My Comments

• Blogging for the Non Blogger - 06/09/2008
  A few other basics I'd point out: 1. Set up search engine friendly URLs early on (should have the post name in the URL for example rather than just a page / post number and a date). This helps you rank better in search engines for your keyword phrases being used in your titled, and is helpful even if you don't want to do much other work on optimization. It can also be a pain to change this further down the road, as not all blog platforms let you easily redirect the old URLs to the new ones (so incoming links would become dead). 2. If you're blogging for business, you should absolutely be hosting your own blog rather than using a free blog host. While free blog hosts can be easier, you should never put your business interests that much in the hands of another company - they have the ability to shut your blog down without notice, and you'll no longer be able to leverage that content to bring in business, make sales, earn ad revenue, and more.
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• Marketing Your Business With a Blog - 06/09/2008
  Brian, Just letting you know your third subheading seems to be getting cut off.
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• Link Building Techniques for Web 2.0 - 06/09/2008
  I was happy to see you emphasize content first and foremost - too many site owners forget that quality content is natural link bait as well as being a "sticky" factor in how long your visitors stay, how often they come back, and how often they spread the word-of-mouth message to others about your site.
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• How to Write a Press Release - 12/06/2007
  I'd actually suggest PR.com over PRweb. They're less expensive, and their editors do a far better job, especially regarding giving you one-on-one assistance to improve a release if you need it. Either way, it's usually not smart to use a distribution site exclusively, so don't forget to manually submit the release to a few key outlets, even if only your local media.
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• How to Write a Press Release - 12/01/2007
  I actually own that book, and would certainly second the recommendation.
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• Marketing Your Business With a Blog - 12/01/2007
  Oops! Action point number three's heading gets cut off. :) Nice guide though. :)
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• Monetizing your Web site - 12/01/2007
  I'm a little bit disappointed (as an online PR specialist) in your press release suggestion. You neglect the most important thing there, which is to only send a press release when you have legitimate news to share. Otherwise, you're just contributing to press release spam on the Web through services like PRweb. Another important thing to note is that the immediate influx of traffic that occasionally happens is actually of very poor quality - people just glancing at your site to see if you're worth writing a story about, interviewing, or featuring on their blog... not traffic that's easily monetized.
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• Setting Freelance Writing Fees - 11/30/2007
  If you're looking for some additional writing sites and resources, I list quite a few on my freelance writing blog, including a list of writing blogs, writing forums, posts listing freelance writing jobs, and quite a few writers' resources ranging from resources on specific niches and types of writing to templates to marketing tips for writers. There are also some great blogs there in my blogroll (some specifically targeting writers and others freelancers more generally). And if you're more interested in writing books than client-based work, I also own and run All Book Marketing, covering book marketing and publicity topics and author interviews. Hopefully you'll find plenty of good resources in the various collections I've posted. :)
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• Setting Freelance Writing Fees - 11/27/2007
  It's true that occasionally that's fine... especially if a writer is looking for filler work in an otherwise slow period. Money doesn't always have to be the first consideration, but it does always have to be a factor if someone wants to make a living doing what they love. Taking anything less than the minimum you can afford to reach your income goals should never be factored into your typical billable hours. Instead, that's a marketing function when used for predominantly networking and exposure, and should be accounted for in the budgeted marketing component of a writer's working hours. So yes, you can write for reasons other than money. Just know how to properly account for it on the administrative side, and don't sacrifice your overall income goals (which are based on what you <i>need</i> and not necessarily just what you <i>want</i>), and you won't run into issues down the road of falling seriously short financially. Just as an example, my writing of this guide was factored into marketing time (as is the time I spend commenting, setting up Squidoo lenses, posting to forums to network, etc.). :)
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• Setting Freelance Writing Fees - 11/26/2007
  Thanks for the comment. :) These models actually work well for all types of freelance writers (I'm predominantly a business writer myself, but I spend a lot of my time working with Web content writers, some of whom are earning quite a bit). The formula I give is figuring out the average you need to make per hour (and then per project) in order to reach your income goals. Freelance magazine writers still need to figure out their base rates (which would be the minimum they would accept). Then, being responsible on the business front, they'd just have to say no to projects that won't pay those minimums - all writers could benefit from learning to say "no" a bit more often. :) For some writers that base pay may equate to $.10 / word and for others closer to $1.00 / word. No matter where a writer falls on the spectrum, if they want to succeed in the long run as a freelancer they have to learn how to seek out the markets and clients that pay what they need to earn, and they have to be able to walk away from the ones that don't.
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• Writing a Successful Corporate Blog - 5 Steps - 09/10/2007
  I really wouldn't recommend free blog services to anyone, but there's absolutely no excuse for using one on a corporate blog. It's unprofessional and takes away control of the blog from the business owner. If you're serious about blogging, especially for your business, you invest a few dollars a year and get a domain name (or add it to a subdomain of your company site) and hosting (or use your company site hosting). Free blog hosting is the worst mistake you can make for a corporate blog... not only is it unprofessional up front, but if you try to move that blog to a real domain later on, you'll lose your backlinks, search engine rankings, and direct traffic, because you can't use a 301 redirect on a free blog hosting account (which tells search engines to index the new pages instead, and which automatically directs visitors to the new pages).
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• Finding New Customers Online - 09/07/2007
  I wouldn't rank a site like Work.com the way I would more general "anyone-can-be-a-writer" sites for a few reasons: 1. It has a targeted audience of small business owners, as opposed to a general audience more for people wanting to go to post articles for backlinks (like general article directories) as opposed to people going there to learn. 2. The guides, unless I'm mistaken, have to be approved by an editor here. Seeing a lot of the articles on article directories tells me that their editorial standards aren't high. Here, Work.com has a duty to provide solid information, or risk its reputation (and that of Business.com). What I generally tell people is that article directories aren't the way to go, especially as far as building credibility which, even if not directly and immediately, does lead to more clients in the long run. Instead, I suggest they focus on niche and industry publications online or off (Work.com would classify as such), respected niche newsletters with large subscriber bases, and respected blogs in their niche due to their viral nature of spreading stories and information about the people writing them. So far things like that have worked for me. I'm one of the lucky ones in that most of my PR and business writing clients find me instead of the other way around from my blog posts, articles, forum posts, or referrals. Getting to that point is about building your network. Sites like Work.com help you do that by getting your name out there.
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• Finding New Customers Online - 09/04/2007
  Actually, on the same subject, I had a post go up today on article marketing for writers (although it's applicable to other professionals as well) at All Freelance Writing, which addresses the validity of places like EzineArticles as opposed to more serious (and beneficial) article marketing tactics.
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• Finding New Customers Online - 09/04/2007
  Scott, I was actually a bit shocked to see information like that on your site, and ironically enough, I had just participated in a discussion about that article of yours a few days back. Some definite misinformation there, which is always a shame, because in general I love your site, and it's the only About site I even consider spending time on.
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• Making a Small Company Look Bigger - 11/16/2006
  When it comes to the growing number of online business, some of the offline methods you mentioned (while important in a traditional environment), won't be enough. Some things I recommend in that case are to: 1. Have more than one email address (keep general inquiries separate from personal contacts with clients - saves you from sorting everything from one box, and it makes it look like you might have an assistant or other employee working with you). 2. Set up an online press room - if done well, it can make your company look much larger and more important, in addition to providing additional background information should a journalist have an interest in interviewing you.
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• Creating a Media Kit - 11/16/2006
  I generally recommend a more complete online press room over the traditional electronic media kit to my clients - essentially making it serve more like a mini-site within your website. For larger companies, it makes it simple for journalists to browse the contents online (as opposed to the often-used .pdf file for electronic media kits), and for small companies and independent professionals, the press room can make them seem larger, more credible, and more "important" and therefore newsworthy. Jenn
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• Great Low-Cost PR Tactics - 11/16/2006
  This one needs an update - PRweb stopped offering free press release distribution last month. When my clients want free distribution options for their releases, I generally recommend www.PR.com. PR.com has additional PR services available for companies using their services at the upgrade rate, and even using the free service, PR.com will get a press release listed in Google News (unlike most other free options), meaning you have a better chance of someone stumbling across your release in those search results.
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• Creating a Public Relations Plan - 11/16/2006
  I'd just like to add that before setting goals in a PR plan, it's important to carefully identify the real problem or opportunity. Misunderstanding what needs to be done in the big picture can set your entire plan off. Also, it's important when goal-planning in PR that those goals be quantifiable, and not too general. You don't only need to plan your goals, and understand your target audience, but it's also vital that you craft your "message" - what you're going to try to get across through your PR efforts and communication methods. Finally, it's absolutely vital when creating a PR plan that you set up an evaluation plan... a PR plan is useless if you don't know ahead of time how you can track results. Jenn
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• Software for Public Relations - 11/16/2006
  Some good standards in there for your PR efforts. Jenn
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• Marketing by Email - 11/16/2006
  I get their newsletter, but haven't used their service. I'd be interested to hear someone's experience as well. Jenn
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• Finding Email Marketing Lists - 11/16/2006
  That's always going to depend on your audience. For example, if you're working for an indie record label and you build a fan/customer email list for an artist, you can get away with more frequent mailings considering that audience is fully expecting grassroots promotion. If you're working for a retailer (let's use a large one like Walmart for example), and you build an email list by getting customers to sign up when they order online, they're not likely to be so forgiving of you sending constant promotional emails. They also wouldn't have a direct interest in following all company news as opposed to a lot of entertainment-oriented fields. So as with most things in business, you need to account for your audience, market, customer/client-base, etc. Jenn
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