My article on SEO for blogs was featured in the March/April 2008 issue of Engage Magazine. My friends Nash and Shahar started the magazine. They do a great job making internet marketing subjects simple for small business owners.
http://www.engagemag.net/archives/Engage-Mar08Web.pdf

Targeting Cities with your Press Release
Here’s another PRWeb tip (I will have time in a few months to finish recording all I’ve learned about PRWeb) about the MSA regions you select. When you submit a press release, you can select 5 US cities/areas to target your release to. These are in addition to the entire US.

There are two ways this is helpful: first, there’s a link on PRWeb’s home page that says, “search by MSA” that lists the cities alphabetically. So anyone can click there and see a list of cities. From there you can see all releases from that particular area. Second, people can sign up to get RSS feeds from PRWeb. So if a news organization is tracking news from their state, they could subscribe to that feed. They can also limit the press releases they see by area, category, and by editorial score. I only sign up for scores of 4 or 5 otherwise you get too many and you’ll get lower quality releases.

I just looked at my CJ stats and beheld that my affiliate site that sells flowers is actually making money. I just heard a Mother’s Day ad on the radio on the way to work today (btw, it’s May 11th). I so impulsively wanted to buy 100 tulips. But I didn’t. Still, I’m on a blog binge and this one is off-topic, except that when I first started in affiliate marketing I didn’t know if it would work. You do a lot of work up-front and it takes some time before you see results. That was the toughest thing about coaching people new to Internet marketing! They actually had to believe the work would pay off and keep doing it even though they weren’t seeing any ROI for a long time. But I could relate because I was the same way.
I ignored my flower site and didn’t pay attention to it. Plus, I didn’t have the energy. Now I’m motivated to promote it. In fact, my dream is to blog about working at a flower shop. It’s my Cheers, my Steel Magnolias. Someday I’ll work at a florist and attach a blog to my site which will supplement the low wages. I want it to turn into a real newspaper column and maybe even a YouTube series. Because the stories at florists are just incredible. You get people coming in for a range of reasons, but mostly for big events and significant times of their lives.

My last year in college I delivered flowers in the natural gas van at the Flower Patch. It was a temporary job that turned into a real one. They sent me flowers and asked if I’d work for them. I couldn’t resist, even though I had no intention of working there until then. Plus, they put me in charge of managing the plants and I was taking a lot of botany classes so that hooked me.

Once I locked the keys in the van with the motor running and had to charm a police officer into opening it for me. I sometimes got hopelessly lost (this time I’d have a GPS). I loved the experience of seeing complete strangers at such poignant times (like the family visiting to celebrate a brand new baby). Sometimes it was like I get to tell someone they won the lottery because the beautiful flower arrangement I had in my hands was for them. It made them happy so I felt great. I liked the creativity of it too and the women I worked with. I also got to take a big risk and insist the boss give us breaks or I’d quit, and everyone loved me for that.
This post is sponsored by JustFlowers.com – where you can buy your mom fudge or flowers – you choose! I have a bad memory and it’s worse the busier I get, so this is also my reminder not to forget to schedule buying a gift for my mom. My mom who grows her own sprouts, used to put tofu in our spaghetti, and who makes whole wheat bread from grains that she grinds. And you wonder why I have a little bit of hippie in me!

So here you go: Mother’s Day Flowers

My blog has gone down twice this year. Each time it’s stressful to get it back up. It’s always the same thing – plugins. Some aren’t compatible with this version of WordPress. Twitter Tools plugin was the culprit this time. As soon as I deleted it my blog was back.

A Perfect PRWeb Editorial Score
I’ve been writing press releases for distribution on PRWeb for several years for many different clients. Every time I call in I ask a lot of questions and they’re helpful. I’ve gotten to be friends with Joe and like attending Mario’s webinars. In all this time I’ve never gotten a perfect editorial score – until recently. I wrote a press release for a client that got a perfect 5 out of 5.

I remember asking PRWeb how to get a perfect editorial score. They basically said they’d hire me if I ever did. So I guess that means I have a new job and I’m moving to Washington state. Good thing I’ve spent quite a bit of time there when I lived in Oregon, so I think I’ll like it there

Here’s the weakness in most of my press releases – they don’t tie into larger trends or bigger news stories. To get a perfect score your press release has to be well-written, optimized, and newsworthy. In this example the client sent me a story about how real estate agents were marketing homes for sale. I changed it to be about how to survive the recession if you’re a real estate agent. It was already well-written, I just added strategically placed keywords, anchor text, and a call to action.

Right now the economy, gas prices, foreclosures, and the cost of food are big. If you can tie your story into these you’re chances for a perfect score will go up.

Some PRWeb Editors are Stricter than Others
To balance out my big head, in the past few weeks I’ve gotten more editorial holds on my press releases than I’ve ever gotten. I asked an editor why. He confirmed what I thought – some editors are more strict than others. For example, some will put your release on hold if you use “you” or “yours” in the release. They could also require that you use the organization’s name in the headline or the first paragraph. I’ve never had these complaints before.

The biggest problem I have about not using “you” or “yours” in a press release is that online people are used to more casual language. Since PRWeb distributes online, I don’t see why this is a problem.

Remember: every press release has several audiences: the consumer, the journalist, and the search engines.

Stay tuned because I’m going to publish more tips – before I forget them!

I like to search Flickr when I need to find a designer or get new ideas for my kitchen tile, a dress, or other things. It’s my visual Google. I figure if someone is on Flickr they must be somewhat internet savvy. I was also looking at photography web sites based off what they post on Flickr.

What surprises me is how many designers or artistic types have blogs but make it very difficult to contact them. No email address, no contact page, no phone number. They have etsy shops and prints for sale. They seem to be marketing but it’s all a tease. I search and search. I contact one designer through Twitter but she hasn’t responded – that was several days ago.

So here’s a tip for graphic designers – wow me with your photography and beautiful designs – but put your name or at least email at the top of your site or blog. Don’t make me search!