How to use online PR to boost your business and drive traffic

Remember all that time and effort you spent coming up with the right name for your business? Of course you do! You wanted the right name because your name is a large part of your brand. Not only did you want to create a brand that will stick in people’s minds (and hearts); you wanted something that will last, something you could build around, and grow.

Brand building is just the start of bigger things to come. How people perceive your business matters – because positive word increases sales, but it also reinforces you as a business. Negative perception, on the other hand, can kill your business.

But once where we only cared about what the neighbourhood thought of us, now brand and reputation management is equally important online. For one, because whether we like it or not, with the advent of social media people will be talking about us online. And two, the possibilities this word of mouth online presents – are endless.

Online PR is therefore about building and managing your brand and reputation online by creating relationships with the right people and linking up to them.

So just why is online PR so important?

It’s quite simple really. If you care about your business – then you should care about creating and maintaining a good reputation online. The web has changed the way we live, the way we communicate and the way we do business.

Once driven by the offline world, now we need to go where our customers are and the fact is, most of them are online. However with trust being such an issue when it comes to consumers splashing their cash online, advocacy and trustworthiness play a big part in closing the deal. And social media gives you the ability to create a seal of approval and build a reputation that can last forever to counteract this issue.

But bigger advantage in building that reputation because by getting other reputable people to talk about and link back to you, you increase your visibility. Think of it as networking with your niche.

Getting a link back from an authority site within your industry has spectacular benefit in terms of increasing your search engine ranking!

Tradespacer, Antonia Chitty (AC PR) who has used online PR extensively for her business recommends it, “I use online promotion for my business and it gets great results. The wonderful thing is that you can post a call to action with a link that takes people straight to your site: this can lead to much better response rates than in print media. I’m writing this while in the middle of an online campaign to promote www.themumpreneurguide.co.uk and it is really gratifying to see how many people are responding by visiting the site within minutes of receiving an email, and going on to make a purchase too.”

Spelling out some of the benefits of online PR

Here’s what’s in it for you

• You become aware of what’s being said about you and by whom.
• Millions of consumers are turning to the web first for news – if you have news, it should be online as well as offline.
• When news sites and bloggers talk about or reference you, it not only increases credibility, it gives you a link back to your website which helps your search engine optimisation and ultimately your ranking.
• By being part of the conversations taking place online, you lead the conversation rather than being the butt of it.
• By building relationships with online bloggers and influencers, you are helping build your own reputation.
• A reputation built online has a longer lifespan. An offline press release for example, has a limit to its lifespan it only lasts as long as that issue of the newspaper lasts (if you get featured). This is not so online, once you get a link from a valuable source, it’s there till someone manually takes it down.

I’m convinced! How do I build my reputation and traffic?

Online PR takes a bit of skill to get it right, so here are a few things to consider when drawing up an action plan.

• Do an audit of how you are currently perceived. Google yourself, and take note of what Google suggests people are searching for with your brand.
• Research your audience online and how you can reach them. Spend some time researching where your online audience hangs out – forums, blogs they read, communities they participate in.
• Find out who the stakeholders/influencers are within your space.// Identify who sets and challenges the trends within the scope of your own business and then prepare to build relationships with those people. Tip: bloggers and influencers need to be approached on a one to one level – not with a press release.
• Setting yourself up as an expert is key – so brush up and make sure you blog often and that your blog works (so people will want to reference it or link to it)
• The search optimisation bit works when you get a link from a reputable site back to your own – so aim to build these up.
• Learn how to write an effective online press release that you can distribute online to PR websites.
• Add a place for press releases, coverage etc…. have a look at ours for ideas.
• Finally don’t forget to use those all important and relevant keywords when submitting an online press release to get the maximum benefit of tying in your reputation and your search engine ranking!

What’s your news? Update your blog and let us know!