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	<title>The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week &#187; Google Alerts</title>
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		<title>Publicity Tips&#8212;The Next Big Thing: Mobile</title>
		<link>http://www.publicityarticles.net/publicity-tips-the-next-big-thing-mobile/</link>
		<comments>http://www.publicityarticles.net/publicity-tips-the-next-big-thing-mobile/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:13:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JStewart</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Publicity Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[baby boomers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Alerts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LinkedIn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[publicity for niche markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
The Publicity Hound&#8217;s
Tips of the Week
Issue #495 March 9, 2010
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.com/
http://www.publicityHound.net/ (Blog)
http://www.publicityarticles.net/ (Ezine Archives)
==========================================
&#8220;Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity&#8221;
Receive this ezine direct to your desktop
http://www.publicityarticles.net/feed/rss/

===================================
        In This Issue
===================================
1. The Next Big Thing: Mobile
2. Time-saving Blogging Tips
3. Social Media Cheat Sheet
4. Marketing a Lifestyle for Boomers
5. Help This Hound
6. Hound Joke of the Week
7. [...]]]></description>
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<p>The Publicity Hound&#8217;s<br />
Tips of the Week<br />
Issue #495 March 9, 2010<br />
Publisher: Joan Stewart<br />
<a href="mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com">mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.publicityhound.com/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.publicityhound.net/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityHound.net/</a> (Blog)<br />
<a href="http://www.publicityarticles.net/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityarticles.net/</a> (Ezine Archives)</p>
<p>==========================================</p>
<p>&#8220;Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity&#8221;</p>
<p>Receive this ezine direct to your desktop<br />
<a href="http://www.publicityarticles.net/feed/rss/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityarticles.net/feed/rss/<br />
</a></p>
<p>===================================<br />
        In This Issue<br />
===================================</p>
<p>1. The Next Big Thing: Mobile</p>
<p>2. Time-saving Blogging Tips</p>
<p>3. Social Media Cheat Sheet</p>
<p>4. Marketing a Lifestyle for Boomers</p>
<p>5. Help This Hound</p>
<p>6. Hound Joke of the Week</p>
<p>7. And at My Blogs&#8230;</p>
<p>======================================<br />
1. The Next Big Thing: Mobile<br />
======================================</p>
<p>Ten years ago, the hot new thing was building an email list.</p>
<p>Seven years ago, it was blogs and video.</p>
<p>Last year, it was Twitter.</p>
<p>This year, it&#8217;s mobile marketing. In 2010, our planet already has<br />
more mobile phones than it does TV sets, cars, credit cards or<br />
computers.</p>
<p>New generations of mobile devices are being unleashed not every<br />
few months, but every few WEEKS. Hundreds of millions of<br />
consumers worldwide are glued to their iPhones, Blackberries or<br />
other mobile devices. To put it bluntly, they are waiting for<br />
YOU.</p>
<p>That means more new technology to learn. But the opportunities to<br />
reach your ideal customers, whether they&#8217;re standing in line at<br />
Starbucks or lying in bed, is huge&#8211;only if you do it right and<br />
don&#8217;t believe the two biggest misconceptions about mobile<br />
marketing:</p>
<p>&#8211;It&#8217;s just like Internet marketing, but on a much smaller<br />
screen.</p>
<p>&#8211;Sending a string of text messages is just like sending a series<br />
of autoresponder messages.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re confused about how to tap into this opportunity, let<br />
StomperNet help. I&#8217;m their affiliate and they&#8217;re letting me share<br />
these two goodies with you:</p>
<p>&#8211;A free webinar at 8 Eastern tonight featuring Dan Hollings, the<br />
creator of StomperMobile and the guy who did the Internet<br />
marketing behind the phenomenon &#8220;The Secret.&#8221; Sign up for the<br />
webinar at<br />
<a href="https://stompernet.infusionsoft.com/go/SMW1/SN332" target="_blank">https://stompernet.infusionsoft.com/go/SMW1/SN332</a> If you can&#8217;t<br />
make it, sign up anyway in case they record it. Or recruit<br />
somebody to watch and take notes for you.</p>
<p>&#8211;A free series of three video lessons that will help you get<br />
started the right way:<br />
<a href="https://stompernet.infusionsoft.com/go/SM1/SN332" target="_blank">https://stompernet.infusionsoft.com/go/SM1/SN332</a></p>
<p>I&#8217;ll be on the webinar tonight. See you there.</p>
<p>======================================<br />
2. Time-saving Blogging Tips<br />
======================================</p>
<p>The biggest excuse people use to explain why they aren&#8217;t<br />
blogging, or why they don&#8217;t comment at other people&#8217;s blogs, is<br />
&#8220;I don&#8217;t have time.&#8221;</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a tip that that lets you do both at the same time.</p>
<p>Create a Google Alert at <a href="http://www.google.com/alerts" target="_blank">http://www.Google.com/alerts</a> for a<br />
keyword or keyword phrase. When you check your alerts and you<br />
find a blog post that screams out for your expert commentary,<br />
tell yourself: &#8220;What I&#8217;m going to write here will be the basis of<br />
a post at my own blog.&#8221;</p>
<p>Write the comment. Save it to your clipboard. Then take it over<br />
to your blog where you can expound on it a little more. Then,<br />
link back to the blog where you commented. That&#8217;s exactly what I<br />
did over the weekend when I saw law firm marketing expert Kevin<br />
O&#8217;Keefe&#8217;s blog post about press releases.</p>
<p>The topic was perfect for me. I wrote a lengthy comment, brought<br />
it back to my own blog and elaborated, linking back to Kevin&#8217;s<br />
blog. You can read my post &#8220;Why a press release and not just a<br />
blog post?&#8221; at <a href="http://ow.ly/1pVlma" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/1pVlma</a></p>
<p>This little trick also works when you&#8217;re answering questions on<br />
LinkedIn.</p>
<p>The 27 pages of handouts that I offered during the teleseminar<br />
&#8220;Time-saving Tips for Smart Business Blogging,&#8221; with Patsi<br />
Krakoff in January, are as helpful for veteran bloggers as they<br />
are for newbies. They include 101 places to find content for your<br />
blog, the first 7 steps before creating your blog, how to write<br />
better and faster, and 20 mistakes smart professionals make with<br />
blogs.</p>
<p>The handouts accompany the electronic transcript, CD or MP3<br />
recording. Learn more at <a href="http://tinyurl.com/businessblogger" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/businessblogger</a></p>
<p>=====================================<br />
3. Social Media Cheat Sheet<br />
=====================================</p>
<p>You&#8217;ll love Drew McLellan&#8217;s handy, color-coded Social Media Cheat<br />
Sheet that will help you understand how to leverage major social<br />
media sites: <a href="http://ow.ly/1g8CO" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/1g8CO</a></p>
<p>Notice how well Digg, the popular bookmarking site, fares on this<br />
chart. It&#8217;s a valuable tool for brand exposure, generating<br />
traffic to your site, and search engine optimization.<br />
If you&#8217;re not using Digg, now is the time to start. Colin Martin<br />
explains how during the teleseminar on &#8220;How to do Social<br />
Bookmarking to Promote Your Expertise, Attract Followers &amp; Pull<br />
Massive Amounts of Traffic.&#8221; The CD, MP3 and electronic<br />
transcript include a series of four videos in which Colin<br />
demonstrates how to create your accounts at bookmarking sites,<br />
how to bookmark content, how to make friends and join groups, and<br />
everyday uses for this powerful marketing tool.</p>
<p>Read more about what you&#8217;ll learn at <a href="http://tinyurl.com/ybzam7u" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/ybzam7u<br />
</a></p>
<p>======================================<br />
4. Marketing a Lifestyle for Boomers<br />
======================================</p>
<p>This week, three Publicity Hounds have tips for Patti Chavet of<br />
Frisco, Texas who wants to brand herself as an expert in active<br />
adult lifestyles for Baby Boomers who live in Texas.</p>
<p>From Camille Torres:</p>
<p>&#8220;To position yourself as an expert, I suggest starting with a<br />
blog. Offer information that helps your target audience, finding<br />
the intersection between their informational needs/wants and your<br />
expertise. Mixing it up a bit and having a video blog posting<br />
every now and then might be a good idea. It would help people<br />
identify with you and connect with you better, and the videos can<br />
also be posted on YouTube and other video-sharing sites for extra<br />
exposure. Tweet and Facebook your blog postings, along with other<br />
info that will appeal to your audience.&#8221;</p>
<p>From Eric Gruber:</p>
<p>&#8220;You should be writing articles and submitting them on top<br />
websites and ezines that your targeted audience (Baby Boomers<br />
looking to retire) goes to every day for solutions you provide. I<br />
know you&#8217;re looking for a local area, but article marketing works<br />
for you, too.&#8221;</p>
<p>From Reece Franklin:</p>
<p>&#8220;Target the Boomers: While there are usually several networking<br />
organizations within a large community that target the senior<br />
market, there aren&#8217;t many that target Boomers. I suggest you<br />
either find one or two that do hit the Boomers, or start your<br />
own. Put together a list of the top 30 companies that might<br />
target Boomers, and can influence them to use you. Then invite<br />
these folks to your first networking meeting. Networking really<br />
works if you&#8217;re the founder, or the key speaker.&#8221;</p>
<p>Read all the responses to this week&#8217;s ?Help This Hound&#8221; question<br />
<a href="http://ow.ly/1die7">http://ow.ly/1die7</a></p>
<p>Send your own Help this Hound question to:<br />
<a href="mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound">mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound</a><br />
and include your city and state.</p>
<p>===================================<br />
5. Help This Hound<br />
===================================</p>
<p>Susan Murphy of Pleasant Ridge, MI writes:</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m looking for some interesting avenues in which to promote our<br />
client, an environmental scientist who specializes in toxic mold<br />
education, detection and remediation.</p>
<p>&#8220;Connie Morbach, M.S. CHMM CIE, is a respected national authority<br />
on indoor air quality (IAQ) who has performed over 10,000<br />
residential/commercial air tests and environmental evaluations.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since 1994, her team has witnessed the illnesses and devastation<br />
caused by many ill-equipped and unscrupulous IAQ/Mold<br />
&#8216;professionals&#8217; in their industry, and they continue to help so<br />
many who have suffered from these injustices. She has just<br />
started a blog at <a href="http://cleanlinest.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">http://cleanlinest.wordpress.com/</a> and is<br />
tweeting to share her knowledge as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;Connie has been featured on a half dozen indoor air quality<br />
investigative segments for NBC&#8217;s &#8220;Today&#8221; show (&#8220;Why your gym may<br />
be making you sick&#8221; and &#8220;Watch out for hidden germs in<br />
supermarkets&#8221;), as well as &#8220;Rachael Ray&#8221; and &#8220;Extreme Makeover<br />
Home Edition.&#8221; But she hasn&#8217;t worked with a PR firm since then.<br />
She&#8217;s looking to get the word out again about her expertise, and<br />
I&#8217;m hoping your loyal Hounds can suggest some thoughtful ideas.</p>
<p>The Publicity Hound says:</p>
<p>What a great topic! The &#8220;your (fill in the blank) is making you<br />
sick&#8221; theme can be used dozens of ways. Let&#8217;s see what my Hounds<br />
have to say. If you have a great idea for Susan, post it to my<br />
blog at <a href="http://ow.ly/1g9z9" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/1g9z9</a></p>
<p>=================================<br />
6. Hound Joke of the Week<br />
=================================</p>
<p>&#8220;Dogs have no money. Isn&#8217;t that amazing? They&#8217;re broke their<br />
entire lives. But they get through. You know why dogs have no<br />
money? No pockets.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8211;Jerry Seinfeld</p>
<p>Dog Jokes &amp; Quotes Ebook: 170+ G-rated dog jokes and quotes,<br />
perfect for a dog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few<br />
good laughs.</p>
<p>BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50<br />
best websites for dog humor.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/</a></p>
<p>==================================<br />
7. And at My Blogs&#8230;<br />
==================================</p>
<p>Consider retweeting these blog posts:</p>
<p>Job-hunters, publicity seekers: Wake up your boring bios<br />
<a href="http://ow.ly/1frh9" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/1frh9</a></p>
<p>Why a press release and not just a blog post?<br />
<a href="http://ow.ly/1pVlma" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/1pVlma</a></p>
<p>Your dog can soon have its own Twitter account<br />
<a href="http://ow.ly/1g48j" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/1g48j</a></p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;</p>
<p>Follow me on Twitter:<br />
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/PublicityHound" target="_blank">http://www.twitter.com/PublicityHound</a></p>
<p>Join my Facebook Fan Page:<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/publicitytips" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/publicitytips</a></p>
<p>Connect with me on LinkedIn (and tell me how we know each other):<br />
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/publicityhound" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/in/publicityhound</a></p>
<p>Permission to Reprint:</p>
<p>You may reprint any items from &#8220;The Publicity Hound&#8217;s Tips of the<br />
Week&#8221; in your print or electronic newsletter. But please include<br />
the following paragraph:</p>
<p>Reprinted from &#8220;The Publicity Hound&#8217;s Tips of the Week,&#8221; an ezine<br />
featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity.<br />
Subscribe at <a href="http://www.publicityhound.com/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.com/</a> and receive by email<br />
the handy cheat sheet &#8220;89 Reasons to Send a Press Release.&#8221;</p>
<p>If you like these tips, please pass them on to your friends,<br />
clients and colleagues.</p>
<p>You are receiving this because you signed up for it at The<br />
Publicity Hound website at <a href="http://www.publicityhound.com/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.com/</a> or you<br />
told me you want to subscribe.</p>
<p>Privacy Statement:</p>
<p>The Publicity Hound respects your privacy and has a strict anti-<br />
spam policy. Read my privacy policy at<br />
<a href="http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm</a></p>
<p>================================================<br />
Joan Stewart<br />
a.k.a. The Publicity Hound</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Publicity Tips &#8211; Don&#8217;t Let Blog Content Confuse You</title>
		<link>http://www.publicityarticles.net/dont-let-blog-content-confuse-you/</link>
		<comments>http://www.publicityarticles.net/dont-let-blog-content-confuse-you/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:31:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JStewart</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Publicity Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Alerts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[publicity for niche markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
The Publicity Hound&#8217;s
Tips of the Week
Issue #432 Jan. 6, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
Circulation: 43,872
==========================================
&#8220;Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity&#8221;
Receive this ezine direct to your desktop
http://www.publicityarticles.net/archive/
==========================================
You are receiving this because you signed up for it at The Publicity
Hound website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me
that you want to subscribe. If you didn&#8217;t subscribe, you can
unsubscribe [...]]]></description>
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<p>The Publicity Hound&#8217;s<br />
Tips of the Week<br />
Issue #432 Jan. 6, 2008<br />
Publisher: Joan Stewart<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com">mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com</a><br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.publicityhound.com/" target="_blank">http://www.PublicityHound.com</a><br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.publicityhound.net/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.net/</a> (Blog)</p>
<p>Circulation: 43,872</p>
<p>==========================================</p>
<p>&#8220;Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity&#8221;</p>
<p>Receive this ezine direct to your desktop<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.publicityarticles.net/archive/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityarticles.net/archive/</a></p>
<p>==========================================</p>
<p>You are receiving this because you signed up for it at The Publicity<br />
Hound website at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.publicityhound.com/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.com/</a> or you told me<br />
that you want to subscribe. If you didn&#8217;t subscribe, you can<br />
unsubscribe by clicking the link at the bottom of the newsletter.</p>
<p>Please forward this ezine to anyone you know who needs free<br />
publicity to establish their credibility, enhance their reputation,<br />
position themselves as employers of choice, sell more products<br />
and services, or promote a favorite cause or issue.</p>
<p>******************************************</p>
<p>Still Time to Download &#8216;Best of 2008&#8242; Ebook</p>
<p>More than 3,000 Publicity Hounds have claimed their copy of &#8220;The<br />
Best of The Publicity Hound&#8217;s Tips of the Week of 2008,&#8221; the free<br />
ebook that&#8217;s my holiday gift to you. Lots of Hounds have tweeted<br />
about it on Twitter, shared it on Facebook, and encouraged their<br />
followers to claim their copy. It isn&#8217;t too late to regift it.</p>
<p>Please use this link when sharing the book with your own readers,<br />
followers and connections: <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/Bestof2008Tips" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/Bestof2008Tips</a> And if<br />
you&#8217;d like to download the &#8220;Best of&#8221; books from previous years, you<br />
can do so at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/bestofebooks" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/bestofebooks</a></p>
<p>Thanks to all of my loyal Publicity Hounds for your continued<br />
support. You make my job the best in the world.</p>
<p>*****************************************</p>
<p>================================<br />
In This Issue<br />
================================</p>
<p>1. Don&#8217;t Let Blog Content Confuse You</p>
<p>2. How About a Little Good News?</p>
<p>3. How Could I be So Dumb?</p>
<p>4. Beware of this Twitter Scam</p>
<p>5. Promoting a Christmas Tree Accessory</p>
<p>6. Help This Hound</p>
<p>7. Hound Joke of the Week</p>
<p>8. And at My Blog&#8230;</p>
<p>=====================================<br />
1. Don&#8217;t Let Blog Content Confuse You<br />
=====================================</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re an expert, you&#8217;d better be cranking out lots of content in<br />
these formats:</p>
<p>Blogs. Ezines. Twitter posts. Facebook notes. Articles at article<br />
directory sites. Articles at your own website.</p>
<p>Yet some Publicity Hounds are easily confused about what kinds of<br />
topics to write in which types of formats, particularly when writing<br />
for their blogs.</p>
<p>Over the weekend, Publicity Hound Michele Nightengale, who<br />
teaches bricks-and-mortar businesses how to market online, told<br />
me she&#8217;s going to start blogging. But she&#8217;s confused about the<br />
difference between content for her blog and content for articles at<br />
her website.</p>
<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t seem to differentiate them in my mind,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The<br />
ideas for my articles page and my blog are identical. I can only<br />
think to post my articles on my blog. How do you treat them<br />
separately and without too much duplicate content?&#8221;</p>
<p>She&#8217;s right. There&#8217;s a lot of overlap. Here&#8217;s how I differentiate the<br />
two:</p>
<p>Articles posted at article directory sites like<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.ezinearticles.com/" target="_blank">http://www.EzineArticles.com</a> generally focus on helping people solve<br />
a particular problem. The structure of these articles can follow various<br />
formats. But in general, they offer solutions to a problem. And<br />
they&#8217;re about 500-700 words. Examples:</p>
<p>&#8211;TV Publicity: 6 ways to find your way onto the local evening news</p>
<p>&#8211;Inflight magazines: 8 topics editors love to write about</p>
<p>&#8211;Hiring a publicist? Know the 4 ways they charge for their services</p>
<p>&#8211;Public service announcements have these 6 elements</p>
<p>Almost everything else, I told her, is fodder for a blog. Think of<br />
blogging as journaling, or keeping a business diary. It usually<br />
includes much more opinion than how-to articles do. And the<br />
writing can be a little more personal and informal. You can use a<br />
blog to:</p>
<p>&#8211;State an opinion on a topic.</p>
<p>&#8211;Comment on somebody else&#8217;s blog post or article and link to it.</p>
<p>&#8211;Comment on something happening in the news.</p>
<p>&#8211;Offer a quiz for a reader.</p>
<p>&#8211;Present a question from a reader and then offer the answer.</p>
<p>&#8211;Present a case study.</p>
<p>&#8211;Disagree with somebody else&#8217;s position on a topic, and explain<br />
why.</p>
<p>&#8211;Discuss something in your personal life that relates to something<br />
in your professional life.</p>
<p>&#8211;Review a book, home study course or other product you&#8217;ve<br />
bought.</p>
<p>&#8211;Comment on a service you have used.</p>
<p>The ideas for blog content are endless. If you&#8217;re still short on ideas,<br />
create several Google Alerts at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.google.com/alerts" target="_blank">http://www.Google.com/alerts</a> for<br />
topics you want to blog about.</p>
<p>Google will then email you as often as you wish and let you know<br />
what articles, videos, news stories and other content about those<br />
topics appear online.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll address the topic of avoiding duplicate content in an upcoming<br />
issue of this newsletter. But in general, you don&#8217;t want to use<br />
identical content at your website, blog and article directory sites.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re new to blogging, or if your current blog isn&#8217;t generating the<br />
traffic or sales you had hoped, you&#8217;ll learn some quick tips from<br />
Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff, aka The Blog Squad, during a<br />
f~ree teleseminar from 4 to 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 26. It&#8217;s called<br />
&#8220;Boost Your Biz with a Blog&#8221; and Denise and Patsi will explain how<br />
they differentiate blog content from all the other kinds of content<br />
they produce. You&#8217;ll also learn about the biggest mistakes bloggers<br />
make and how beginning bloggers can sabotage their own<br />
success.</p>
<p>Register at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.blogsquadteleseminars.com/joan/" target="_blank">http://www.blogsquadteleseminars.com/joan/</a></p>
<p>===================================<br />
2. How About a Little Good News?<br />
===================================</p>
<p>All those bad news stories about the economy that the media love<br />
will soon turn into old news. And when the economy worsens this<br />
year, as predicted, that old news will be downright depressing.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s time to start thinking about a few good news ideas to pitch.<br />
TV producer Shawne Duperon offers these ideas:</p>
<p>&#8211;Credit unions in four Midwestern states are generating fabulous<br />
publicity in top-tier media outlets like USA Today by pledging $10<br />
billion in loans to car buyers and teaming with General Motors to<br />
offer special deals to boost car sales. You can read the USA Today<br />
story at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/9lyes7" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/9lyes7</a></p>
<p>&#8211;How are retailers using tough times as an asset to sell products?<br />
Some car companies launched new campaigns that guarantee if<br />
you buy a car and lose your job within the year, you can return the<br />
car. How effective will strategies like this be?</p>
<p>&#8211;How are you making the most of the economic downturn in your<br />
business? Are you investing more in marketing? If so, let the media<br />
know.</p>
<p>&#8211;Are you in an industry or niche that, so far, has been unaffected?<br />
Many Internet marketers, for example, particularly those who sell<br />
training on how to build a business, are reporting increased sales,<br />
and have the shopping cart statistics to prove it.</p>
<p>If you have little good news to report but you still want to pitch, let<br />
Shawne and me help you. We brainstormed &#8220;116 WOW!<br />
Story Ideas from January through June&#8221; when we teamed up for a<br />
teleseminar for Publicity Hounds. We recorded it, and it&#8217;s available<br />
as a CD complete with a handout of all 116 ideas. You can<br />
download the handout as soon as your order has been approved.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s something for everybody, and you can borrow all of our<br />
ideas, starting today, by going to <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/6k7zk" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/6k7zk</a></p>
<p>========================================<br />
3. How Could I be So Dumb?<br />
========================================</p>
<p>If you&#8217;ve already made a list of the top five or six goals you want to<br />
achieve this year in your business, make sure they&#8217;re the types of<br />
goals in which you can measure their success.</p>
<p>I have five goals for this year. Each one, if achieved, will help me<br />
build my business by at least 15 percent. If I succeed at them all,<br />
I&#8217;ll double my business.</p>
<p>All five are recommended by Paul Lemberg, a business coach who<br />
created the Formula 5 system, a package of videos, checklists,<br />
worksheets and mastermind coaching groups that provide ongoing<br />
support. I&#8217;ve been devouring all of it the last several weeks, and I<br />
already have the wheels in motion to survey Publicity Hounds in the<br />
next few weeks about what they want and need&#8211;a technique that<br />
will shorten my learning curve even more.</p>
<p>Several times during the course, when Paul explained a great<br />
strategy, I slapped my palm against my forehead and asked out<br />
loud, &#8220;Why am I not doing this? How could I be so dumb????&#8221;</p>
<p>One of the most valuable tips I learned is that the onslaught of<br />
emails I&#8217;m receiving from business people offering cut-rate prices on<br />
their products and services is, for them, the quickest way to the<br />
poor house. In fact, raising prices, even in a meltdown economy, is<br />
one of the fastest ways to success.</p>
<p>Interested? If not, move onto the next item. If so, here are two ways<br />
to learn more about each of the five Formula 5 elements:</p>
<p>&#8211;Watch the first of three Stompernet videos that explains more<br />
about Formula 5 and offers startling results of what can happen<br />
when you raise the price of an ebook by a paltry $7, from $47 to<br />
$54: <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/PaulLembergFormula5" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/PaulLembergFormula5</a></p>
<p>&#8211;Get direct access to Paul during a f~ree teleseminar I&#8217;m hosting<br />
with him from 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, January 8.<br />
He&#8217;ll explain the five elements of Formula 5 in more detail, and you<br />
can even email questions to us during the call.<br />
Sign up at<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.publicityhound.com/teleseminar/formulafive.htm" target="_blank">http://www.Publicityhound.com/teleseminar/formulafive.htm</a></p>
<p>Don&#8217;t miss this one. And for heaven&#8217;s sake, don&#8217;t fall into the trap of<br />
lowering your prices without understanding the consequences.</p>
<p>===================================<br />
4. Beware of this Twitter Scam<br />
===================================</p>
<p>Are you receiving strange email messages from people referring<br />
you to photos and other posts about you at Twitter.com?</p>
<p>I am. The messages are a scam.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s how it works. This particular scam sends out emails<br />
resembling those you might receive from Twitter if you get email<br />
notifications of your Direct Messages. The email says something<br />
like, &#8220;Hey! Check out this funny blog about you&#8230;&#8221; and provides a<br />
link. That link redirects to a site masquerading as the Twitter front<br />
page. Look closely at the URL field. If it&#8217;s different than Twitter&#8217;s<br />
URL at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://twitter.com/" target="_blank">http://Twitter.com</a>, leave the site immediately.</p>
<p>Do not enter your username or password. If you do, the scam<br />
artists can use that information to send out direct messages on<br />
your behalf which could trick your followers. Read this post at<br />
Twitter&#8217;s blog to find out what else you should do if this happens to<br />
you:<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://blog.twitter.com/2009/01/gone-phishing.html" target="_blank">http://blog.twitter.com/2009/01/gone-phishing.html</a></p>
<p>Not Twittering yet because the site is too confusing? Join the<br />
crowd. Most of us who Twitter felt the same way when we started.</p>
<p>But don&#8217;t give up on what has become one of the most powerful<br />
communication and promotion tools for business. Learn in step-by-<br />
step detail how to navigate the site, and how to adopt smart<br />
strategies that will save you hours of time.</p>
<p>Twitter expert Warren Whitlock explained &#8220;How to Use Twitter to<br />
Amass an Army of Followers, Customers &amp; Valuable Contacts&#8211;and<br />
Promote.&#8221; It&#8217;s available as electronic transcripts and your choice of<br />
MP3s or CDs. Read more about the power of Twitter at<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/3lbcaw" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/3lbcaw</a></p>
<p>==========================================<br />
5. Promoting a Christmas Tree Accessory<br />
==========================================</p>
<p>This week, five Publicity Hounds have tips for Shannon Hein of Fort<br />
Collins, Colorado, who needs ideas on how to promote &#8220;Branchies,&#8221;<br />
a product that helps you hang heavy objects on your Christmas<br />
tree.</p>
<p>From Shirley George Frazier:</p>
<p>&#8220;My suggestion is to &#8216;branch out&#8217; to other reasons for people to buy<br />
Branchies: Easter ornaments, gardening tools, every day uses, etc.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you only focus on Christmas buying reasons, you won&#8217;t sell all<br />
year long, and that&#8217;s a disservice to a great product and customers<br />
who&#8217;ll benefit every day.&#8221;</p>
<p>From Dale W. Hutchings:</p>
<p>&#8220;I think your target market for these giant ornaments is not the<br />
typical homeowner, but the commercial market. These massive<br />
ornaments would look so much better on the giant trees that are<br />
put up every year in city parks, government offices, large bank<br />
lobbies, and shopping malls, among other venues. I would<br />
recommend that you target the commercial market through a<br />
holiday decorative contest.&#8221;</p>
<p>From Barbara:</p>
<p>&#8220;For Christmas next year: send some to major consumer magazine<br />
editors in June or so. If they like them, they may feature them in<br />
the Christmas issues of their magazines. There are always articles<br />
about gift giving and how to decorate for the holidays.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Publicity Hound says:</p>
<p>Send a press release and generic photo showing garden tools used<br />
as ornaments to gardening magazines. Send a press release and<br />
photo showing heavy sports-related ornaments like football helmets<br />
to sports magazines. Just change the ornaments in each photo to<br />
match the needs of various niche audiences. Your goal is to make<br />
every magazine editor say &#8220;Aha! this is PERFECT for our readers.&#8221;</p>
<p>And don&#8217;t forget to create videos that demonstrate how to trim a<br />
tree with Branchies. Videographer John Easton shows you dozens<br />
of ways to use quick videos to promote what you&#8217;re selling. He<br />
explained them all during the teleseminar on &#8220;9 Clever Ways to Use<br />
Video to Become a Publicity Darling in Your Industry or<br />
Community.&#8221; We recorded it and it&#8217;s available as a CD, MP3, or<br />
electronic transcript.</p>
<p>Read more about how to start using video at<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/5pbgzn" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/5pbgzn</a></p>
<p>Send your own Help this Hound question to:<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com">mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com</a><br />
and include your city and state.</p>
<p>==================================<br />
6. Help This Hound<br />
==================================</p>
<p>Publicity Hound Sheryl P. Kurland of Orlando, FL writes:</p>
<p>&#8220;With Valentine&#8217;s Day just around the corner, which is a logical tie-<br />
in to my product, I need some new, exciting, low-cost ideas prior to<br />
the holiday to stimulate Valentine&#8217;s Day book sales.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m the author of the self-published Everlasting Matrimony:<br />
Pearls Of Wisdom From Couples Married 50 Years Or More, an<br />
elegant coffee-table book in which I interviewed 75 couples married<br />
50+ years. The first run was published four years ago.<br />
You can learn more about it at<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.everlastingmatrimony.com/" target="_blank">http://www.everlastingmatrimony.com/</a>. My background is<br />
Marketing/PR, so I&#8217;ve done just about everything&#8212;all on my own<br />
and on a shoestring budget.</p>
<p>&#8220;What can I do that I haven&#8217;t already done to get big publicity a few<br />
weeks before Valentine&#8217;s Day, using Valentine&#8217;s Day as the tie-in,<br />
obviously, to significantly stimulate book sales? Shows like<br />
&#8220;Today,&#8221; &#8220;Good Morning America,&#8221; etc., won&#8217;t talk to me because<br />
I&#8217;m self-published. Also, I am not interested in teleseminars,<br />
teaching a course, or creating CDs to sell.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Publicity Hound says:</p>
<p>I spoke with Sheryl and told her the long list her media successes<br />
at my blog at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/832mpk" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/832mpk</a> is obviously missing social<br />
networking.</p>
<p>She told me she&#8217;s starting to Twitter. How about giving Sheryl some<br />
quick tips on traditional media she might pursue, in addition to<br />
some ideas on how to pull traffic from the social networking sites.<br />
She doesn&#8217;t yet have a Facebook profile but could create one fairly<br />
quickly.</p>
<p>Also, we&#8217;d like to hear tips from self-published authors on how to<br />
get onto the big morning TV talk shows. Eli Davidson, a member of<br />
The Publicity Hound Mentor Program, is self-published, and she<br />
appeared on the &#8220;Today&#8221; show, so I know it can be done.</p>
<p>Post your ideas to my blog at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/832mpk" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/832mpk</a></p>
<p>==================================<br />
7. Hound Joke of the Week<br />
==================================</p>
<p>&#8220;Dogs have no money. Isn&#8217;t that amazing? They&#8217;re broke their entire<br />
lives. But they get through. You know why dogs have no money?<br />
No pockets.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8211;Comedian Jerry Seinfeld</p>
<p>DOG JOKES &amp; QUOTES EBOOK: 170+ G-rated dog jokes and<br />
quotes, perfect for a dog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few<br />
good laughs.</p>
<p>BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50<br />
best websites for dog humor.</p>
<p><a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/</a></p>
<p>===================================<br />
8. And at My Blog&#8230;<br />
===================================</p>
<p>Write an unsolicited testimonial for additional publicity<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/7qlp2v" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/7qlp2v</a></p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;</p>
<p>WHERE TO SEE AND HEAR THE PUBLICITY HOUND:</p>
<p>Thursday, Jan. 8&#8211;Teleseminar</p>
<p>&#8220;Formula Five: 5 Ways to Double Your Business in 2009&#8243; with my<br />
guest expert Paul Lemberg. From 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, he will<br />
explain five ways every business person can double their business.<br />
This is perfect for anyone who is frightened by all the gloom-and-<br />
doom talk about the bad economy. This is a free teleseminar.<br />
Register at<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.publicityhound.com/teleseminar/formulafive.htm" target="_blank">http://www.Publicityhound.com/teleseminar/formulafive.htm</a></p>
<p>Wednesday, Jan. 21&#8211;Teleseminar</p>
<p>Join me for the third annual smARTist telesummit where<br />
photographers, jewelers, potters, painters, metalworkers,<br />
woodworkers and other artists will learn all the secrets for growing<br />
their art business. I&#8217;m presenting a session on how to use social<br />
networking, from 2 to 2:45 Eastern Time on Wednesday, Jan. 21.<br />
Register for the telesummit at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://tinyurl.com/5axy3x" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/5axy3x</a></p>
<p>Monday, Jan. 26&#8211;Teleseminar</p>
<p>&#8220;Boost Your Biz with a Blog,&#8221; from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern on Monday,<br />
Jan. 26. Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff, aka The Blog Squad,<br />
will explain how to draw more traffic and boost more sales from a<br />
blog. You&#8217;ll also learn about the biggest mistakes bloggers make<br />
and how they sabotage their own success. Register at<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.blogsquadteleseminars.com/joan/%2520" target="_blank">http://www.blogsquadteleseminars.com/joan/<br />
</a></p>
<p>March 6-10&#8211;Atlanta</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll be at the Stompernet convention in Atlanta from Thursday until<br />
Sunday. Let me know if you&#8217;re attending and we&#8217;ll have lunch.</p>
<p>PERMISSION TO REPRINT:</p>
<p>You may reprint any items from &#8220;The Publicity Hound&#8217;s Tips of the<br />
Week&#8221; in your print or electronic newsletter. But please include the<br />
following paragraph:</p>
<p>Reprinted from &#8220;The Publicity Hound&#8217;s Tips of the Week,&#8221; an ezine<br />
featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity.<br />
Subscribe at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.publicityhound.com/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.com/</a> and receive by email<br />
the handy cheat sheet &#8220;89 Reasons to Send a News Release.&#8221;</p>
<p>If you like these tips please pass them on to your friends, clients<br />
and colleagues.</p>
<p>You are receiving this because you signed up for it at The Publicity<br />
Hound® website at <a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.publicityhound.com/" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.com/</a> or you told me<br />
you want to subscribe.</p>
<p>PRIVACY STATEMENT:</p>
<p>The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and has a strict anti-<br />
spam policy. Read my privacy policy at<br />
<a style="color: #b30;" href="http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm%2520" target="_blank">http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm<br />
</a><br />
================================================<br />
Joan Stewart<br />
a.k.a. The Publicity Hound®<br />
3434 County KK<br />
Port Washington, WI 53074<br />
USA<br />
Phone: 262-284-7451 (Central) Fax: 262-284-1737</p>
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