Rembrandt’s Blog

During the more relaxed moments you have this summer, it’s the perfect time to do nothing but think. Seriously, when was the last time you stopped and thought about your current activities and future dreams?

Are you just doing your daily routine and activities or are you working with a purpose
towards specific goals?

In today’s stressful economic times, it can be easy to focus on paying bills, establishing new business and completing other daily tasks without really accomplishing anything.

If you just take a few minutes each day to think about what you are doing, where you want to go and how you are going to get there, you can work smarter and reach your goals faster.

As far as your PR efforts go, it’s a great time to get ready for upcoming activities and holiday campaigns. Ask yourself these questions:

- What do you want to achieve with your publicity activities?

Decide which magazines, newspapers, television shows, and radio programs you want to contact within the next six months and how you’d like them to cover your business.

- How are you going to reach these media venues?

When was the last time you reviewed your website? If it has been a few weeks, take a few minutes to read it over.

What are first-time visitors seeing when they click on your site?

If you want to boost sales, here are three, quick online copywriting tips to keep in mind:

1. Do you provide benefits right away?

Does your home page talk all about what you do, how long you’ve been in business and your credentials? That’s great, but your customers want to know what you can do for them – in seconds.

You may want to move your “company” information to the “about” or “bio” section of your website.

Then, you can use the home page to let visitors know they are in the right place and that your products and services can help solve their particular problems.

2. Are your verbs active?

Is your online copy written in the present tense or are you talking about things that happened in the past?

You can instantly add energy to your site by replacing all of your passive verbs (we worked with this client, we helped XYZ when they needed to raise funds, etc.) with verbs that describe a current action (get help now, take advantage of our 25% discount today, raise funds fast, etc.).

3. Do visitors know what to do?

When potential customers take the time to read your website copy, do they know what to do in order to contact you?

Each page should have a specific and easy call-to-action. Whether it’s registering for your newsletter, calling your sales department or actually purchasing a product online, be sure that website visitors know what they need to do to take action.

These are just three quick copy changes you can make to easily boost sales and conversion rates.

For your free copy of my new e-tipsheet, “20 Quick Online Copywriting Tips to Help Boost Website Sales in Minutes,” sign up for my free, monthly newsletter at www.rembrandtwrites.com. You’ll get valuable tips and information you can use to help boost sales and awareness fast!

A new entrepreneur asked me how much a press release should cost to write and distribute. And the answer is that it can cost anywhere from nothing (if you use your own time and effort to do it yourself) to thousands of dollars (depending on the services used and the distribution).

I think the real question to ask is…

Why are you sending out a press release in the first place?

If you want to reach a specific audience, perhaps you would be better off talking directly to a reporter at a targeted media venue. Once again, it all comes back to your specific goals and what you want to accomplish with your publicity efforts.

Now if you want to announce some news to a large audience, remind media members you have current products and services and get the word out quickly, a press release is probably the way to go.

And if you are not a skilled writer, I highly suggest that you find one to write your release for you. After all, you want to make a good impression and I’m sure you have core, business activities that need more of your attention and focus.

Where to Get a Press Release

To find out more about press releases, check out resources such as PRWeb,
PR Newswire, BusinessWire, and PRSA.

You’ll also find a lot of sites where you can post your release for free by doing a simple search. Look for pertinent media venues where your audiences hang out and see if there is a place to post news items.

Press releases are a great tool for building buzz about your business. But before you spend too many resources on writing and distribution, review your goals and research all of the possibilities. You may want to pursue other publicity opportunities that will give you better results.

These are just a few tips to help you get started. If you’d like further assistance with your publicity efforts, sign up for my free newsletter at www.rembrandtwrites.com. And as a
special, free gift for registering, I’ll send you my new, e-tipsheet on “5 Must-Have Tips for Working with the Media” at no charge!