Developing & Maintaining a public relations presence online
By Pete Prestipino
Posted Monday, July 5, 2004
Building, maintaining and maximizing the presence resulting from your online PR efforts requires creativity and hard work. Within this article we'll outline several steps to help you develop an online pr presence, tips on maintaining your pr presence and maximizing the effects your online pr campaign has on the public.
Developing an Online PR presence: In our other online pr related articles, we discuss how to use newsgroups, forums, email and press releases to assist in an online PR campaign. Another excellent way to do this is to be the source of information on related products and services. For example, if you sell gardening equipment online, why not have information about gardening, maybe an article on tomatoes, at your site. When you are seen as an advocate for what people are looking for, you increase the likelihood they will visit and mention your site to others. Write one article per week (making sure to link and archive it appropriately on your site) and submit that article or message to the most influential members of the media as well as outlets that ask for writers to submit their articles online. They will quite possibly mention your organizations unique outlook on whatever it is you are trying to gain publicity and help you generate links pointing at your site.
Maintaining an Online PR Presence: One of the reasons you may be reading this article is because you're looking for the best road to take on your way to online PR success. Maintaining an online PR presence takes dedication and tenacity to pay off; so implement one or all the following to help maintain your online PR presence:
Blog your way to online PR success - If you have not heard, Weblogs or Blogs are an excellent way to keep not only the media but the general public informed about your products or services and what you are doing within your industry. Make an effort to come up with something original every day to post on your blog and over time you will develop a loyal audience about the topic of your choice. Blogs are also an excellent way to exchange links with other website promoters.
Newsletters/Ezines
When it comes to an effective online PR presence, there is no substitute for the effectiveness to newsletters and online ezines. Online newsletters help build rapport with current customers, inform them of your current online PR efforts (the perfect place for articles), new company programs or services and provide information on your business industry. Once again, by being a premium source of information for Web users on your business, you'll be taking a proactive approach to communication. While there is much debate on the frequency and type of communications that you share with your customers and your potential customers, there is virtually no debate about the value that online newsletters and ezine provide in growing your business through online public relations.
About the Author
Peter Prestipino is the founder and principal of SCG - Swirling Circle Online PR Group providing Internet solutions to small and medium sized businesses through online PR efforts such as mini-website development, link building, press releases and product reviews. For more information, visit (http://www.SwirlingCircle.com).
