Authors do you Squidoo?

Authors Do You Squidoo?
by Marlive Harris, TheGRITS.com

When I visited Squidoo.com’s homepage recently and saw in large letters the question –What should the world know about you? — I immediately thought about all the messages I’ve received, and continue to receive, from authors asking about best places to promote their books online. This homepage goes on to say, “Welcome to the world’s easiest way to make a page online. Share your interests, get found, and even earn money (for you or for charity). For free, of course.” Listen, with introductory information like that, I’m sure you understand why I titled this post, “Authors do you Squidoo?” Read more

Publicity 101: How to Work with Print Media

Publicity 101: How to Work with Print Media
By Pam Perry, author of Quick & Easy Ministry Marketing Solutions: 115 PR Tips to Brand Your Ministry

1. Get newsworthy info into the hands of the media. Make a habit of sending out releases on a regular basis about your events, special speakers, or anything impacting the community at large. Use a media directory or "Google" on the web to find names and contact information.

2. Get to know the religion reporters of the daily and weekly newspapers. Position yourself with them as an accessible and reliable source and a key authority to be featured in future stories.

3. Read the dailies. Respond to articles where you can take a stand on an issue while branding your ministry by writing a "Letter to Editor" or an "Op Ed" – Opinion Editorial.

Web Tool | Docstoc MyDocs

There are quite a few sites where you can store your documents online. A few months ago, I set-up an account with Docstoc.com and Scribd.com to store an online marketing presentation. Both services work essentially the same way, but I did decided to use Docstoc as my main source for storing NEXT LEVEL Seminars documents. This was before they started a new service called Docstoc MyDocs.

Docstoc Sync is a simple downloadable application that automatically syncs documents from your computer to Docstoc MyDocs. Effortlessly upload your documents and keep them private for easy access anytime, anywhere. Or publish any document or folder of documents publicly on Docstoc by putting it in your “Docstoc Public Documents” folder from your desktop.

Each Monday, we will feature a Monday Marketing Tip.

This week’s tips come from PR Dynamo Pam Perry of Ministry Marketing Solutions.

Write a web site plan. Know what you want it to do before you build a site. Create a favorable buying experience for your ministry products. Make the web site easy to use. Provide good customer service by shipping products within 5 to 7 days. Use auto responders when people make purchases. Make your site "shopper-friendly."
Attract people to your site by promoting it through frequent email campaigns linking back to the site. Have your site content-rich to keep visitors at your site, wanting to share it with others. This is called viral marketing.
Capture names of visitors by using a "squeeze page." Offer something for free like a CD or booklet if they provide their contact information. Get their email address at the very least so you can send the booklet in a PDF file or the CD as an MP3.

Read more

Web Tool | Zamzar

We are starting something new this month. Each Wednesday we plan to post an online tool, free service, Firefox extension, etc – a little something you might find well, useful.

Have you noticed Word 2007 users often send Word files with a “docx” ending?

I didn’t really notice this new extension until I tried to open a file one day. Trying to explain to someone to re-save the file to a later version was more trouble than it was worth to me. For Microsoft Office 2007 products, you can download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack. I have since purchased MS Office 2007, so converting a file, is not a worry.

If you are not quite ready to make that switch or if someone sends you a bitmap instead of a jpeg, you might find Zamzar – a free online converter to be useful. The basic service offers file conversions up to 100 MB. If you desire more, there is a pricing plan.

The cool thing about this service is the various files you can convert. You can convert images, music, videos and documents. Check out this list.