When a client asks: “Can you get us higher visibility in Google?” the answer tends to be: “Well, it’s not that straight forward!”

For those of you who understand a little about SEO, you’ll know it’s a combination of how a website is structured technically, the content that is on it, and the volume and PageRank of websites that link to it. And a few other things that nobody really knows, except Google!

Of course, there is always the option to run a pay-per-click campaign, which is particularly useful in a crisis, but some clients either don’t have the budget to do this, or they are more focused at getting better organic search results. The latter can take a great deal of time and money.

However, there is a relatively quick and simple way to ensure your client’s news and press releases appear in Google News. Which, from a PR point of view, makes it even more important to write press releases with key search terms in mind and include links to the client’s website or content on other digital platforms i.e. YouTube.

To check if a client’s website is not already registered to be crawled you need to go to the Google News search box and type: site: www.[clientwebsite].com and click ‘Search News’. For example.

Google News search for Bell Pottinger website

If results from the client’s website do not appear (like above), then you need to complete the following form.

The benefits of doing this will be:

• Your client’s news / press releases, which include the brand name in relation to key search terms, appear in Google search results

• A greater chance that journalists, bloggers and customers will see this information through search or Google News alerts, which they may have setup for the client’s name or associated industry terms

• More opportunity that the release will be picked up by news aggregators and portals, which could lead to more inbound links to your client’s website, particularly if you have included them in the original press release

Finally, for those of you who have your own blog or have recently set up a new website for a client, it is also a good idea to submit the website to Google so that it adds the URL to its index. You can do this here.

Had an interesting chat the other day about the concept of two paradigms existing within the PR world: 1) traditional PR i.e. media relations and 2) digital relations. So I thought I’d jot it down…

Basically, the concept highlights a divide in the mindset of today’s PRs. The first paradigm said to encompass those traditional PRs who view digital as a means for pushing the same message down different channels. The second, those PRs who use digital channels to create communities and speak directly to stakeholders. Think column inches vs Facebook friends.

It swiftly moved onto a debate about whether PR is actually best placed to own the ‘digital relations’ paradigm, given that sometimes there is no media involved, or whether it was one of those other marketing disciplines (shudder).

Naturally, I was fighting the PR corner.

For me, the term ‘digital relations’ consists of the following disciplines:

1. Social media relations: creating and distributing content to the likes of blogs, social network users, on forums and message boards etc. and then interacting with them
2. Digital media relations: the online form of what PR people do offline, but to ‘newsbrands’ like the BBC, Times Online and The Guardian, rather than ‘newspapers’. This approach also includes finding alternative ways to provide content, e.g. video, graphics, animation, images etc.
3. Creating digital communities: establishing a community, or communities, of influential stakeholders within key digital platforms and using a combination of the to simulate the community and increase its size
4. Traditional media relations: generating press coverage offline to generate a buzz and drive search online

My argument was / is that the PR industry is best placed to own the business of creating communities and building relations without a media filter, directly to the stakeholder, rather than other digital marketing practices, because it is what we have always done: tailor messages, phrases and words, and communicate with stakeholders on our clients’ behalf.

You’ll notice in the above list that I’ve included both digital and traditional media relations. I’ve done so because I don’t believe that you can create ‘effective’ communities without using third-party sources, like the media to generate a buzz.

I don’t believe that the media, or journalism, will ever die. We PR people will always need a filter for one reason or another. Whether it is to create a buzz offline, secure third-party endorsement, or leverage the authority of a particular journalist / news brand.

Either way, if you strip the different disciplines of ‘digital relations’ back to basics, they are fundamentally about using words, messages and phrases to get a clients’ point of view across. As well as building relationships with key stakeholders and influencing them to endorse your clients’ brand to change the behaviour of the individuals within a relevant community.

So basically, what digital PRs do and what PRs should be doing. This is why we are best placed to create communities rather than any other those other marketing disciplines…

Stumbled upon a good investigative blog post by BNET yesterday, which details a patent application filed by Google titled: Web-Based System for Generation of Interactive Games Based on Digital Videos…

After reading through the abstract below it seems that what they want to do is patent the process of using video annotations to develop simple games. A bit like what Crime Stoppers did with its brilliant ‘A Different Ending’ campaign (have a play below), but a little more fun.

Full abstract of Google’s patent:

“Systems and methods are provided for adding and displaying interactive annotations for existing online hosted videos. A graphical annotation interface allows the creation of annotations and association of the annotations with a video. Annotations may be of different types and have different functionality, such as altering the appearance and/or behavior of an existing video, e.g. by supplementing it with text, allowing linking to other videos or web pages, or pausing playback of the video. Authentication of a user desiring to perform annotation of a video may be performed in various manners, such as by checking a uniform resource locator (URL) against an existing list, checking a user identifier against an access list, and the like. As a result of authentication, a user is accorded the appropriate annotation abilities, such as full annotation, no annotation, or annotation restricted to a particular temporal or spatial portion of the video.”

If the patent is passed, and YouTube works this into an interface for its users which includes some basic editing software, we may just start seeing people starting to create their own games.

It also has potential applications in advertising mechanics too.

I will eagerly watch this space…

SideWiki allows members of the public to contribute information next to any webpage. You install it as a browser sidebar and once installed, you can read and write entries along the side of the page.

Having already been sidetracked by the new gizmo and a client with poor reviews, I am of the opinion that it will be another important thing for digital PRs to manage.

While there are some safeguards built in, it is essentially a licence for web-rogues to have a pop on any website they want to.

Some say it’s a good thing for the legal professional, but for PRs is it just another thing to monitor in a long list?

To be fair it probably is. But lets not get too down-beat – I’m sure it will present many ‘opportunites’ too. Besides, some clever-tech will soon design a programme were you can monitor all your important websites in one. That’s if Google has not already done so…

More info below:

BSkyB will launch its Sky Player online TV service on Microsoft’s XBox 360 tomorrow.

The Sky Player will provide video-on-demand service and access to live TV on 24 channels including movies and sports.

It will also provide a range of “unique interactive services”, including apps that allow viewers to communicate real time via XBox Live avatars while watching Sky Sports, and Twitter and Facebook apps in association with TV programmes.

For the app loving, football following, social media sort it seems a dream come true…

But there’s a catch. You’ll need an XBox Live Gold subscription for this one, and you’ll also need to be subscribed to Sky Movies and Sky Sports.

Find out more here

PRWeek revealed the results of its inaugural digital survey yesterday (here) which, surprisingly, only received 64 responses.

But rather than debate the reasons for why this could be (confidentially breaches to uncovered industry blag) I thought it would be interesting to focus on the 61 per cent of respondents that found themselves pitching against non-PR agencies in the last 12 months.

For me Porter Novelli’s, Kerry Gaffney, hits an important nail on the head when saying: “Many clients are appreciating that PR is the natural champion of an organisation’s message and reputation, regardless of the particular channel used to deliver it.”

But, while this should be the case, in my experience ‘many clients’ still invite digital, advertising, social media, marketing and search agencies to tender. And who blames them? After all, they’re paying the bills so they unquestionably deserve to find the best agency for the job.

For me, the PR industry still lags a little behind the others. Over the next year or so I envisage the PR industry changing at a speed far greater than witnessed so far and at a level comparable to the impact of the internet on the advertising industry.

As clients and consumers become even more digitally-savvy the challenge will be put upon PRs to reach online communities, e.g. online media, bloggers and social network users, ahead of traditional print media. And in many cases, there will be a need to go direct to the consumer – bringing PR and other specialist forms of marketing, closer together.

There will also be a shift in the way PRs deal with video, audio, graphics and pictures. Indeed, news organisations like the BBC, Daily Telegraph and Press Association (PA Video Wire) have already changed their models to cater for video and digital graphics. And to fulfil this growing demand for content PRs will have to provide quality, rich multimedia content more frequently than before. Again, bringing PR and other specialist forms of marketing, closer together.

While advertising and digital marketing agencies have already embraced this ‘digital marketing communications revolution’, the road ahead remains rocky for the PR industry. PR agencies that have prepared, or are preparing for an increasing ‘digital demand’ will succeed if they can convince clients that their PR agency can not only web-build, run social media campaigns, create content etc., but can also get results, add value and measure all of the above.

However, for those agencies who fail to do this, they will lose clients, stop winning new business and fall by the wayside.

So, the onus is therefore on us, as PR people, to stamp our authority on the ‘digital marketing mix’ and grab valuable market share of this emerging communications market for our industry.

There are still many clients out there who do not understand how this ‘digital revolution’ is changing the way they need to communicate. As such, there are many opportunities for digitally-savvy PR agencies to explore, many potential client hands to hold and many long-term relationships to build…

Great video to demonstrate the value of using social media as part of your marketing strategy:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rTzIAWI4Ms

Thinking back to one of my first Tweets, it was something along the lines of “trying to work out my Twitter strategy”.

And after a few months and over 100 posts later I think I’ve finally cracked it.

So for all you ‘Twirgins’ out there keen to take the plunge, here are a few pointers on how to find your feet, conduct yourself and increase your following:

• Personalise your account:

Make sure you have an image (avatar), a bio and a URL if possible, so that others can see you are a genuine Twitterer and not a ’spammer’. If you’re really keen you may also want to personalise your background too. You can do this at sites like TwitBacks and TwitterBackgrounds.

• Don’t follow too many people:

It may seem a reasonable ploy to follow as many people as possible. While you’ll feel like you’ve got all bases covered you’ll soon realise that the more people you follow the harder it is to wade through the treacle. So be selective.

• Follow Tweeps with Twitority:

Use websites such as Twellow, Twitter Search and Twitority to find influential and interesting people. And make sure you have a good blend of businesses and real people. While businesses, e.g. PRWeek, MediaGuardian and NewMediaAge will give you the latest news, they will rarely give you their take on something. People are so much more interesting…

• Get connected:

If you’re gonna Tweet then do it properly. Make sure you’ve got access to Twitter no matter where you are. Install Twitterific for iPhones, Twitterberry for BlackBerrys and TweetDeck for PC and laptops. You can now scratch that Twitch wherever you are. Oh, and you may also want to consider Twitpic, just incase you come across anything worthy of a picture, e.g. the Hudson Bay plane crash.

• Decide your voice:

Do you want to keep it professional or are you happy to reveal all? A good thing to remember is: “don’t Tweet anything you wouldn’t want your Mum to see”. Once you have made your decision then stick to it and make sure you are personal, approachable, authoritative, thoughtful and sometimes humorous.

• Tweet about topical things and name drop:

Any person or business worth their salt will have Twitter searches set up for topics relevant to them or their name. So chances are that if you mention a big-time-Twitterer or a Twitter-savvy business, they will see it and respond. You can also use #tags in a bid to increase your following. These flag the term to the Twitter community and should help you pick up a few more like-minded followers.

• Go the extra mile for your following:

While it’s good to give your insight on things and keep others up to date with your movements, avid Twitter users like useful Tweets – so shop around. If you find something that interests you on the web then Tweet it. Whether it’s a new Twitter application, breaking-news or a hilarious viral, people will be interested. Note: you may want to use TinyUrl to reduce the size of the link. This will give you the chance to add your own comment and will also enable people to Re-Tweet your post.

• Direct message:

While having a mass-following is good for the ego it will not guarantee that you are a well connected Twitterer. There’s an unwritten rule on Twitter that if someone replies or RTs one of your Tweets you should direct message them. This allows you to continue the conversation away from the other followers and it’s a great opportunity to build up a good dialogue and Twitter relationship.

• Monitter:

Keep your eyes and ears open. Use sites like Monitter, Twttrlist and even the search option within TweetDeck. This way you can keep up to date with Tweets you’re interested in and respond as soon as they happen.

• Ask and respond to questions:

If you’ve not heard of something or someone before then ask? Chances are that someone else has and they may just give you the information you’re looking for. But it is a two way process and you’ll be sure to make a friend if you help someone out. You may also want to consider surveying your audience which is another great way to keep them on their toes.

• Don’t stop:

It’s a fact that 60% of Twitter users give up after the first month. If you can stick at it long enough you will soon see the benefits. Whether it’s getting some information about a company or being considered for a Twitch, they are there. But if you are flagging behind or snowed under with work you can always consider automatic feeds from third parties with the same interests, e.g. Mashable. This will quench your following’s thirst in your absence but be warned: stay away for too long and they will leave you for someone more interesting than a parrot!

• Twitter marketing:

Just because you are on Twitter don’t just assume that people will find you. Go out there and tell them. You may want to consider adding your Twitter profile to your business card, email signature or website.

So, if anyone says that you don’t need a Twitter strategy just a sense of adventure, they’re not entirely true. Common sense suggests that you don’t jump into something new without a plan, so why do it with Twitter? One thing I’ve learnt though is be prepared to put in some serious Twitter hours…

I’ve just read an interesting article in Management Today called “Ten Top Tips: Blogging for Business”, which was taken from Antony Mayfield’s eBook, “How to Start Blogging: A Guide for Business Bloggers”.

And I find it fascinating that Twitter was not included. For me, Twitter is the perfect way to improve your blogging. It not only opens doors to a whole host of content you never knew about, but, if you use it like I do, it enables you to drop your thoughts down online while you are on the move.

Then, if you’re lucky, by the time you get around to writing the blog post, one of your followers might have offered their opinion on the Tweet or provided a link to further information so that you can write a more informed blog post.

But, if nobody took the bait it is by no means the end of the world. At least your Twiter following was made aware of your thoughts. You can then return to this topic once you have written your blog post and use Twitter as a medium to direct people to a more indepth conversation your blog.

So, if I may, Mr. Mayfield?

11. Use Twitter
Micro-blogging is a great way to jot your thoughts down on the move. It lets your Twitter following know what you are thinking and prepares them for a more indepth deabte once you have written your blog post.

Furthermore, you’ll find that the more your Tweet, the more you blog and vice-versa!!!

The launch of 0range’s new online press room and the Press Association’s new video news wire mark a significant day in the media world.

It’s a breath of fresh air to see a leading corporate and one the nation’s top media organisations recognise the benefits of digital communications and invest in it despite the recession.

I am in no doubt that this is not a coincidence and I suspect many businesses, if they have not done so already, will start to follow suit and change the way they communicate online.

This will open many ‘digital doors’ for companies like PR Newswire and RealWire – who offer social news releases; MeltWater and Precise – who offer online monitoring and evaluation; and most importantly for us PR people.

Granted, PAs service is aimed at national and regional broadcasters but I expect it won’t be long until they start compressing the footage to .mp4 or .flv and using it on their websites or social network profiles, e.g. YouTube.

And as this product develops so too will the PR industry – with a greater emphasis on creating and delivering video and providing ways for consumers to access social media profiles, such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

These are exciting times for – which I’m sure, will move at a great speed. Watch this space…