Getting Traffic Through Publicity

If your reading this, you must be online and most likely have a website. You must also be interested in making money from this website, but there is only one way you can do that- traffic and lots of it.

You may have done those calculations in your head, which you use to try and justify getting really cheap, ineffective traffic by the bucketful. You might have signed up for those "guaranteed traffic" scams by thinking that "if only ¼% bought, I'd be a millionaire!"

It doesn't work because most traffic is entirely unfocused and the focused traffic is extremely expensive.

Publicity driven traffic doesn't work that way.

When you use publicity to promote your site, you will get 55 gallon barrels full of traffic delivered directly to your site for almost no cost, other than your time. There are a few ingredients to getting this traffic though, and that includes time, persistence and creativity.

1. Time- you have to focus on who your spending time courting because each venue has a certain intrinsic value to you. You don't want to spend 2 hours courting a guy with an e-zine base of 100 but you might think about it if he had a major website with millions of visitors a month.

2. Persistence- publicity rarely comes quickly. In my experience, it can sometimes take months of sending a new press release every few weeks and plenty of personal emails before a major outlet would cover something that I wanted them to. However, when they did, it was worth it!

3. Creativity- publicity is based entirely upon being able to be more creative than your competitor. This is why publicity stunts work; everybody, the media included, loves creativity. It makes them think, it makes them laugh, and it gets them to pay attention. It makes you stand out as an intelligent person. This could include a good news hook or something interesting in your press kit.

Publicity can be used on and offline to bring you publicity, and I would recommend using both venues. Trade journals are surprisingly easy to get into if you have a good article and writing skills. If you don't, you can always hire a ghostwriter to do them for you at a reasonable rate.

Good luck!

Bryan Thompson is a young entrepreneur and founder of Press Release Writing Online ( http://www.prwritingonline.com ). In his experience as a freelance publicist, writer and entrepreneur, he has worked with dozens of small, medium and large companies. He is also writing a book on the basics of publicity for small businesses and is also managing several other online businesses at the same time. You may contact him at info@prwritingonline.com.

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


How To Use PR To Build Your Business

Everyone knows the value of free publicity. And given the... Read More

4th Quarter 2003 Publicity = 1st Quarter 2004 Prosperity

As the year starts to wind down, many businesses and... Read More

Marketing-Minded Financial Planners: Get Free Publicity by Choosing the Right Outlets

Sure, any publicity is good. But don't invest time and... Read More

Underestimating the Power of In-House PR

Do small-business owners always have to rely on large PR... Read More

For Financial Planners, Marketing and Publicity Is About You

For financial planners, getting publicity, in the end, isn't about... Read More

Are There Secrets to Gaining Media Coverage?

Are there secrets to gaining media coverage or is it... Read More

Business Gifts for Your Clients and Employees

Tis' the season for business and corporate gift-giving! If you... Read More

Managers and PR: One Thing Is Clear

As a business, non-profit or association manager, you have a... Read More

PR and the Small Matter of Results

As a business, non-profit and association manager, how satisfied are... Read More

Whats Important About PR?

Quite a bit, actually. Public relations helps business, non- profit... Read More

Making Press Releases Work - Creating News Where None Existed

Aren't you tired of hearing how extremely easy it is... Read More

The Press Pack Is Chasing You - Give Them Room

There's good news for public relations execs, marketing professionals and... Read More

Cross Cultural Communication & PR

The Public Relations (PR) industry is responsible for creating and... Read More

Media Relations: How We Landed on the Wall Street Journals Front Page

Media relations is a great profession.On good days, I earn... Read More

Boost Your Business by Partnering with a Non Profit Organization

Is your business looking for new and creative ways to... Read More

Want to Light a Fire Under Your PR?

Yes? Then do something positive about the behaviors of those... Read More

Getting to Know Your Local City Council Members

The easiest way to meet city council members is to... Read More

The Art Of Persuasive Pitching

Media placement is an art. Practicing it often requires as... Read More

Keep The Publicity Machine Rolling with Reprints

More than half of America skips the Super Bowl, the... Read More

Media Relations: What To Do When Youre Misquoted

When ABC News anchor Peter Jennings announced he had lung... Read More

Are You Sure You Know What Youre Doing?

Because when it comes to public relations, non-believers can produce... Read More

3 Essential Elements For Turning Your PR Pitch Into Publicity Exposure

1) Establish Rapport, then get the editor/producer excited.There's not a... Read More

Publicity: Nailing a Media Interview, Part II (Crisis Management)

We'd all like reporters to ask us about our career... Read More

Media Training: When Reporters Bully You

UNDER FIREA friend whose organization is often in the media... Read More

Media Contact Lists and How to Build a Fantastic One

I got the latest issue of Internet Works in the... Read More

Three Publicity Tips for Marketing-Minded Financial Planners

Financial planners, the first thing to know about reporters is... Read More

The Press Release is Dead (Now Will Somebody Please Tell the Clients?)

In competing for a piece of business not too long... Read More

How Video Production can be used in PR

At the core of any successful public relations campaign is... Read More

Time to Spruce Up Your Public Relations?

Better check out the public relations fundamental premise, then take... Read More

PR Failure Defined

I define public relations failure this way:key audience perceptions are... Read More

Media Training 101: When 60 Minutes Knocks On Your Door

You never know when 60 Minutes will knock on your... Read More

Managers: Heres a PR Template for You

Let's start out with a caution for business, non-profit and... Read More

Public Relations Primer Part III: 10 Donts

There are all kinds of smart moves professionals can make... Read More