January 2004
Authors & Experts Online the newsletter

***** How to Effectively Present Your Content to Online Media *****

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Welcome to Authors and Experts Online
A FREE newsletter brought to you by Net Connect Publicity
Online Content Management and Placement Services
January 1, 2004

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Happy New Year and welcome to our newsletter for authors and experts who are interested in promoting their work through the powerful medium of the Internet. Given today's technology, an online campaign can make all the difference between books that go unnoticed and ones that create an impact.

An Internet presence offers some valuable features you can't get in any other form of publicity and that's why it works! We hope you enjoy this newsletter and find it valuable enough to pass on to your colleagues and friends.

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Sign up with us today as an expert! We have ongoing requests from prominent websites looking for experts and contributors. You might be just what they are looking for! Contact us at anne@netconnectpublicity.com to discuss your marketing needs and how an online campaign can help you meet your marketing goals.

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Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.
- George Lois

The Internet is a powerful tool to help you realize your dreams. Any form of publicity can be effective. However, the Internet is alive. Once you place an article with a prominent website it spreads through the online community and can be used by websites and organizations you have not yet approached. It works FOR you and makes your job easier. It isn't enough today to be seen on a talk show or heard on the radio. There is just too much competition and not enough support from publishers to utilize traditional media to its fullest and get the results you need. Internet campaigns are a crucial element in any successful marketing campaign.

Due to the ongoing content changes on websites, there is a tremendous opportunity for repeat postings by an author, thereby getting their name out on a consistent basis. This is a crucial key to success. In addition, the opportunity to become an expert is high with the Internet due to the vast numbers of sites available. This can help increase your credibility, exposure and provide content for further projects.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

How to Effectively Present Your Content to Online Editors

One of the most common misconceptions regarding an online campaign is that editors for this unique medium should be approached in the same manner as traditional radio, TV and print media. Interestingly, nothing could be further from the truth. Let's look at how to approach online editors and what you need to offer to capture their attention and their imagination.

• Online editors answer their email. The beauty of an online campaign is the simple fact that these editors are now ACCESSIBLE due to this basic fact. Send your email to the top contact and you will likely make the connections you couldn't in traditional methods.
  
  
• Online editors are very busy and are choosy about which emails they read. Therefore, the most important part of your online presentation is the 42-character subject line of the email. Say it briefly and say it well.
  
  
• Online editors do not want you to send attachments, nor do they want to scroll through lengthy emails that include your articles, bios and reviews. Once you have established interest you can follow up with these tools. Your only goal in the initial email is to create interest and inspire the editor to respond. This means a brief email expressing who you are, what you have to offer, and given your research of their website, why they might want your work featured on their site. Answer their question: What is in it for us?
  
  
• Include links (don't go crazy here) to your site, relevant articles and press releases, etc. in the email presentation. This way they can conduct further research if they so desire without being overwhelmed with a lengthy and time-consuming email. You do NOT want to be placed in the "I better read this later" pile.
  
  
• Writing an online email presentation allows you to be more personal than traditional methods. Since its very nature is to be brief, it becomes a wonderful tool to follow up on little details you learn about the contact editor and visa versa. The concept of letter writing is a personal form of communication and it can be used very well to your advantage to build a sincere rapport and create camaraderie between you and the editors whom you contact. Even if the editor doesn't immediately respond to your work, through regular emailing you can build the necessary rapport to eventually learn what the editor is looking for and tailor your material to fit their needs.
  
  
• Avoid any distracting fonts, graphics and bold lettering. Your email should be very professional, very easy to read with short sentences that clearly state what you have to offer and how it is of benefit to the editor you are contacting. The more your email presentation matches the look of the articles on the site, the more the editor will tend to read your email. Above all, check spelling and grammar.
  
  
• Bear in mind your email presentation should be designed to capture their attention and guide the editor to your site. If you have built your website correctly and featured your content, NOT your product, than they can learn all they need to know about you. If you include too much in your initial email you will end up in the dreaded "I'll read that later" pile.
  
  
• Follow up on your initial presentation weekly. Editors are overwhelmed with email and it can easily get lost in their desk or even in cyberspace. If they truly do not wish to work with you, most editors will have the courtesy to let you know, especially after a persistent campaign of emails that are pleasant and brief.
  
  
• Tie in your presentation to current events or seasonal content as much as possible. You many be the best financial advisor in the world and have great information on a variety of topics, but come January the only content the editor may wish to see is content offering tips on taxes.
  

Overall, a successful online presentation combines quality material presented to the right editor with a knowledge of the website you are targeting and how your material might fit their needs. When this is done well, and it is done in a brief, pleasant, professional and consistent manner, placements can be made on virtually any website. Editors are looking for you to make their job easier and make them look good. Ultimately, offering content that is a strong match for the site's audience will secure a long-term relationship and open doors for greater promotional opportunity within each site.

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FEATURED AUTHOR

Every issue we feature one of our clients who is enjoying success through an online campaign. This issue we are proud to be a part of the success enjoyed by Dr. Margaret Paul. Margaret is the co-creator of Inner Bonding, a transformational six-step spiritual healing process. She has been leading groups, teaching classes and workshops, and working with individuals, couples, partnerships and businesses since 1973.

Margaret is the co-author of Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You? (Over 1,000,000 copies sold), Free to Love, Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By My Kids?, Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?...The Workbook, Healing Your Aloneness, The Healing Your Aloneness Workbook, and author of Inner Bonding and the newly released, Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By God? Her books have been translated into ten languages.

Margaret has been featured repeatedly on BeliefNet, Myria.com, ParentsTalk.com, Crosswalk.com and WomenOf.com, along with many additional parenting and relationship websites that find her spiritual approach practical and inspiring. Along with her efforts to promote her work throughout various media, Margaret Paul is quickly becoming a well known and sought after expert.

Margaret has three grown children. In her spare time she is an artist.
Visit Margaret online at http://www.innerbonding.com.

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TIPS TO REMEMBER

** Write brief paragraphs. Nothing is harder to read in an email than a lengthy paragraph.

** Always include the previous email in your follow up responses. Keeping track of emails isn't always possible and it really helps to have the previous conversation in the email to follow up.

**Be very careful how you word your subject line when sending to AOL addresses. With the new controls for filtering out spam your email may never get seen.

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WHAT WE OFFER

Our Internet services are a crucial component of any publicity campaign. We offer a wide variety of services allowing you to gain the results you need in one stop. We offer a complete package including:

*** Article outreach campaigns to prominent and customized website target lists.
*** Search engine optimization and submission for top rankings on all the major search engines
*** Web design and consultation
*** Book reviews on Amazon and B&N
*** General marketing support for external marketing campaigns.

These services can be provided as a complete package or they can be provided individually.

Our goal is to work with you on a long-term ongoing campaign, introducing and supplying your content on a consistent basis to strategic sites on your customized "wish list" we create with your input. Review our success stories at http://www.netconnectpublicity.com.

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"Thanks to Net Connect Publicity and the online placements they made for me my book moved from rank 20,000+ to 2862 in 10 days at amazon.com. I want to keep this momentum going."
~Chick Moorman, Author of "Parent Talk: How to Talk to Your Child in Language That Builds Self-Esteem and Encourages Responsibility"

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PARTNER WEBSITES
Here is a partial list of sites we supply content to on an ongoing basis:

iVillage.com
BeliefNet.com
iParenting.com
Crosswalk.com
Child.com
Parents-Talk.com
Womenof.com
BabyCenter.com
CandianParents.com
Sheknows.com
SmartPros.com
ModernMom.com

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To add new people to the subscriber list or provide any other feedback please go to http://www.netconnectpublicity.com or send an email to: anne@netconnectpublicity.com

Copyright 2004 by Anne Leedom

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Anne Leedom, editor, Authors and Experts Online newsletter
Founder, Net Connect Publicity and Parentingbookmark.com
916.939.8246
anne@netconnectpublicity.com
http://www.netconnectpublicity.com
http://www.parentingbookmark.com