Getting the right publicity for your business is hard with so many online magazines and blogs out there these days, not to mention everything that happens on social media. 

In this article the ClickDo PR strategist Manuela Willbold highlights the best ways to boost your brand with SEO and effective guest posts or press releases in the right places in combination with other online marketing hacks. 

#1. Get your Business featured in a suitable Publication

Having a featured article or press release published in an online magazine or blog that is relevant to your niche can maximise the number of visitors to your business website and consequently your conversions.  If you are a tech company, you should certainly research some trendy Tech Blogs or niche blogs in your tech industry and enquire first about a free publication with your expert input. If you are an eco-business producing green products, then you should see if you can be featured in a green living blog or magazine as the readership will certainly be interested in your products. 

Your articles should be tailored to the target audience and you should include a call to action so that the new readers you are reaching will head to your website. Link placement is a crucial SEO element, and you will need to understand which keywords to link to so you can improve the ranks of your business website. You can learn more about SEO and blogging at the digital marketing eLearning platform SeekaHost University. 

If you have business news to share, then a press release is ideal. In it you can highlight your business’ latest achievements, innovations, or customer news. The CEO or a spokesperson can be featured and often press releases allow featured images or company logos too. A press release is therefore more suitable if you want to create brand awareness and reach a much wider audience. Some blogs offer press release services, and you can also contact PR agencies that can help with it. If you already have press contacts, simply send them your press release draft via email and ask them to get it published. 

#2. Get listed on a Business Listing

People will most likely find your business or services and products via search engines. If your business website is new or not ranking well yet, then it is worth getting your business with a link to your business website listed in various business listings or online business directories. This can be a listing for your business location, a listing for your industry or niche or a general country-wide listing. The options are endless, and it is advisable to get it listed well, with as much information about your business as possible, on as many listings as you can find that are relevant for your company. These will additionally boost the SEO of your website as every backlink to your site, especially from high-authority sites with a high domain authority, will improve your ranks on search engines as the authority of your website increases. 

Most people assume that online business directory websites are only suitable for companies, but freelancers and even influencers or bloggers should list themselves and their products or services on such to gain more exposure and build their brand. You can see how my directory profile ranks on the first page on Google when people look for my name:

When you search “Manuela Willbold” on Google, you will find my directory profile among my other author profiles come up. This is especially useful if journalists are looking for more information about you or your business and they will be able to contact you quickly this way for a possible interview or feature in their paper or magazine. 

#3. Social Media Marketing with Influencers

Any business should have an online presence that is also active on famous social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. Begin with setting up a business page on these channels and add relevant info and images that will be relevant to your audience. The next step is to invite people to like your page, spread the word about it, share posts on it and adding relevant #hashtags or tagging relevant people in the industry to gain more exposure. For each channel different strategies work and you should analyse which of these channels can bring your business the attention you want, and you can gain the best results from. On FB for example, being active in relevant groups can be hugely beneficial and attract many more new users to your page and website. Instagram works better with stories and Twitter is obviously more suitable for news-worthy, short posts. 

Another way of gaining more visitors to your website through social media is by working with other influencers or bloggers in your niche. They will have hundreds or thousands of followers on their social media channels and if they share your article or collaboration with them on their channels, it can give your brand a massive boost. At ClickDo we share the guest posts that we publish for our guest authors on our popular social media channels and even groups with thousands of followers. This has helped many reach a wider audience as we manage blogs for guest blogging in education, business, entrepreneurship, SEO, internet marketing and in more specific niches such as for London or property for example. 

Final Thoughts

So, say you’re a tech entrepreneur, you can be featured in a trendy tech magazine, which will share your piece on their social media channels beside being exposed on their website. If you offer an education service or product then getting a guest post published in an education magazine that perhaps also runs a FB group for education related queries would be ideal. 

General news magazines or lifestyle magazines are also a great way of reaching potential customers with the right angle. Providing shopping and lifestyle tips or useful life hacks always gets many hits on social media and on search engines. 

Success stories are becoming a growing trend on various online publications and it is worth publishing a story about how you as an entrepreneur or freelancer built and grew your venture. 

No matter what you do, as you can see there are plentiful ways of growing your brand and business online and you should not miss out on these often very affordable options for your marketing. 

You can speak to Online Media & PR Strategist Manuela Willbold at ClickDo Ltd. about the best PR strategy for your venture, so you get the right exposure and SEO benefits.