If you offer advertising (or want to) on your business website or blogs, you may have been holding off because of the cost of using online ad management systems. Sure, there are “free” ad networks, but most of those don’t allow you full control over the ads that show up on your site. Google’s Ad Manager allows you to sell ads, but also to supplement those ads with ads from Google AdSense and other ad networks. TechCrunch has more information: Google Will Now Manage Your Website’s Ads, as well as Ad Operations Online: Google Ad Manager out of Beta; All AdSense Publishers Can Use It.
internet marketing
To PR or not to PR
There has been quite a lot of press lately about whether or not you need a PR firm for your business. At the top of the current buzz is a blog post Jason Calcanis, CEO of Mahaolo, wrote: Jason Calcanis On How To Get PR For Your Startup: Fire Your PR Company. An excerpt:
My philosophy of PR is summed up in six words: be amazing, be everywhere, be real.
You don’t need a PR firm, you don’t need an in-house PR person and you don’t need to spend ANY money to get amazing PR. You don’t need to be connected, and you don’t need to be a “name brand.” Silicon Alley Insider – Jason Calcanis On How To Get PR For Your Startup: Fire Your PR Company
Obviously this post has caused a bit of a storm of PR and marketing folks looking for blood. But the fact is that most small businesses (tech startups or otherwise) don’t have the budget for an expensive PR firm. Jason has some great tips that businesses of any size can put to use – whether or not you use a PR firm. An overview of the ten tips:
- Be the brand
- Be everywhere
- Always pick up the check — always
- Be a human being
- How to bond with a journalist
- How a CEO should e-mail a journalist
- How a CEO should speak to a journalist
- Invite people to “swing by” your office
- Attach your brand to a movement
- Embrace small media outlets
Do you have your own tips for PR? Please share in the comments….
Put Your Older Blog Posts to Work
If you’ve been blogging for awhile or have a good number of posts, you may have noticed that there are particular older posts that still get pretty good traffic. Usually these posts are popular either with search engines or social media. These older posts are a great place to connect with new readers and Traffikd has a great post with some tips on how to keep these old posts working for your business: 7 Ways to Improve Your Old Social Media Posts.