From PR News, this will help you refine your online media strategy by making the most out of PR to drive SEO. Combine these efforts and minimize dollars spent while maximizing ROI.

http://www.prnewsonline.com/prinsiders/Using-PR-to-Boost-SEO_12769.html

Enjoy!

Business-to-government (and business-to-business) marketing is most effective when it communicates value. The best B2G marketing is based on compelling content focused on problems solved and clear solutions offered. Read more about why content-rich marketing materials will reign in 2009.

Yesterday’s BusinessWire Meet the Media Breakfast provided some valuable insight for those of us working to further the causes of our company and clients. The panelists were Darlene Darcy, Washington Business Journal; David Hubler, Washington Technology; Mark Kellner, Freelance Columnist whose work includes the Washington Times; Gautham Nagesh, Government Executive and Nextgov.com; and Paul Sherman Potomac Tech Wire.

How can you get more press coverage? The continuation in our series on that topic, here’s part two of the second tip–get bylined articles published.

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re one board that an ongoing PR program is one of the single best ways to establish and improve your company’s credibility. And bylined articles are a good way to do this.

Online and print media outlets need good, fresh, compelling content. Day in and day out, they need to feed the beast. Read part one for the first 3 tips on how to get this coveted coverage. The first three tips were:

1. What’s the story.

2. Determine the vehicles.

3. Pitch the story.

Today we focus on the second half:

3.5. Write the story.

This is 3.5 instead of 4, because it can’t happen in isolation. You need to have an action plan in place for how the story will be written when you are pitching it. Wait until you’ve got a commitment from the publication to get the final go-ahead from the author, and all of the effort to secure the slot may be in vain.

4. Project manage the story.

Make sure the publication’s vision of how the story will run is in line with your company’s. This means the advance work up front in placing the article has to be well conceived. Turn in something that doesn’t match your pitch and the pub won’t run it. This means you will have to work closely with the author and the publication to make sure everyone stays on track. The worst outcome is an article labored over by an author, only to be rejected in its final form because of poor communication.

5. Maximize coverage of the article.

There are many marketing opportunities for these contributions. In addition to linking them from your web site’s news page, consider adding bylined articles to your sales materials. Use them as leave-behinds at workshops. A great bylined article can be included in your next direct marketing campaign. How else can these articles be used in your sales process?

Want to keep picking up PR tips you can use? Read How to get more media coverage–tip 1.

This is the second tip to help you get more media coverage. For the first super-secret tip, read How to get more media coverage—tip 1. If you are selling software or services (or both) to the B2B or B2B (or both) market, credibility is probably a top priority for you. An ongoing PR program is one of the single best ways to establish and improve your organization’s credibility. And remember, a good PR program is often important fuel for your search engine optimization (SEO) initiatives.

Tip number two: get bylined articles published. A bylined article is very simply an article ostensibly written by your senior management or engineers, depending on the outlet, and published in print and/or online.

With the burgeoning online media market, the need for original content like this is an ever-growing source of PR. Sound easy? Well, yes and no.

Here’s the rub. You need good content, good strategy and good execution to make bylined articles work for you. Here’s are the first 3 steps of the formula:

1. What’s the story?

Just because a publication will run your content doesn’t mean it will advance your company’s cause. Determine the stories you want the world to know, whether they are case studies, hot technology and tech trends, solutions for a specific industry, etc. What are the stories you need your audience to read.

Think in terms of Google searching your topic. Would a prospect key in the same search terms to find this article as they would keywords that would lead them to your web site and to key solutions you offer? While not always an appropriate litmus test, this is a good way to determine if this is a good story to tell.  

2. Determine the vehicles.

What are the news and industry online and print media your audience reads? Start there. But remember that Google operates as the brain for most of us. Rather than solely picking up the most recent eWeek or going directly to computerworld.com, your audience is searching for solutions like yours on the web. What if your bylined article is at the top of the heap of returns?

3. Pitch the story.

Once you’ve determined the best stories and most high-profile outlets, pitch the article to the appropriate editors, based on their editorial calendars, beats, trends, etc.

Join us later this week for the next 3 steps for success in getting your original content published.  

Regularly, I speak with marketing and PR professionals and senior managers who know the super secret formula for getting great media coverage. The first secret is that there are no secrets.

But just as regularly, I talk with senior management, typically of small, but successful companies, who don’t know anything about getting press coverage. Understandably, their media coverage—or lack thereof—reflects this. And often, so does their search engine optimization (Google juice) and the credibility that comes from successful PR and SEO.

DMNews reported recently that 99.5% of press releases don’t feature search engine optimization (SEO) for the web. This DMNews story was written by Brian Halligan:

Nielsen Online reports a 16 percent year-over-year increase in unique visitors to the top 10 newspaper web sites. This represents 40.1 million unique visitors in December 2008, up from 34.6 million in December 2007.

To top online newspaper site was NYTimes.com, with 18.2 million unique visitors. USATODAY.com and washingtonpost.com took the second and third spots. See the table below for more.

Here are the top ten finishers, courtesy of Nielson Online:                        

                                               Dec-08 UA   % Change

Top 10 Online Newspapers     40,093            16

 1. NYTimes.com                       18,187             6

 2. USATODAY.com               11,420           15

 3. washingtonpost.com              9,470           12

 4. LA Times                               7,963           73

 5. Wall Street Journal Online     7,235          34

 6. Daily News Online Edition    5,883          99

 7. Chicago Tribune                    5,235           35

 8. New York Post                      4,557           60

 9. Boston.com                           4,086            -6

10. SFGate.com                          3,503           26

Of the top 10 online newspapers, nine experienced positive year-over-year growth. No small contribution to this jump was the weakening economy, election cycle and new administration.

Your company has won an award. Now what? Under-utilized by many companies, I contend, awards can be a powerful source of credibility. They should also be an element of most PR programs. But too often they exist in a vacuum. The award is won. The photo is taken at the ceremony. The plaque is hung on the wall. So what does that get you? Besides a campy photo and an award, not a whole lot.