This is uncomplicated – put your content online in multiple places where it can be found by people you may develop a business relationship with.
Here is a word related to this that I really appreciate – repurpose.
Writing is difficult. Henry Ford is attributed to saying “thinking is the hardest work there is.” The chances are you already have good content that can be used to create other good content. For example, about 50% of this e-book is repurposed from other content we had previously created, only improved as it is edited and repurposed.
Press Releases – As an editor of a newsletter I will tell you that I want you to send me your press release. I want to publish your content. I want your expert slant on your topic. I want you to approach me so I don’t have to spend any time looking for what is new, trendy, important, relevant, etc. Do not be shy or apprehensive about submitting your press releases to news organizations. They may not always use it but there certainly is no harm in sending it.
Here are 8 Tips from our media kit on writing a press release that shows my personal preferences.
- It has a headline (but not a cute or clever one) that easily identifies what the press release is about.
- It has a sub-headline that offers an additional perspective on the press release.
- It has a date, city, and state from the press release is originating.
- The first paragraph is a summary of the press release.
- The next paragraphs go into detail about the press release’s subject matter.
- It includes quotes from subject matter experts or company executives.
- It closes with complete contact data for the company and person submitting the press release including the website URL.
- Optimize your press release with your keywords in the headlines and content and provide some tags in parentheses at the end.
Where To Distribute Your Press Release – Insurance Industry
- http://www.ambest.com/
- http://www.businessinsurance.com
- http://www.insurancebroadcasting.com
- http://www.insurancejournal.com/
- http://www.insurancenewsnet.com/
- http://www.nuco.com/
- http://www.roughnotes.com/
- http://www.ultimateinsurancelinks.com/ (Don’t submit your press release here but you will find a very comprehensive list of all insurance media outlets at this site.)
Where To Distribute Your Press Release – Free
- http://www.articledashboard.com
- http://www.1888pressrelease.com
- http://www.ezinearticles.com
- http://www.i-newswire.com – one free press release per 7 days
Where To Distribute Your Press Release – For A Fee
- http://www.prweb.com (emediawire)
- http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home
- https://portal.prnewswire.com
- http://www.distributeyourarticles.com
- https://www.blogger.com/start
Blogs & Posts – Repurpose your press release for your blog or social media post. Pay close attention to making sure your keywords are in your headline, content, and tags.
Where To Place Your Blogs / Posts
- www.linkedin.com
- www.insurancecampus.org
- www.twitter.com
- www.facebook.com
Ask Yourself This: Would I rather spend hours making telephone dials, or would I rather spend a few minutes a day putting my message for FREE in places where the exact people who are most likely to be interested in my information are going to see it?
Advanced Techniques
Up to this point, you don’t need to have a great deal of technical expertise to do anything recommended.
From here on, however, it gets a bit more complex and if you want to skip right to the summary, no worries, but before you do, think about this.
You may be in a leadership position where some of this is going to be brought up. Even a small overview may improve your perspective and ultimate decision. Also, knowing how to get started is often the biggest blocking point, so struggle through this if you can.
Another important point is that most of the software or service providers you need have tutorials on their websites, and we hope, are pointing you to the right websites.
Website Audio & Video – Here is one way (the way we do it): create a PowerPoint Presentation with audio, capture it using Camtasia, Edit it using Sony Vegas, and convert it to an flv file using FLV Producer which will also give you the HTML code to put on our website. There are other ways but if you don’t know how to do this yet, don’t try to learn it on your own – get some help.
- Camtasia – http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
- Vegas Movie Studio – http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudio
- FLV Producer – http://www.flvproducer.com
Content Management (WordPress) – WordPress is free and will allow you to have amazing functions on your website using “plug-ins (that are also free), and you won’t have to learn how to write PHP code or hire a coding expert. However, learning to use WordPress will take some time and focus but would be well worth the effort, and a little bit of knowledge here has the potential to make you look like a genius to your associates. Complete information and resources can be found online at http://wordpress.org/
Shopping Carts – Putting a shopping cart on your website for your products and services is mostly accomplished by having an account with a service provider. We use 1shoppingcart and another to try merchant services from PayPal.
Merchant Services –Merchant services refer to the processing of credit cards, which of course, does not necessarily need to be done online. You may be able to bundle a common service provider to operate your shopping care software interface and process your credit cards such as PayPal, or you may split the functions as we have done using 1ShoppingCart mentioned above and Intuit as a credit card processor.
Google Analytics – If you are into measurement, metrics, and analytics, OMG, you are going to love what Google will provide you for free. Don’t read anymore; go to this website immediately. www.google.com/analytics
Screen Capture – Here is another tool that I couldn’t be without. There is all kind of things that I want to capture from my screen for pasting into other applications like PowerPoint. “Snag It” from TechSmith – http://www.techsmith.com
