How Do You Do It All?

A lot of people ask me “How do you do it all? You have so many projects on the go.”

It’s true, there’s a lot on the go, but I’m not always on the go. I have lots of help. Of course, you know about my trusty virtual assistants, writers and other contractors I work with…but I still don’t work alone.

Partnering with another online business owner in projects is a great thing. I personally have partnered (and will continue to) with some great Internet business owners.

I combine efforts with Lynette Chandler and Kelly McCausey on a mastermind group for women in business at MomMasterminds.com.

Kelly and I co-own Mom Webs and I’m a financial contributor to WAHM Talk Radio…but Kelly does all the hard work. :-)

Lynette and I also have some software projects in the works and the first is the free Opt-in Builder.

I also work with Mila Sidman on a growing collection of private label content projects, with the first being All Mom Content. We also have a number of content websites we work on together.

I now work with a full time affiliate manager, Heather Eagar, who manages my affiliate programs, recruits affiliates and works with my affiliates to get them active. I don’t know how I lived without her before.

…and the list goes on.

Partnering with other business owners has so many benefits for everyone involved.

- Drawing on one another’s strengths. If you are strong in one area, but lack in another important element, partnering with someone who is strong in those areas will help tremendously. For instance, I’m not a technical person, Lynette is. Therefore, she does more of that stuff, while I do more writing, etc.

- It’s a good push to move ahead…if my partner completes an aspect of the project, I know it’s my turn to move full-steam ahead.

- Drawing on each other’s resources including mailing lists, traffic, contacts, writers, assistants etc. This in turn gives your product or service more exposure that you may not have tapped into with just your own resources.

If you’ve partnered with another business owner I’d love to know what you liked about it and if you’d do it again. If you haven’t worked with someone else yet, what’s your first partnership going to be?

Haven't Received That Big Online Shopping Rush, Yet? Have No Fear...

...because according to ClickZ:

"Holiday shoppers are expected to spend $32 billion online this season, with purchases happening well past ground shipping cutoff dates. That's according to "Online Retail Holiday Forecast, 2006," a report from JupiterResearch."

Offering shipping alternatives and giving your customers as many options as possible just might help you get that last minute rush. Someone desperate for what you have doesn't care what UPS charges to deliver it overnight...so keep your customers happy.

The full article is here.

The Gift of Work at Home - All The Cool Kids Are Doing It!

I saw this on Kelly McCausey's blog and thought it was sooooo cool, so I stole her idea and wrote my own blog post about it!

What you see is the "Fisher Price Work-At-Home Office" perfect for the little girl (or even boy) who loves to pretend they are a really cool home business owner. It's part of the Loving Family Dollhouse collection that includes an SUV, family nursery, kitchen and even mommy and daddy's bedroom!

According to the manufacturer:

"Phone calls to make, e-mail to check, reports to type-oh, and a meeting with Kitty! Working at home is more fun with a cozy, well-equipped office. It's full of important features-like a sturdy desk, sliding keyboard shelf, roomy hutch, printer cabinet with opening door, and more. For work to go, the laptop slides right into the handy carry bag!"

Very cool!

The Death of 2006

Sorry, couldn’t resist the subject line. We talked about the Death of Adsense and even the Death of Internet marketing, but here’s something eminent coming and that’s “The Death of 2006”. In just over a month, 2006 will be over.

I hope you had a great business year and are gearing up for a bigger 2007. I’d love to hear your success stories and plans for the New Year.

Come as You Are Blog Party & I'm Invited - Watch Out!

I'm a regular reader of Lynn Terry's blog, but I completely missed my invitation to the "Come as You Are Blog Party", so I'm accepting it now.

Here is how I am:


This is taken about 10 minutes after waking up, rushing my kids off to school before I get a couple hours of work done. I am dress and out of my pajamas, but I haven't had a chance for a shower and clearly, have no make-up on. This is what I usually look like before I begin my work day.

Here are Lynn's instructions for the party:

Take a photo of yourself… RIGHT NOW… and post it on your blog. Then invite/tag (ping) the next 4 bloggers that you want to see “as is” ;)

Then tell us WHY you look that way (in your photo), and say something about the person that ‘tagged’ you with this Meme!

So I'm inviting:

• Kelly McCausey
• Martin Avis
• Kristie T
• Lynette Chandler

Can't wait to see y'all.

"Come as you are,
as you were,
As I want you to be
As a friend,
As a friend,
As an old enemy
Take your time, hurry up
The choice is yours, don't be late..."

Supporting Home Business

I know it’s hard to believe, but not all home business is on the Internet. I love to support home businesses and buy from them when I can. One popular business model is the home party model a lot of stay at home moms (and even men get in on the action too!) seem to like.

According to the Direct Selling Association, who monitors over 260 direct selling companies, the industry grew over 78% in 2005 with $30 billion in revenue. A large portion of that can be attributed to the home party business. More and more companies are coming on board with the home party way of selling products. Here is a huge list of direct sales companies that join the ranks of Mary Kay and Tupperware.

Home party businesses are growing in popularity for reasons such as determining your own schedule, no inventory to keep, and room for growth that the business owner controls, not someone else. If you need more money, have more parties.

If I’m invited to a home party, I always go, unless there is a prior commitment that keeps me from going. I love to support home business and to buy cool stuff from the comfort of home. In fact, I hosted my own Tupperware party with a friend yesterday. Not only did I get to get together with friends and eat some yummy snacks – I was also entitled to free products for throwing the party. It’s fun.

Now, I’m not saying you have to call your Tupperware rep and have a party…but what can you do to support home based business?

Virtual Assistants & Those Looking for a VA

The first advice I always give about outsourcing is to hire a virtual assistant for even just a few hours per week or month. A VA can do such a variety of tasks and it really is amazing what a weight it can lift. This way you can stay focused on more important things in your business.

One thing I am asked all the time is “Where can I find a VA?” It would be so much easier if I could just send everyone who asks me that question to one central place.

I know many VAs read my blog, so just shout out. If you’re a virtual assistant, post your skills and website URL in the comments section below.

Also, if you know a VA, tell him or her about this entry. They can come and post their information here as well.

Black Friday Gift Ideas - Easy & for the Internet Marketer

If you're like me, there's a few Internet marketers on your list that you probably want to share a bit of holiday joy with. Forget about battling the local mall.

Side note: My mother-in-law crossed the U.S. border last night to get up for 5 AM shopping today. She invited me to come along. I love spending time with my mother-in-law, but I won't get up that early and battle those crowds just to end up paying full price for what I actually want.

But back to the Internet marketer on your list. Sure, you can send them candies and they'll probably be eagerly gobbled up, but why not put something a little more unique together? Here's a few ideas:

1. Keep Them from Losing Their Precious Files: Help them easily keep back-ups by giving them a USB Flash Drive. They even have personalized ones at Pexagon Technology, Inc.

2. Do They Need to Work on More Than One Computer?: A GoToMyPC subscription makes working in multiple locations/computers a snap.

3. Have They Been Toying with Starting Their Internet Business All Year, But Haven't Started? Get them started by signing up for the Internet Based Family website builder. It's perfect for those with minimal computer/online skills. Or choose your favorite website builder and get them started with that. No more excuses!

4. Do They Want More Content for Their Websites, But Never Get Around to It? If they market to moms, consider a subscription to All Mom Content or grab them a few article packs at Easy PLR. Or go the extra mile and get a writer working on a project on Elance or at Article Mojo.

5. Do You Really, Really Like Them And Want Them to Get Their Online Business to the Next Level? You can't go wrong with a huge DVD / CD-Rom Traffic Secrets set. It's transformed so many online businesses (use this link to find out how it has helped me too) and they'll be thrilled with the big box of goodies shipped to their door.

Whatever you do, make someone's holiday extra special!

A Meeting of the Minds...Mom Master Ones, That Is

The day before I left for Vegas, I met up with three local fellow Internet marketers and Mom Masterminds members for lunch. It was great to finally put real faces (not just photos) to names and just chat about everything. We talked business, family and had a great time over Caesar salads and shrimp sandwiches.




From left, that's Diana, yours truly, Vera (whom I've met locally several times before) and Melody.

Thanks for a great afternoon, ladies!

‘Tis the Season…To Make Money with Your List

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers to the south. This Friday is the infamous Black Friday for holiday shoppers so I thought today would be a good day to talk a bit about online shopping.

I know a lot of online stores and marketers are gearing up for a tremendously busy holiday season. According to eMarketer.com, this year's online holiday sales will total $24.3 billion, a 22.1% increase from last year.

In past years online shopping from newbies was high, but this year it’s likely more shoppers are going to be those who have shopped online in the past. So they know what they want and know how to search for it if necessary.

That being said, why make them hunt down what they need? If you have a list, why not use it to your advantage and hand your subscribers what they are looking for so they don’t have to search?

My friend and business partner, Kelly McCausey, has created a guide to help you make money with your list this holiday season.

Kelly offers ideas to help warm up your cold list, what products fit best with different types of subscribers and even explains how you can create a new list just for the holiday season.

The idea sparking report, along with accompanying audio, printable notes and brainstorming checklist are sure to get your list in the gift giving spirit this year.

Grab yours here: http://www.aliceseba.com/holidaylist.html

Do You Care when Someone Copies You?

I know a lot of people get upset when they see someone copying something they've done on their website. Sometimes they’re miffed that people seemingly stole their ideas. I say seemingly because ideas are a dime a dozen and everyone has them.

We all pick up ideas from the things we do in our day and most things lack complete originally. Besides you can't copyright an idea, as I wrote a couple years back.

What about when people copy your text? I know people get really angry about this and will shout from the rooftops that they've been ripped off. I've been there and shouted myself. These days, I can't be bothered.

Most people who copy aren't going anywhere and it's not worth my time chasing after everyone. So now, if I catch someone copying text, I'll ask them to cut it out (or I’ll send my goons!), but I don't lose sleep over it.

How do you deal with copyright violations?

More PLR Coming Soon – Let’s Get Healthy

The PLR site that Mila Sidman and I have is doing very well. We wanted to create a PLR site that provided the best content possible on one focused topic.

Most (Easy PLR Articles is one exception) PLR sites are crap. Unfortunately, they are meant for those who build a bunch of sites set up for keyword phrases without caring about the quality of information they are offering their visitors.

We know that our customers are different. They want quality information for their readers. They know that content is what keeps visitors coming back and they also know that the less opportunity they give those visitors to leave, the more likely they are to purchase. That’s why they appreciate All Mom Content. And that’s why we give them what they want. Here’s just some of the feedback we’ve received from our members.

- “It's an incredible value, especially considering I'm getting articles that I'll actually be able to use.”

- “It's refreshing to see a quality PLR site like AllMomContent.com.”

- “Incredibly affordable and no waste--every single article is relevant and usable.”

- “If I had made a list of articles I needed written, I would think you had gotten your hands on it!”


Through feedback from customers and readers, Mila and I knew they were hungry for even more content. One of the most popular topics that interested them was health. So, we’ve decided to put together stellar health content that is available month after month, beginning December 1st.

People spend tons of money on health products and information. Here are some figures to show you just how hot this topic is:

- According to the National Sporting Goods Association in 2005, Americans purchased $5.2 billion worth of exercise equipment.

- Approximately $14 billion of dietary supplements are sold in the U.S. each year says ConsumerLab.com (2004).

- 24% of adults engage in "vigorous" leisure-time physical activity 3 or more times per week, according to the United States Center for Disease Control & Prevention.

If you’re interested in tapping in on the health market and need quality content sign up for my Internet Marketing Prescriptions and you’ll be the first to know when the resource is available.

Catch Me if You Can: I’ll be MIA

I’m heading to Vegas for a few days. Do I feel lucky? We’ll see just how lucky I am. Thanks to the automation of my business and outsourcing to helpful and competent staff, you might never even know I’m gone. Hee hee.

Thank goodness for my trusty virtual assistants. Because of them, my emails won’t pile up and my customers will get the support necessary to keep their businesses running smoothly.

Auto-responders let me throw the dice (yes, I know that’s cheesy) without worry of whether my lists are receiving their next helpful tip or resource.

Heck, I even have blog entries already written up and thanks to scheduling, they can be posted on the dates I’m away.

See, I told you. You wouldn’t even have known I was going to be gone if I hadn’t told you. So, when I strike it rich at the tables, I may never come back and no one will ever know. :-)

Contractors – Do They Stay or Do They Go?

Recently, there was a discussion on a marketing forum I’m a member of where people were talking about why they didn’t like outsourcing. Many of them complain that contractors come and go and are unreliable.

Unfortunately, this can be the case with some contractors and I have had to deal with this in the past. I’ve learned my lesson and am ready should this ever happen again.

I am prepared for situations like this by continuously building a detailed manual of task instructions for my business. John Reese recommends doing this with screen capture video, but I make written checklists with screenshots, as I think people are more likely to refer to written instructions than sit through long videos. I have a big binder of them.

Also, if someone is going to quit, I make them do a few checklists before they go. This gives me the most up-to-date info on where particular duties/tasks stand so that I can easily bring someone else in or complete them myself, if absolutely necessary.

A few tips for finding contractors that will stick around:

First, don’t hire the cheapest contractor you find. Choose someone who comes recommended or that you already know through your networking circles.

Secondly, once you find someone that is good and you work well with, give them regular work. A well trained helper for you and your business is priceless and should be treated that way.

You can get more of my outsourcing tips via email here: http://www.outsourcingsweetie.com/tips.html

Sorry BizyMoms.Com - Affiliate Program Thumbs Down

For a few years, I've been a BizyMoms.com affiliate. They pay a measly $2 per ebook. Although they now have a few products that pay a bit more, it's still mainly much $2 per ebook. I decided to promote them because they had some highly-targeted ebooks for a few articles I had written. At the time, I didn't feel like putting my own ebooks together.

Side Note: For those who don't know, Bizy Moms sells a bunch of work from home idea and some crafty type ebooks.

Interestingly enough, they have a $100 threshold to get paid. That means you have to sell about 50 ebooks to get paid. I'm guessing a lot of affiliates send sales and never get paid because they don't reach $100.

But worse yet, if you do reach $100, you might not get paid either! This wasn't such a problem when Liz Folger owned the site (although I do recall reminding them about payment once), but the website has since changed hands. Over the past few months, I had been receiving numerous sales notifications, so in October, I logged into my account to see where I was at.

I discovered I had been over $100 for a while. I put in a support ticket and the woman who answered assured me that it would be taken care of on the next payment.

It wasn't.

I submitted a support ticket yesterday and the replied to tell me the I needed to send a PayPal request and they would pay me. AND that anytime I get to $100, I needed to do the same. Here's is what they said:

"Hi Alice,

Ok, I spoke with the President and he said for you to send us an invoice through paypal to XXXXXX

In the future, once you get to $100.00 just send us an invoice, this way you will get your commissions promptly.

Be sure to mention that it is for Affiliate commissions, and to mention the last billing date with the billing amount along with the new amount.

Again, I apologize for any delay. In the future- just invoice us and we will make sure your are taken care of promptly :-)

Have a great week!

XXXXX
Career Kit Support Manager
Assistant to the President"

WHAT? They want me to ask for the money they owe me? Last I checked, that's not how affiliate programs work. I did ask for a reasoning for this, but I haven't received reply yet. I'll let you know if I do.

It certainly makes me think they don't pay out a lot of commissions. First, most of their affiliates probably never get to $100. Second, if they do, they aren't paid until they submit a support ticket and then a PayPal request.

To their credit, they paid me within minutes of sending my PayPal request, but that's really not the point.

Their ebooks fit my market well, but I'm no longer going to work for peanuts AND then have to beg to be paid. Sorry BizyMoms.com, you've just turned your affiliate into a competitor. :-(

More on that later...

Opt - In Feedback Received After Only 1 Day

It’s only been a day and Lynette and I have already received some great feedback from users of the opt-in page builder.

Here’s one that let us know that it was what we had hoped by being quick and easy to use.

“The Opt-in Builder is a tool I could have used a long time ago. It allowed me to create an opt-in page very quickly. After spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to best structure my pages, I really appreciate how easy it was to get my opt-in page ready to go for my website! What I find most useful is that the builder leads me through the important parts of a sales letter, like a headline and testimonials. Using it means I don't have to worry about whether or not I'm missing an important element of the sales letter! Thank you for this great tool!”

Angela Wills
ShoppingForCandles.com

Have you tried the opt-in builder yet? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts?

It’s Ready - Opt-in Builder for Free for a Limited Time

Today is the day! Over the last few months, I have been telling you about a tool that Lynette Chandler and I have been putting together. We designed this software and full guide to make creating one page opt-in sites easier. For a limited time only, we are offering our Opt-In Builder for free.

When you give your visitors only one decision to make, sign up for your list, it stops distractions and results in higher opt-in rates. If you have a site with lots of content, links, etc. and a sign up box somewhere on every page (you do have sign up boxes on your site, don’t you?), the probability that your visitor will sign up for your list is far lower than if you give them one call to action and nothing else to distract them.

If you are sending highly targeted traffic to an opt-in page, then the chances of your visitors signing up for (and staying on) your list are much higher. I personally get an opt-in rate between 40 and 60% when I send targeted traffic to my opt-in pages. Not bad, if I do say so myself. ;)

I’m not saying that this opt-in builder will skyrocket your subscriber numbers, because let’s face it; if you aren’t sending the right traffic to your site, then they won’t be interested. However, if you get the right traffic to your site, then they will join your list if that’s the only option they have.

If you currently receive my copywriting tips, then you should have received an email this morning with the download link for the software. If you didn’t receive it or are having trouble, go to www.internetbasedsupport.com and request product support.

Sign up for the opt-in builder software and receive my copywriting tips to learn how to raise your conversions even more. Remember, this is a limited time offer…it won’t be free forever.

Order Pizza Online - Thanks Pizza Hut!

Tonight my husband said that we should order Pizza Hut (we already had dinner and the kids are asleep) and I was thinking, "Nah...there's plenty of food in the fridge".

But I went over to PizzaHut.com and saw this:



I was pretty excited, but then I realized I was at the American Pizza Hut website. I figured if I went to the Canadian one, they wouldn't have the same online ordering option. We Canadians just don't buy as much stuff online.

But PizzaHut.ca didn't let me down:



I signed up for my free account and made my first order. How cool is that? I didn't have to ask the phone operator a thousand questions and I could choose all the options on all the items we ordered.

Nice going, Pizza Hut. Now if only Safeway could follow suit. They deliver in Arizona, California, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Washington D.C....please deliver to British Columbia, Canada too!

Oh Crap - Now Internet Marketing is Dying

If it wasn't enough that Adsense was dying (snort, snort), it seems Internet marketing is suffering the same fate. I just finished reading a "The Death of Internet Marketing" report by Mike Filsaime and apparently it's "true".

(If you haven't seen the report, search on Technorati as I am not an affiliate for this one and Google isn't quite up-to-date on this new report)

A bit of a disclaimer before I begin. I like Mike Filsaime. I've met him personally several times, we had good conversations and I learned quite a bit from him. I even like many aspects of his report. He also makes more money than I do.

Note: Much of his information applies to people selling Internet marketing information to other Internet marketers, but a good chunk of the info applies to all.

What I find curious is around page 41 where he starts to talk about Internet marketers needing to learn to say no, he says things like "Sorry, I'm overbooked," or "I have fulfilled my limit for this month...". He also talks about getting your "Group of 8" that you cross-promote with and those are the people to say yes too.

I agree, if someone asks you to promote your product (in the IM 2 IM niche or not), you have to learn to say no, but there are far more important fundamental reason for doing so and not because they're in your "Group of 8".

Hang on a sec...this is groundbreaking and I bet most of you will never have thought of it...

ONLY PROMOTE PRODUCTS THAT ARE DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO WHAT YOU TEACH AND WHAT WILL BE OF GREATEST BENEFIT YOUR SUBSCRIBERS

As my business matures, I have developed what could be considered a "Group of 8" (I'm not sure of the exact number because I haven't counted!). It actually developed by accident and working closely with this group of people, but I don't just say yes because they have a new product coming. I evaluate each product and opportunity on its own merit. Yes, my "Group of 8" may get priority consideration, but that doesn't mean anything automatic.

For example, I've had a few people ask me to promote their products that revolved around niche marketing. I don't teach niche marketing and would rather see people do really well in a wider market than spreading themselves too thin in a bunch of small, unrelated markets. I don't care who you are - even if you're my cousin, sister or mother - if it doesn't fit in with what I'm teaching, then you don't get past the door.

On the other hand, if you present something to me that fits in perfectly with what I'm doing, but you aren't in my "good ol' girls and boys club", you still get consideration.

Stay sweet and have your readers in mind...and you'll do well. Sure, it's an oversimplification, but for those of you Internet Marketing Sweeties out there, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Free Tool Update: More Subscribers This Tuesday

Just an update on the free tool I told you Lynette Chandler and I are working on. It will be ready Tuesday.

It's definitely something that could be charged for. In fact, some people sell some very similar software - up to $97 a pop from what I've seen. This will be free.

No, it's not a magic tool that will instantly pump up your Aweber or QuickSales account with a bunch of new subscribers. It will take a bit of thought and planning on your part and there will be some work involved. But I'll tell you, doing this type of things has DRAMATICALLY increased my opt-in rates and has been well worth the effort.

More info coming next week!

More on My Favorite Topic - Work Smarter, Not Harder

Tonight I'm going be speaking at the Virtual WAH Expo (you can sign up, no charge here, if you're interested).

The topic of tonight's seminar is one of my favorites: "Work Smarter, Not Harder"

As I was preparing my speech, I thought there was some things that would interest you. After all, what online business owner isn't interested in getting more with less work. :-)

To me, in comes down to 4 key points:

· Value your time
· Leverage the strengths and time of others
· Implement Passive Income Models into your Business
· Don’t be afraid of technology

Here's some more thoughts on each of those:

Value Your Time: You need to set and limit your working hours. You probably run your business, so you can stay home with your family&/or have more freedom. Well, being a prisoner to your computer doesn't do either of those things for you.

In addition, when you limit your work time, you are more productive. If you have only 3 hours to get work done, you're more likely to stay focused and do what you need to do. If you have set aside the whole day to work, you'll probably slack off and hang out at forums, check your stats endlessly or find other distractions. Sorry to say - that's NOT working.

Leverage The Strength & Time of Others: Don't think of yourself as a solo entrepreneur...think of yourself as a team. You can leverage the strength and time of others by:

• Outsourcing: Never try to do it all yoursel!
• Partnering with others reaching the same target market as you (your competition doesn't need to be your enemy!)
• Recruiting and training an affiliate force: Just setting up the script for your affiliate program isn't enough...set up a stellar program instead.
  
• Being part of mastermind group that shares business strategies and experiences.

Implement Passive Income Models Into Your Business: Outsourcing and having your own well-managed affiliate program are ways to generate passive income. Other ways to add more passive income to your online business are:

• Join affiliate programs: You don't have to fulfill all the orders and provide customer support.
• Learn search engine optimization (SEO): You don't have to get technical. Follow this link for an ultra-simple tutorial.
• Implement pay-per-click strategies: Get steady and highly-targeted traffic to your website...try Adwords of Yahoo Search Marketing. Perry Marshall has a great tutorial to get you started with Adwords.
• Use autoresponders: Effectively automate your follow-up process with our prospect and customers.
• Backend Sales & Upsells: When someone is already going to buy from you once, they're more likely to buy more. Make sure you make extra offers.

Embracing Technology: This one might be tough for some non-technical people. Honestly, I'm not very technical and I get intimidated by technology...but I do know that if I can automate something in my business, it saves me time and money. That's why I have a programmer on hand to help me with stuff like this. I don't have to implement the technology myself. I just use it to my advantage in my business.

Some uses of technology can include...but the possibilities are ENDLESS

• Autoresponders
• Shopping carts
• Membership sites
• Automating content addition to your sites
• Making customer/prospect management easier and more profitable
• Customer feedback, comments, reviews
• Affiliate program
• Tracking advertising and split testing

So please, stop doing so much work! You're business, family and friends will thank you for it!

Update on PR Web - Get in for $10?

A little while back, I wrote about PR Web no longer offering their free press release distribution services. Not having logged into my PR Web account recently, I thought I'd check it out to see what happened.

It looks like that you can still get a release in their for $10 (You can specify $10 in the "other amount area. If you put $0, it defaults to $10), but I imagine it will be the same as the free service PR Web used to offer. Still, I'm not sure if this is a glitch because when you read the notice from Dennis McInnis, it looks like he is saying that the $80 SEO service is the minimum you can pay.




















You might want to double-check before you pay for your release.

Regardless, this brings me to whether PR Web is the BEST place to submit your release, which seems to be a common rumor among the Internet Marketing community. Simply put -- if you want media attention -- PR Web is NOT the best place to submit your release. It is ONE place to submit your release.

If you just want incoming links to your site, PR Web might be a way to go. But for ongoing and growing media attention, you need to build your own media list. You need to get to know your media contacts, their deadlines and so forth.

And for goodness sakes, start with your local media. A huge publication MAY be interested in your story, but a local media outlet is way more likely to pay attention to your story. Even if your website/company has national or international appeal, start local and build up your media experience and portfolio.

Anyway, should you still use PR Web because you have to pay for it?

Sure, you should. I've had some pretty decent results using them for free and paid. But don't think if you've submitted your release to PR Web, you've done all you can to get media exposure.

Cereal Box Prizes Gone Virtual

I remember the days when there was an actual toy in the cereal box. I used to drive my mom crazy because I could never wait until the box was empty, so I'd rifle through the bag until I found the prize and I could never get the cereal back into the box properly. ;-)

Well, we bought a box of Honey Nut Cheerios on the weekend and there is no toy in the box. The prize is VIRTUAL. At first, my son thought there was an actual game in the box and I told him, "It says 'virtual prize code inside'. I don't think it's an actual game inside."

He says very excitedly, "Ooooh, maybe something on the computer?"

Sure enough, that's what it was. It was a code to get some extra spending points on the NeoPets site. My son was THRILLED.

Now, personally I would have thought a virtual prize in a box wouldn't go over so well, but I imagine times are a-changin'. My son loves everything digital. He's only 5 and if he sees a meat thermometer or a calorie counter in a store he wants to have it because well, digital stuff is cool. He doesn't have to know what it is, but if it's like a computer, he wants it. I guess that translates to also thinking codes to get free stuff on a computer is also cool.

Imagine how much money it saves the companies by making their prizes virtual...plus, they get new users to their website (you have to register to use it) which is littered with ads for various General Mills products and other things for sale.