Media Mentions – Using Publicity and the Media
Marketing a Small Business Online
If your small business website is struggling to get decent traffic via organic search you’ve no doubt been looking for ways of boosting your search engine rankings without spending a lot of time and money in the process. And you’ve probably discovered that a key component is getting links from quality, authoritative, high-traffic sites. No secret there…but exactly how do you go about it?
Guest Posting
The concept of guest posting has been around a long time and in recent years has become a popular SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy. It basically involves reaching out to a webmaster or blogger and offering to write an article which contains a link back to your site. In theory it’s win-win…the webmaster gets free content for their site and you get the link. This strategy can be effective…but there are downsides…
It’s time consuming
Writing a good quality article takes time…and you have a business to run, right? Yes you can outsource to a copywriter but then that writing time becomes an expense, especially if you want a good quality article that people actually read…not a fluff piece like “Top 10 Ways to Tie Your Shoe Laces”. Google is placing more value on links that people actually use…not just exist.
Webmasters and bloggers get bombarded with requests
Because guest blogging has become such a popular tactic it’s become much harder to pitch an article and have it published. Many webmasters see an opportunity to make a buck and ask to be paid.
Google have started to take a dim view of guest posting
Yes there is a right way and wrong way of going about it… but because so many people are doing it the wrong way Google have become weary. Back in Jan 2014 Matt Cutts from Google declared “So stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy.” I’m not saying you should abandon guest blogging altogether…a few good quality placements can do wonders for rankings and referral traffic…but what if there was an easier way to get no cost publicity, media mentions and links from quality sources?
There is!
You can get your website, brand or product mentioned and linked from many high quality media sources by using resources which link journalists looking for content, quotes, answers, lists etc for a content piece they are creating, with experts who can provide that content. The good part is you usually only have to write a few lines rather than a whole article and still have the benefit of being quoted and linked to.
Once you register you will receive email notifications of opportunities in a range of topics. Of course not all of these will be suitable for you but if you are diligent you will get some wins…and the process is much simpler and less time consuming than reaching out, pitching and writing full content pieces.
So where do you find these free media publicity resources?
Help A Reporter Out
HARO is probably the best known and most used with over 35,000 journalists using the service. You will receive daily notifications that are grouped into categories such as Health, Business, Education, Entertainment, Tech etc.
SourceBottle
SourceBottle isn’t as big as HARO but you can still find some good opportunities.
Pitchrate
Again not as big as HARO but Pitchrate is gaining momentum.
More media mention resources
Media mentions are are great way to get free publicity, market your small business online and attract high quality links at no cost. It should be part of your content marketing strategy.