Increase Your Visibility: Getting The Word Out!

This article isn’t so much for my fellow bloggers and freelance writers as it is for the many people who are trying to get their information in front of my eyes. On most weekdays I receive several requests to publish business or personal information on any one of my sites, averaging between 20-30 of these requests each week.

I’m not your average blogger nor am I your typical freelance writer. I maintain six active blogs, four of which are updated daily, with the remaining two updated once or twice a week; I’m also currently serving as the automotive columnist for a pair of print publications.

Most particularly as when the news has something to do with cars, I’m often the recipient of requests to review a product, make an announcement, tell a story or share something else with my readers.  Admittedly, I can’t respond to every request personally and I sometimes miss the announcement completely.

To that end, I want to share some tips with those of you whose responsibility it is to disseminate news, particularly when you’re trying to see if I will follow up with what you have.

Not all news is equal, but not all press releases and announcements are either.  This means that you have a better chance of getting a “read” and an eventual article placement if you follow my advice:

Contact me carefully — I no longer publish a phone number where people can contact me. My current clients have that number and I also give that information out to people who are part of my trusted circle of news providers. For everyone else, contacting me via my on site contact forms or direct email address is the best way to go.

I put a lot of weight on those contacts who provide all of the information I need from the get go including at least one related photograph. I just don’t have time to play email tag — be thorough and I’ll have a clearer understanding of what you want and can make my decision based on the information you supplied.

Please be patient — I don’t always respond to contact requests as quickly as I probably should. No excuses, but life does happen to get in the way. Juggling a number of responsibilities means that some tasks get pushed to the side. Plus, there are times I am on deadline and absolutely nothing will get me to stop what I’m doing to focus on your news.

More often then not, I’ll go through my inbox several times during the week to catch up on my messages. Yes, if I detect that something is spammy or isn’t relevant, I’ll simply delete it and move on.

Follow up with me — If someone has something that is very interesting or truly believes that what would benefit my readers, I have no problems with receiving a follow up note. Pushy people are usually ignored while polite folks get moved to the head of the line.

Just to let you know that I’m from the old school: I value personal relationships and I enjoy long term business dealings. I’ve been online steadily since 1995 and have managed my own sites since 2002. I like to think that what I do now will be something that I’ll be doing the rest of my life. I love my job!

I need your people — Got people? I hope so. From time to time I’ll rewrite a press release and add my thoughts to the conversation. However, I prefer the human contact (remember, I’m old school) and am much more likely to go with your story if I can speak to the name behind the story.

This means the person who designed the automobile, runs the division, created the concept or is heading up the ad campaign is of interest to me. I won’t take up a lot of their time (we’re all very busy these days) but if I can have ten to fifteen minutes, that will certainly help your cause. In some cases I’m satisfied with a brief quote sent to me via email.

The bonus round — Last of all, you can increase your chances of having your news published by writing a jam up press release in the first place (I toss away anything smacking of self promotion) and by offering to cite my article somewhere on your website or blog.

I’m not looking for a “pay to play” exchange but if I’m publishing something newsworthy about your organization, product or personnel you can bet that I’m providing a valuable path to your site, one that my readers will likely travel frequently over the weeks, months and, yes, the years ahead.

Photo Credit: Sanja Gjenero

Rebounding From 2008, Moving Forward In 2009

I like to use the first few business days of the new year to track my work’s progress, gauging how the previous year went and anticipating what the year ahead holds. Quite honestly, as a freelance writer I cannot offer a rock solid prediction of where I’m heading, but I must say that I’m much more confident about 2009 then I was about 2008.

The first five months of 2008 were a real struggle for me as I found demand for my work to be down. But, beginning in June things began to turn around so much so that for the remainder of the year every month beat my budgeted projection. This, despite a worsening recession, which saw a number of large businesses hit the skids and the federal government coming up with a cockamamy bail out plan.

My customer base remains unchanged from last summer though my work load has definitely shifted more to two clients from three. I still am writing for a pair of print publications as an automotive columnist and I do rely on some ad revenue thanks to AdSense and other arrangements. I am detecting that advertising is down because of the economy, so I certainly won’t rely on that during 2009.

I plan on using the first few weeks of the month to come up with a fresh marketing plan for my work. Not so much for promoting the many sites that I control, rather to solicit fresh business from quality clientele. I’ll probably be scaling back on some of my social media involvement while pitching my work to some interested parties.

During the Christmas break I received an inquiry about my work, but haven’t gotten back yet. With the kids being at home (they’re back in school today) I’ve been balancing my work with their needs while also finding it difficult to work when they’re in the house. Thankfully, my wife keeps them occupied, otherwise I would have gotten nothing done these past two weeks.

In 2008, I was able to take in a pair of auto shows, which are critical to my work. In January I made it to the Detroit show (North American International Auto Show) while in November I visited Los Angeles for that show. In February, I made a visit to Wilmington, NC to cover the Battleship U.S.S. North Carolina, notes of which are part of an unsold article I have developed.

I will not be attending the Detroit show this year, but I am registered for the Chicago Auto Show which will be held next month. However, because of the current state of the economy, I may skip Chicago and wait until April to attend the New York International Auto Show. That latter show is in the vicinity of family, so I have a place to stay. I also would like to go to Las Vegas in November for SEMA (no, not for betandwin or is it bet and win?) as I’m still writing quite a few articles for the specialty automotive market.

In between we have a family trip coming up and I hope to pull in a writing assignment while we’re away. I’ve gotten in the habit of bringing my laptop along with me and as long as I’m not engrossed in all things internet while we’re away, my family doesn’t mind. If they did, they’d tell me!

One area of writing that I would like to pursue in 2009 is a full feature gig with a national magazine or newspaper. This kind of writing is very research intensive, involves 3000-6000 words, and takes a significant amount of time to complete. But, the rewards in the form of pay and exposure are terrific, just the sort of breakthrough assignment that can change everything.