Want to get the most media attention and spotlight for your business? Then the first place to start is with a great press release. Now I can almost see half of you leaving now, dreading the thought of having to write one of these. But wait. I’m going to show you easy methods to make your press release work for you and get the attention it deserves. Ready? Let’s go.
We’ll briefly go over the basics because of their importance. Editors want to see things done the RIGHT way. I would bet that a lot of good releases simply get tossed out just because they aren’t set up properly. To a busy editor, that all too familiar three-second glance says a lot for you and your business and if you’ve done your research enough to warrant that release to be placed in their newspaper or magazine or even on their website.
Here are your essentials:
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” on the top left of the page.
Your contact name, phone number, e-mail address, and website follows. Double check this. No, triple check this. You don’t want to waste a good release because they can’t get ahold of you.
The headline is next, normally in bold and centered on the page. Summarize what the release is about and capture their attention. Spend almost as much time on your headline as you do writing the release. It’s that important. Make sure to get those valuable keywords in there and hopefully in the first few words.
The press release body starts with the location of the release and the date (Margate, Florida, January, 200X.)
Most press releases are between 400-500 words, and no more than a page. The first paragraph has the most important information. Don’t save the best for last, it won’t get read. Make sure that you explain the title of the release in this first paragraph.
It is recommended that you write press releases in the 3rd person and use short sentences and paragraphs. Do not go over board, trying to dazzle the editor, it won’t work.
To continue reading this article, click here.
]]>
~This blog post is dedicated to Denise Willms. She was a wonderful author and an awesome business owner. Denise you’re missed by all. Thank You for this wonderful article. ~
The number of Internet articles about how to use press releases to win more clients and get free publicity grows daily. At the same time, the number of articles and blog posts explaining why press releases don’t work – or worse, why they are a waste of time – is growing too.
What is a home business owner to think?
Press releases can be useful marketing tools so long as they’re accompanied by realistic expectations. A press release is NOT a magic wand. True, some small businesses and entrepreneurs have received exceptional exposure and media attention from their press releases. But even if yours is picked up by the media, chances are that it will not suddenly bring you truckloads of clients or make you instantly famous.
However, if you arm yourself with realistic expectations and a bit of expert knowledge, you can achieve impressive results with your press release. Here are five steps that you can take be to sure you benefit from yours as much as possible:
1. Ensure it’s a well-crafted press release.
If you’re new to writing press releases, it’s a good idea to hire a professional writer. Besides conforming to a particular structure, a press release needs to grab the attention of its audience, present a newsworthy story in an engaging manner, and have perfect grammar and structure. If you’re not sure you can meet those requirements yourself, have an experienced writer write one for you or edit the draft you’ve already written.
2. It must be newsworthy… or not.
A good writer can spin almost any event into an interesting press release, but if it’s not news – real, honest, sink-your-teeth-into-it news – it probably won’t be picked up by the media outlets. Editors see right through veiled attempts at self-promotion, and won’t give them a second glance. Rather than trying to invent news, wait until you have something with enough substance to issue a release.
To continue reading this article, click here.
]]>
In the days of the Boomer, women worked and dropped their kids off at the sitters. Today, more women are choosing to stay home and be available for their children. When you have the financial means, it is an easy decision to stay home to raise the children. However, when you don’t have money in the bank or a second income to rely on, you have to take a careful look at how to pay the bills while raising your family.
This shift has created a new trend, mothers working at home. These women have made the decision to have it all. They are taking time for family and balancing that with a home based career.
WAHM Choices is dedicated to helping moms who want to work at home find help, support, tools, and much more. WAHM Choices has a FREE Job finder service, articles, FREE tools, job posting, and much more. If you already have a home business WAHM Hotline offers inexpensive advertising options. This is the hottest site on the net. You will want to save it in favorites and visit often!
VISIT http://www.wahmchoices.com
About WAHM Choices
WAHM Choices is an web site helping moms balance work and home. We offer a FREE Job Finder Service, articles, coaching, FREE tools, inexpensive advertising and much more.
http://www.wahmchoices.com
Thanks
Marcia Chumbley
320-864-4373 Home
320-433-4000 Office
]]>
So you’ve finally done it. You’re written your first eBook, you’ve designed the perfect cover for it, and now you’re just wondering where you can advertise it.
Instead of just buying ad space for your new eBook, consider promoting it with a press release.
A press release is an announcement of a newsworthy happening in your business. It can be sent to various offline and online publishers, who may publish the release itself or choose to interview you.
It’s more effective than buying ad space because you’re giving potential buyers information rather than trying to sell them.
I started my home business writing press releases for WAHM businesses, but I don’t do that as much anymore because they’re really easy for most motivated moms to write for themselves – and it’s much cheaper to do it on your own!
Publicity expert Shannon Cherry has created inexpensive press release templates that you can use to write your own release. She has a template for almost every home business occasion, including the launch of your new eBook!
I used one of her templates when I wrote this release for my mom’s new eBook, and I was really happy with the results. Plus, it took only minutes instead of the several hours it usually does. Here’s the release I wrote based on Shannon’s template: New Ebook, Jonah and the Whale ‚Äì Puzzle, Devos and Prayers, Helps Christian Parents Teach Life Lessons from Favorite Bible Story
However you choose to write the press release for your new eBook, remember to send it to me at [email protected]. If it’s relevant to moms who work at home, I’m happy to publish it in the WAHM-Articles blog and help you spread the good news!
]]>
Contact: Ruth Willms
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 403-874-7914
Website: http://www.RuthWillms.com
Christian parents who want to avoid the controversy over The Golden Compass can still give kids books they’ll love to read.
Calgary, AB- Children’s author Ruth Willms believes good novels make great Christmas gifts for kids, but as a Christian mother and grandmother, she knows the importance of children’s fiction that teaches biblical values.
Recently, Calgary’s Catholic school board pulled all copies of The Golden Compass series, pending a review of the books. While Willms hasn’t read the controversial The Golden Compass or the Harry Potter books, another series over which some Christian parents disagree, she understands why they’ve been a hit with millions of readers. “All of us, not only kids, are fascinated by the supernatural and the fantastic.” Willms says.
In fact, Willms‚Äô recently published novel, The Lion Tree, is a fantasy based on biblical truths and Bible stories. ‚ÄúI used fantasy in the novel,‚Äù Willms says, ‚Äúbut the main characters face real life challenges and find real life answers that work for all kids. It isn‚Äôt a magic power or the power of positive thinking, it is… Well, why don‚Äôt I let you read the book and find out for yourself?‚Äù
For kids who yearn for fantasy fiction and parents who prefer to steer clear of controversy, Willms also recommends The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
According to Willms, children’s books don’t need to be explicitly Christian to hold a positive message for their readers. Each year, The Christophers Рan organization whose mission is to encourage people from all walks of life to use their God-given talents to make a positive difference in the world Рrecognize mainstream children’s books that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.”
Previous years’ recipients of the Christopher Book Awards for children’s books include:
A Symphony Of Whales by Steve Schuch
Witness by Karen Hesse
Shredderman: Secret Identity by Wendelin Van Draanen
The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Another award program, the Children’s Crown Award Reading Program, recognizes wholesome and uplifting books that have been published within the last two years and are voted on by students – meaning that every winner is kid-approved. All awards are endorsed by The National Christian School Association. Some previous recipients of the Children’s Crown Award are:
The Good Dog by Avi
Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan
Sky Memories by Pat Brisson
Saving Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Please visit http://www.RuthWillms.com to download a free sample chapter of Willms’ Christian fantasy novel, The Lion Tree. You can learn more about the Christopher Awards at http://www.christophers.org and the Children’s Crown Award Reading Program at http://www.childrenscrownaward.org
]]>
Two weeks to go, but your website can still produce a pretty profit this holiday season.
If your Christmas sales aren’t where you hoped they’d be – or even if they are – Calgary work at home mom, Denise Willms, says you can still skyrocket your online sales, although there’s only two weeks left until the big day.
“It’s all about the content on your website,” Willms says. “At this time of year, Internet users are searching for Christmas gifts and ideas. If your content is relevant to what they’re looking for, it’s a pretty good bet you’ll have more traffic, which should lead to making more sales.”
Here are some of Willms’ suggestions to make the most of the remaining holiday shopping season.
AdSense Sites- If your site displays Google AdSense ads, you may have seen your revenue drop over the past few weeks, depending on your niche. To put that profit back in your pocket, consider adding some Christmas content to your website or blog. When AdSense crawls your new content it will add Christmas related ads that your visitors are more likely to click on at this time of year.
You don’t need to spend hours creating the Christmas content. Look for quality Private Label Rights articles or simply use free reprint Christmas articles from an article directory.
Affiliate Sites – Do you make money by selling affiliate products? Post reviews of the products people are looking for this Christmas. You can write your own or find free reprint product reviews in article directories. Find reviews on products that can be purchased at Amazon and post your affiliate link to the product along with the review.
Sell More of Your Own Product – If you create and sell your own product, an easy way to increase your sales before Christmas is by writing and submitting articles about your product and submitting it to reputable article directories. By submitting your article to an online directory instead of only publishing it on your own site, search engines and human shoppers will find it more quickly. In the resource box of the article, include an active link to your website where your readers can purchase your product.
“You shouldn’t openly promote your products in the articles you write,” Willms says, “but you should use the article to presell your product. For example, if you make tie dyed scarves, you could write about how to choose the right scarf for a Christmas gift, or about how to accessorize with a tie dyed scarf. Win your readers’ trust first by giving them the information they need; when they click through to your website, then you can sell them.”
If you don’t have time to create more of your product for last minute Christmas sales, Willms says you shouldn’t let that stop you from trying to fit in more holiday sales. “Your customer just needs something to put under the tree Christmas morning. If you don’t have time to get the product to them, send them a certificate or something saying your product is on its way.”
Visit http://www.wahm-articles.com for more creative ideas on how to sell your products online, and to find free reprint articles you can use in your website and blog.
]]>
Christian parents who want to avoid the controversy over The Golden Compass can still give kids books they’ll love to read.
Calgary, AB, December 7, 2007 РChildren’s author Ruth Willms believes good novels make great Christmas gifts for kids, but as a Christian mother and grandmother, she knows the importance of children’s fiction that teaches biblical values.
Recently, Calgary’s Catholic school board pulled all copies of The Golden Compass series, pending a review of the books. While Willms hasn’t read the controversial The Golden Compass or the Harry Potter books, another series over which some Christian parents disagree, she understands why they’ve been a hit with millions of readers. “All of us, not only kids, are fascinated by the supernatural and the fantastic.” Willms says.
In fact, Willms‚Äô recently published novel, The Lion Tree, is a fantasy based on biblical truths and Bible stories. ‚ÄúI used fantasy in the novel,‚Äù Willms says, ‚Äúbut the main characters face real life challenges and find real life answers that work for all kids. It isn‚Äôt a magic power or the power of positive thinking, it is… Well, why don‚Äôt I let you read the book and find out for yourself?‚Äù
For kids who yearn for fantasy fiction and parents who prefer to steer clear of controversy, Willms also recommends The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
According to Willms, children’s books don’t need to be explicitly Christian to hold a positive message for their readers. Each year, The Christophers Рan organization whose mission is to encourage people from all walks of life to use their God-given talents to make a positive difference in the world Рrecognize mainstream children’s books that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.”
Previous years’ recipients of the Christopher Book Awards for children’s books include:
- A Symphony Of Whales by Steve Schuch
- Witness by Karen Hesse
- Shredderman: Secret Identity by Wendelin Van Draanen
- The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck
- The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Another award program, the Children’s Crown Award Reading Program, recognizes wholesome and uplifting books that have been published within the last two years and are voted on by students – meaning that every winner is kid-approved. All awards are endorsed by The National Christian School Association. Some previous recipients of the Children’s Crown Award are:
- The Good Dog by Avi
- Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan
- Sky Memories by Pat Brisson
- Saving Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Please visit http://www.RuthWillms.com to download a free sample chapter of Willms’ Christian fantasy novel, The Lion Tree. You can learn more about the Christopher Awards at http://www.christophers.org and the Children’s Crown Award Reading Program at http://www.childrenscrownaward.org
Contact: Ruth Willms
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.RuthWillms.com
Christian children’s author writes devotional guide to help parents make Bible real and exciting to their children
CALGARY, ALBERTA ‚Äì DECEMBER 7, 2007 ‚Äì Ruth Willms, author of several Christian children‚Äôs stories and the recent novel, The Lion Tree, announces the release of her ebook “Jonah and the Whale ‚Äì Puzzle, Devos and Prayers.” The new ebook was designed to aid Christian parents, and offers daily devotionals and discussion questions to help parents teach kids life lessons from the biblical story of Jonah.
“This ebook is for Christian parents and educators who want to make the Bible relevant to kids’ everyday lives,” says Willms. “It provides valuable information that will help kids apply Jonah’s lessons to their own life, and have fun doing it.”
Highlights from “Jonah and the Whale ‚Äì Puzzle, Devos and Prayers” include:
- a devotional for each chapter of the book of Jonah
- a fun crossword puzzle
- a daily prayer kids can use
Willms first novel, The Lion Tree, began as a bedtime story she told her grandchildren, and is loosely based her own experiences growing up in the Fraser Valley and visiting Haiti on a missions trip.
The 117-page novel, written for kids aged eight to twelve, teaches fun, modern-day lessons from the biblical stories of Job, Jonah and the Whale, Brave Queen Esther, and many others. It also touches on current events and missions in both Haiti and Afghanistan.
As a mother of two, and now a grandmother, Willms’ desire is to inspire parents and equip them to communicate God’s love to their children. Her Christian children’s stories and books help parents make the Bible real and exciting to a young audience.
Her new ebook, a $9.95 value, is available for free when you subscribe to Willms’ monthly newsletter at http://www.RuthWillms.com
Contact: Ruth Willms
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.RuthWillms.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Claudia Roberts
Haleyna Mom Owned Business Web Directories
Phone: 903-886-6960
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://haleyna.com
Work at Home Mom Helps Other WAHMs Compete With Big Business
Commerce, Texas, November 28, 2007 ‚Äî After quitting her job to become a work at home mom, Claudia Roberts of Commerce, TX realized that this plan was not as easy as she had believed it would be. She became friends with a number of other work at home moms, and realized that they all seemed to have a similar problem… Competing with big business and getting their names out there to the general public. After thinking about this over a period of time Roberts came up with an idea that she felt would help solve this problem that so many work at home mothers were facing.
In the end of September, 2007, after discussing with some work at home mom friends, Roberts decided it was time to seriously consider and start planning out this new idea that she had. Her idea was to take her highly brandable and memorable domain name, haleyna.com, which had previously been used as an online gift store for a few short months, and do a complete
overhaul on this site to create one giant directory, made up of smaller directories full of websites belonging to mom owned businesses. Roberts felt that this idea would be a huge success because of the uniqueness of the name and the plan to highly categorize each directory into multiple
sub-directories. The plan being that with enough directories and sub-directories, then each page of the site would get listed at the top of major search engine results for specific search terms, potential customers search, find Haleyna, and then continue from there to find the specific
product or service they are looking for, with a work at home mom. “We can’t all be number one at the same time, but… We can as a group” says Roberts of her plan “We can kick big business butt in rankings!”.
Since Roberts began the reincarnation of Haleyna.com, she has shared her ideas and excitement with other work at home moms who all seem to be very receptive to the idea and just as excited to see it take off. “I am so impressed with how well this site is doing already, I signed on as soon as I heard her plan. I’m getting daily hits to my website from haleyna.com and have also been contacted by a new client that will be generating a few hundred dollars more a month than I was making before, all thanks to Claudia and her directories!” says Jessica Weston, owner of Marsh River Designs.
Haleyna.com boasts a whopping 72 different advertising packages available, with a variety of sizes and prices so that they can be affordable for any budget. Roberts is also doing her best to stay on top of popular trends with work at home moms, she is working on setting up a chat room to be used by work at home moms for hosting online parties to showcase their businesses and products. Some other things Roberts plans to offer through Haleyna.com in the future are domains, SSL, email accounts, shopping carts and many other products and services that work at home moms might find useful to their businesses.
Roberts has gone from being a work at home mom herself, to helping other work at home moms to be successful. Roberts says “…and that makes me feel like more of a success than I could have become with my online gift store”.
For additional information you can visit http://haleyna.com or contact Claudia Roberts directly at [email protected] or by phone 1-903-886-6960
]]>
December 3, 2007 - For millions of moms, the only way to get everything done means neglecting their own self care. If mom has no time to eat well, exercise, enjoy enriching relationships, nurture her passions and find healthy ways to relieve her stress, she becomes overweight, overwhelmed, unfit and unhappy. In a nutshell.she loses her mojo.
Many of these moms are finally “getting it” that when they take better care of themselves, everyone’s happier so they’re determined to look, feel and live better.for everyone’s sake. These moms are seeking out the expertise and motivation of Debi Silber, MS, RD, WHC also known as “the Mojo Coach”.
Debi is a Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer, Whole Health Coach, Lifestyle Expert JUST FOR MOMS and the President of Lifestyle Fitness, Inc. Debi’s inspired thousands of moms to get their mojo back through gradual, lifestyle changes and to kick off the holiday season, she’s giving away 1 month of FREE COACHING ($400 value) to 1 lucky winner each month!
To enter, just visit http://www.lifestylefitnessinc.com . Click the gold label “Win a Mojo Makeover” Then enter to win 1 month of FREE COACHING and possibly be in an upcoming book! Don’t let the holidays leave you with the “gifts” of excess weight, an unfit body and needless stress.
Debi Silber, MS, RD, WHC
President, Lifestyle Fitness, Inc.
(631) 499-4999 office
http://www.lifestylefitnessinc.com