you have offline you need to have press materials available online. This is simple, just create the items you would typically give out to the press and store them on a page on your website.

• Targets- Make a list of place that you want to submit your publicity items. They should be fairly well trafficked sites, with a good page rank.

• Story ideas- for each of the targets create a story or idea to pitch to them. Make sure that the story or pitch lines up with the editorial view point of the publication.

• Create a calendar- plan your attack, each week at least there should be one contact made. More if possible as not everyone will publish what you send them each time.

Online publicity is not hard with the proper planning. Plan your attack and execute it well and your company will become an everyday name on the web as well as in your backyard. If you need assistance with developing your publicity calendar there are a number of outlets available.

Online publicity is something that you can apply for many different reasons to your online business than just the traditional motives such as a product announcements or events. With the existing online audience growing more and more business savvy each and every day the ability to ruins someone’s reputation has also become very easy to achieve.

Applying methods from online publicity proactively or reactively can help clean up your brand and image online in many different ways. By launching an effective online PR campaign you pump out so much new information online regarding your company you can effectively cover some of the bad press. All it takes these days is one disgruntled ex-employee and you can see your profits on the decline very quickly. Potential customers these days do not like to see any red flags of being either ripped off or mistreated and one sign of bad press could send them to your competitor. Online PR does not have to be done reactively but can also be done proactively. Most businesses will wait until things have already hit the fan to get started on the clean up but a well thought out online PR campaign could help you build up your reputation so that when things turn sour it doesn’t affect you. Down the road if anything should go wrong it is easier to take a proactive approach and have good solid PR campaign that has generated a great buffer between yourself and any bad press that might be lurking than it is to try to clean up your brand or image with an effective reputation management campaign. Press release marketing if done correctly can be very powerful and effective way to not only increase your business and also your brand awareness.

It is easy to sit down and whip up a 350-500 word press release and submit it. But how easy is it to actually write one that has some compelling copy and will grasp an audience? Do you really want to write a press release just to see it get lost in cyber world? I am going to give you 5 important tips to always follow when constructing a press release for yourself or your company.

Tip #1 – Create an Outline
There is nothing worse than starting to write and an immediately hitting a roadblock after one sentence. Put together an outline of your thoughts and how you want them to flow throughout the press release. This will allow you to keep things on the straight and narrow and not let your thoughts go off on tangents. It will allow you to properly organize your thoughts before you get them onto the screen and submit them. This will also allow you to increase your efficiency and speed if you have a position where you need to submit many press releases.

Tip #2 – Make it News Worthy
Make sure whatever you are writing you would want to read yourself. If whatever you are writing sounds dull and boring and is not compelling to you than think about what your readers are going to feel when they lay their eyeballs on your press release. If it is not news worthy make it newsworthy. Tweak the writing so that it so exciting the reader can’t wait to read the following line. Let your imagination flow and take your reader on a trip. Everything in life tells a story and the stories are what make things move and prosper.

Tip #3 – Don’t Beat a Dead Horse
Don’t announce something has already been over announced. Nobody wants to read about the wheel anymore. Nobody wants to read about the new wheel either. I know sometimes there is only so much new information you can write about for overused and sold products but all you have to do is take a different approach. Writing is art so make it controversial. Controversy is what grasps peoples attention so go start writing and create a stink for people complain about.

Tip #4 – Don’t Cram Info
Keep your press release focused and in check. Don’t try to cover too many bases. If you try to announce too much into one release you are going to lose your reader entirely and jeopardize your release not getting picked up by anyone. Keep it to one topic and subject and focus on it. Press releases should be around 500 words and that is not enough room to write about too many different event or things going on in your company.

Tip #5 – Don’t Forget your Hyper Links
If you are distributing your press release and you have not hyperlinked your anchor text you better before you submit your press release. This is valuable link building that cannot go unnoticed. Hyperlink with your link 2-3 anchors texts and make sure your links work. Double and triple check to make sure they are pointing to the right pages that you want before you submit.

If you follow these simple tips you should be on the right track to have a solid online press release campaign.