Google Alerts Not Enough!

Those of us that regularly submit articles, story ideas, pitches, and quotes to the media know the value of Google Alerts for finding those stories online once published. But Google Alerts only goes so far and reports only a fraction of what is actually posted. If you want to fully capitalize on the publicity you do receive you’ve got to do some leg work of your own. For example: two weeks ago I was quoted by Entrepreneur.com. My Google Alerts notified me the story was posted before the reporter did. However knowing that stories online often get “circulated” I did a Google search and found the story had been published 114 more times and by some big outlets such as MSNBC and The Washington Post.

Not only did several major news outlets post the story, but several smaller corporate newsletters did as well. Many of the smaller publications were related to the Real Estate, Insurance, and Investment industries – That’s MY audience! I market primarily to these groups!

An article printed in a major business publication quoting me is being circulated by the very publications read by the people I market to most often. Now when I contact planners and executives in these fields I can reference my appearance in their newsletters. Yes I could have offered to write for their publications (And I often do) but the credibility would not be the same. The reprints clearly state they came from Entrepreneur, instant credibility!

Second Entrepreneur covered more “geography” with a keystroke than I could have in 5 years. Now when I contact these same publications and offer to write feature articles, my reputation and expertise is already firmly established. I also found the merits of the article being discussed in chat rooms and on bulletin boards visited by representatives of these same industries. And actually posted responses and started new discussions related to “my” article. More than one head popped up once they realized who I was, and that I had “graced them with my presence”
To fully exploit this strategy the publication needs to be larger and widely excepted. Blogs and ezine reprints won’t get the coverage. So go after the larger publications.

Once published, wait a week or so then do a Google search USING THE EXACT TITLE of the article.
You’ll be amazed at the opportunities that stream across your computer screen.