When an expert, author or small-business owner creates a website to promote his or her expertise, service, product or business, they’ll typically find generating traffic to their site is a lot harder than they expected. Websites are a great tool to engage current and potential target audiences; but if they aren’t flocking to your site, you’ll need to get the word out. That’s when PR and mainstream media placements can be invaluable.
The power of PR lies in sharing your unique expertise, knowledge and perspective with the media and the public. Being featured in print, broadcast or online media can give you priceless publicity, with results you may not have even dreamed. Take Stress Elimination and Neuroplasticity Expert Don Goewey. After giving a radio interview to promote his book Mystic Cool on 102.1 KDFC San Francisco, Don’s website MysticCool.com saw a tremendous spike in visitors — over 10,000 that morning. Don is one of my PR firm’s clients and our job is to get him out in front of his target audience. But there are ways you can get media placements and produce results like Don’s — for free — with media connection sites PitchRate.com, HARO and Reporter Connection.
Sites like PitchRate.com (http://www.PitchRate.com) and Reporter Connection offer experts, authors and small-business owners an amazing opportunity to gain free publicity — and increase their website traffic — for their books, businesses and products. When you sign up for these services you’ll get daily media requests from journalists looking for sources. Find a request that fits your expertise and pitch the journalist directly. If they like what you have to offer, you can be featured as the go-to source in your expertise. Not only can it boost the number of visitors to your website, but it can also increase your credibility among your target audience.
Once you land that media placement and you find yourself in Don Goewey’s shoes —giving a radio interview that could drive 10,000 visitors to your site the same day— you’ll need to practice your sound bites, develop a clear and memorable message and most importantly, make sure the URL of your website can be remembered and easily spelled by the audience listening to the program. Don’s MysticCool.com is easy and memorable; but what if he had gone with DonJosephGoewey.com or Neuroplasticity.com? Would he have seen such a spike in traffic? Could you spell “neuroplasticity” after hearing it mentioned on the radio? Just like with everything in PR and business, being clear, concise and simple is the way to go.