PATRON SAINT PRODUCTIONS, INC.
~  CHAT TRANSCRIPT  ~
Patron Saint Productions, Inc.
Internet PR Chat Series

Topic: Online Newsrooms
Guests: Steve O'Keefe, author of "Complete Guide to Internet Publicity"
Date: April 18, 2008

LAST SESSION
Opening URL: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/default.mspx

Who uses online newsrooms?
- Journalists to gather information, background and supplemental information
- Company in crisis
- Non-media trying to break through. Customer service inquiries, job applicants
- Investors and analysts
- Attorneys and investigators
- Own employees and investors

What should a newsroom contain?
1. Must contain
      - Contact information
2.  Should contain
     - News releases, current
     - High-resolution artwork
     - Searchable news release archive
     - Financial Information, especially for publicly traded companies
     - Management profiles EXAMPLE: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/default.mspx?group=A-D

3. Bells and whistles
    - Newsletters
    - Transcripts of speeches
    - Calendar of events
    - Stand on political issues
    - Roster of employees, directory
   - Broadcast room EXAMPLE: http://br.thenewsmarket.com/Microsoft/br/Login/LoginPreRegistration.aspx
    RESTRICTED ACCESS
        - Contact information OK so emplyees are not spammed
        - Could limit coverage for your business
4. Should not contain
    - Dated material you cannot maintain
    - Message boards
   
EXAMPLE:  http://www.apple.com/pr/
    - Contact information: public
    - News release example: Final Cut Server Shipping
        - No personal contact information on release because of archive issues
    - Images for the media: Airport Express
        - Include format of the artwork including size

ONLINE CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS:  2 Strategies
1. DUCK: what crisis, what problem?
    - Pretend it is not there and hope it goes away
     EXAMPLE: http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/press/prindex.html
    - Archive of news releases
    - Special Web site to deal with media: http://www.swamedia.com
    - Making significant changes on a daily basis
2. STAND TALL: want your side of the story to be told.
    - Pro and con
     EXAMPLE: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/legalnews.mspx
    - Provide exhaustive information on the topic
    - Document the entire story to get your side of the information out
    - Dark Web site - Emergency Web site that redirects people to the crisis information


Class Podcast:
http://www.authorviews.com/authors/promo/chatsessions/online_newsrooms.wav

PATRON SAINT PRODUCTIONS, INC.
~  CHAT TRANSCRIPT  ~
Patron Saint Productions, Inc.
Internet PR Chat Series

Topic: Search Engine Optimization
Guests: Steve O'Keefe, author of "Complete Guide to Internet Publicity"
Date: April 11, 2008

Opening URL for the day:       http://www.google.com

Search Engine Optimization: The science of trying to get people to come to your site (increase traffic).
Careful, traffic can be a bad thing:
 - Expenses rise as traffic increases.
 - Unwanted viewers
 - hackers
 - lawyers

GOOGLE: algorithm - ranking system based on metatags
On Web site look for source code:

Example site: Google search food - pick LA Times
- Title bar tag (keywords) helps Google understand what is on that page

Example: Food News, Recipes & Restaurant Reviews - Los Angeles Times
- Keywords tag (non in this example). No more than 50, separated by commas

Example: meta name="keywords" content="" /
- Description tag. 25 word of what is on your Web site, not what you do.

Example: meta name="description" content="Find food & wine news and reviews on restaurants, recipes, cooking, desserts, chefs, fine dining, cuisine, Los Angeles restaurants, four star restaurants & more." /

What Google looks for to rank:
- tags match content (you will get the Google smack down if you do not represent yourself properly with tags and content. Smack down = moved to the bottom of the search list)
- linkage (how many sites link to your site)
- popularity among searchers (when Google offers options, how many times are you chosen)

Recommendations to optimize your site:
- Follow metatags rules
- Annual search engine optimization check
    - find out where you are in searches
    - update metatags
- Register your Web site with search engines
http://www.patronsaintpr.com/resources/templates.html
    - Web site registration list
    http://www.patronsaintpr.com/resources/templates/regreport.html
- Linkage campaign (expect 20-25% success rate)
    - Link letter
    http://www.patronsaintpr.com/resources/templates/linkreport.htm    
    - When asking for linkage ask these questions:    
        - Is the site dead or not?
        - Do they have links to other site (links or resources)?
        - Who should I pitch?
Example: Eric Ward article on link letters http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=831971
    -Find a super site (someone that has made it their job to be a resource on the topic)

Here's a link to the sessions podcast:
http://www.authorviews.com/authors/promo/chatsessions/080411.wav

I've invited the students in the Tulane class I teach in Internet Public Relations to come onto the blog and contribute while class is in session. I hope they'll comment in here to introduce themselves. Part of the class grade is determined by participation: here on the blog, on the Friday Skype chats that start February first, and in class. Some people shine online and we can all learn from them.

The classroom Tulane provides this term has fifteen PC terminals, all running Vista, and a teacher's workstation PC, also on Vista. I can toggle from the workstation to my MacBook running OSX using a dongle (pardon me).

Too late into the class, I asked the students, one by one, to come up and Google themselves on the PC projected on the wall. Interesting way to get to meet people -- and for them to see how they look to folks in the outside world. Every student has a different style of working the web. When you watch them demonstrate, you learn something.

So I hope my students will pipe up in the coming weeks and teach us a thing or two about online PR and we'll try to return the favor.

Steve O'Keefe
Adjunct Professor
Internet Public Relations
Tulane University