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.

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…

Had an interesting chat yesterday with a couple of colleagues about the Metro…

Do people read it in the morning because it’s convenient, i.e. their local train station does not sell other newspapers and the local newsagent is not on their way? Or is it a question of price, i.e. reading it instead of The Times everyday saves them £20 a month?

Decided it was a convenience thing first and foremost, and then price. Reckon most people read the Metro as it’s light entertainment first thing, and then rely on the internet when they get to work to get more factual, industry related news.

We then got onto news aggregators and discovered that many people have many different habits, e.g. iGoogle, NewsNow, Ananova, Press Gazette and Yahoo! News etc.

Also found a useful website detailing a list of web-based, desktop, email, mobile and browser extension aggregators: NewsOnFeeds.com.

I then spared a thought for the paper boy…

What’s he up to in this digital news age? Do people still get a paper delivered in the morning? Is he out of a job? Has he evolved? If so, how? And would people be interested in receiving news from an electronic paper boy?

A quick Google search curbed my excitment (ThePaperBoy.com), but, as always, am convinced I could do better…

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

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…

Oh dear, Pc Rob Ward – what a silly boy you’ve been…

Among the variety of Facebook fuelled stories in the media over the past few years, I’ve now seen all three emergency services, the Army, MPs and banks stung by investigative ’social network’ journalism.

Do people and businesses not realise how easy it is to find information about themselves or their staff on the web?!

Granted, Pc Ward may have taken the necessary security measures and the Met may have even advised him to do so – but it seems that where there’s a will there’s a way when it comes to social networks and finding information, pictures or video.

Whether they get to you under a hoax name, or through a friend, or by bribing a follower – they’ll get you. And hats off to them.

But not everyone hack is there yet, in fact, the other day I had a journalist call me and ask  for a picture of an ex-client. Once I’d done my due diligence I said I’d look for it and send it through. I couldn’t find it in the end but suggested, seeing as he was at the end of his tether, that he looked him up on LinkedIn.

Five minutes later he emailed me: “Thanks. I would never had thought of that – way too new age. Brilliant!”

As with him, I am all for new age journalism – just hope it does not bite me one day…

Great programme, great viral, interesting insight…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVeSPyAp8aU