Blogs, RSS, Press Releases

Posted on January 3, 2006

If you’re on my list you know that I worked with Dr. Joe Vitale during the offiical launch of his latest book “The Atrractor Factor“. That launch was one of the wildest one-day marketing rides I’ve ever been on. Joe managed to hit the #1 and #4 spot on Amazon’s Best Seller lists twice. Ten or so days later he hit the top of the charts again! A large part of that marketing blitz was based on submitting online Press Releases (managed by Joe and his publicist) as well as RSS submissions (managed by yours truly). It is an education I will never forget and I am fully aware that a large part of Joe’s success with this launch is a result of Press Releases.

Having been a part of Joe’s promotion and listening to another respected online traffic expert, I’ve decided to run a few tests of my own. To carry this out effectively I needed to strip out all other promotional channels for a new launch - emailing my list, soliciting joint venture partners, using an affiliate program, driving traffic with PPC ads, etc. and just let the sales come in as a result of press release submissions. I’ll let you know how it went - my sales and traffic figures - at the start of next week. I’ll also share some press release writing and submission tips from the experts at that time.

In the interim, I strongly suggest that you, as I did, follow in the millionaire marketers’ footsteps. If press releases work for Dr. Joe Vitale and John Reese, they’re sure to give you more of what you need - traffic, exposure, attention, sales, subscribers… Do it right, fast and easy - use the press release software used by many experts in the business.

Here’s my press release, submitted yesterday evening…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1/2/2006

Wasted Potential: A Blog’s RSS Feed

“Approximately 85% of blog owners are only using 50% of the software’s potential! What is the silent 1/2 that isn’t being utilized? A blog’s RSS feed.”

Boulter, Ontario - January 2, 2006

Laura Childs can’t believe just how many WordPress blog owners are missing out on half the potential of their blog software. But she doesn’t want to work too hard to get the word out.

“Although blogging software has been available to all of us for years, 2005 can officially go down in history as the year that blogging really went mainstream. I’ve even heard of some people setting up hundreds of blogs per week,” says Laura Childs, co-author of The Stampede Secret, 2004-2005’s hot selling membership site on using blogs and RSS feeds.

Just where is this lost potential in a WordPress blog? Laura says the secrets are in the blog’s backend, safely tucked away in the software, so elusive that most bloggers are barely aware of it.

RSS feeds are the working cogs of a blog platform. These text-heavy and code-light, database-generated files work overtime as they become syndicated by other websites for content, checked by the search engines for updates, and read by about 14% of all internet users. To illustrate how viable a blog’s rss is, you must understand that every category created in WordPress, every post written, every series of comments that a visitor leaves behind - affects, alters and adds to an RSS Feed running in the blog.

“The part that amazes me the most,” says Smartzville’s owner, “is that most WordPress owners have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of their blog’s rss! Even more perplexing is that the majority of gurus and info publishers selling blog related products and software barely touch on the subject in their $27-497 reports! It’s sad really - so much work and money wasted.”

As sad as it may sound, Smartzville still isn’t too eager to share the quick fixes and help the thousands of WordPress blog owners to increase their website traffic and visibility in the search engines. Convinced that if the masses were to discover the truth and tweak all their installs, blog owners with truly valuable content wouldn’t stand a chance in the marketplace.

That conviction may strike a note of dischord by some readers of Smartzville’s site. The latest post clearly states, “…to be honest I donâ€™t care how many people buy these tiny secrets…I want these to be our secrets. Yours and mine. To heck with everyone else whoâ€™s throwing up hundreds of blogs every month hoping to turn a buck or two. I donâ€™t care about them, I care about you - my visitor, my reader.” (excerpt: http://www.smartzville.com/marketing-help/blogrss.htm)

Contact Laura Childs for more insights on Blogs and RSS Feeds…(remainder of information stripped)

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Resources: Press Release software - Submit your 500 word press release (plus get the tips on how to do this effectively bundled right into your product) in under 20 minutes for optimum coverage, increased traffic and more ‘buzz’ for your promotion.

The largest and busiest press release service online won’t be issuing my article until the 6th of January, but in the meantime I can watch traffic that the other sites send.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/1/prweb328127.php
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/Internet/Blogs_RSS_Feeds_Wasted_47523.html
http://openpr.com/news/2405

Bookmark / Tag It! Stumble It!

Read More Like It: Making Money with Blogs, Website Traffic

4 Replies to “Blogs, RSS, Press Releases”

Jackie Willey on January 18th, 2006 12:41 pm

How did your press release work for you? Did you pay for any distributions or did you only use the free services?

Hope you got lot of media attention and great links. I don’t see many links for your release in Google as of today.
Smartzville on January 27th, 2006 2:33 pm

Hi Jackie:

Sorry it took me so long to reply to this…

Here’s the scoop. I did get a surge in traffic, but my ‘news’ wasn’t very exciting and my sales letter wasn’t strong enough to convince many people to buy.

I think it all fell apart at the product level. A product on getting the most out of your “WordPress blog’s RSS feed” is pretty obscure wouldn’t you agree? First of all only about 12% of all online users even know what an RSS Feed is, and probably only a tiny percentage of those 12% have a WordPress blog.

I’ve always been just a little before my time. As more and more people begin using WordPress and then want to know more about getting more traffic as a result of RSS positioning I’m sure more sales will be made. I’m just going to sit on it for about 6 months.

I did learn something of huge value however. PRweb did send more than the lion’s share of traffic, but I would have recieved (I’m guessing here) at least twice as much from them had I paid $30 to have my links activated. That’s the minimum ‘contribution’ required for active links - I’m not sure that’s posted anywhere on their site but that’s what I was told in an email conversation I had later with them.

I hope this helps all readers when they’re ready to tell the world about their new site or product!

Keep on marketing!

Laura Childs
http://www.smartzville.com
Jackie Willey on January 30th, 2006 11:43 am

Thanks for honestly telling us your results.

Did you make it in Google news or Yahoo News for free using the Press Release software?
Smartzville on January 30th, 2006 11:56 am

Yes, I made it into Google News at the #1 for two days (that I checked). I never did check Yahoo news.

In retrospect, it was a crazy time to test.

The market isn’t ready.

The season and the dates weren’t great. (Who does anything with their online business in the first few days of January?)

Even I was distracted by Christmas and family and children (and never did follow up particularly well on the results).

At the end of the day I still find that I get more bang for my buck (visitors, subscribers, sales) blogging and promoting my rss feed(s).

Just make sure you’re picking a ripe market and your ROI is higher than a few $19 ebook sales.