How to capitalize on an article written about your business

Recently, Whitesides Words wrote and distributed a news release for a small business owner. Within a couple of days, she got a call from a print publication – they wanted to feature her in an article in the paper. Great publicity – just what we hoped for! The paper came out and she clipped out a copy – but that doesn’t have to be the end of it. The paper also had an online version and that means there are more opportunities for additional publicity.

Online articles offer long-term publicity opportunities

Here at Whitesides Words we often include stories about local businesses in our blog. So, just like an online version of a print publication, an article featuring your business in a blog opens up some great publicity opportunities, too. In fact, sometimes it can be even better.

The great thing about having something written about you or your business online, especially in a blog, is that it stays out there for a long, long time, if not forever! And if it’s a great piece, that means you have a chance to talk about your business over and over and over.

 How to share a blog article

1. Share the link in your Facebook community – forever – or at least monthly for the next quarter or two and maybe even next year, too – whenever you want
2. Tweet a note and the link on Twitter – as often as you want – or at least monthly for the next couple of quarters
3. Write about it in your own blog – don’t copy the article, just talk about it and include a link so others can read it for themselves
4. Add the link in your monthly newsletter
5. Include the link in your weekly e-letter
6. Print the article and use it as a marketing piece
7. Make an announcement and share the link in Chamber newsletters
8. Share an announcement and link in industry association newsletters

One note: you don’t want to copy the article completely onto your website, instead talk about it and provide a link. That way there is not duplicate copy about your business on the Internet, which is not advisable for search engine algorithms.

And, if you have an in (wink, wink) with the blogger, you might be able to get a nice link in the article to your website. That way, any search that brings up the blog article and the reader clicks to it, could also mean the reader ends up clicking through to your website.

An online article can be like a present that just keeps on giving…

Just think about it

Elaine