We’ve written before about the benefits of having a blog. Check out our previous post on anxiety about blogging. From improving your site’s SEO to raising your presence to positioning yourself as a valuable resource, there are a slew of reasons to either embark on your blog writing or hire a professional to do it for you.

Not all blog posts, though, are created equal. If you’re writing too much – or too little – or if your blog post headlines are lacking, your efforts will go largely unnoticed by Google and thus by any potential customers searching for you. Here are a handful of tips for getting the most SEO “bang” for your blog writing efforts, specifically by using keywords to boost your blog post’s value.

Keywords and blog writing

If nothing else, choose a key word or phrase and stick to it. You can use tools like Google Adwords’ Keyword Tool to see what folks are searching for and adjust your keyword(s) accordingly. For example, say you want to write a blog post about pizza, specifically about how to make a delicious pizza at home. By using the Keyword Tool, you will see that the phrase “How to make pizza dough” is searched for often. What can you do with that information? Instead of titling your blog post, “Making Pizza,” make it, “How to make pizza dough.”

Now that you have your key phrase, utilize that phrase, and related phrases, to your advantage. By peppering the phrase throughout the content of your blog post, you increase the likelihood that your blog writing will rise to the top of a Google search for related topics.

Don’t stop at using the phrase, though. Use header tags, bolding and other emphasis tools to highlight that key phrase and other keywords or phrases you might like to include (“Making pizza at home” and “Making your own pizza sauce” are two often searched for phrases as well).

Don’t make the erroneous assumption that a blog post full of your key phrase and little else will do you any good, though. Google notices when content is too full of key words or phrases and will penalize you by ranking your page low. We’ve all seen those disappointing search results that are just a bunch of gibberish full of keywords but with zero value – how frustrating!

Content is still the most important, so use your key phrase, but use it appropriately. Make sure your blog writing still offers your readers something valuable – like truly how to make their own pizza dough!

If you’re like many businesses, the rapidly growing and constantly evolving world of social media probably has your head spinning, and for good reason. It seems like every time you turn around, there’s a new platform to experiment with and new updates to learn on the more well-established sites (here’s looking at you, Facebook timelines). The web was abuzz about Google+ months ago when the hype leading to its premier was at its peak, but lately you don’t hear as much about it. That’s most likely about to change.

Why? Well, Google has introduced a new enhancement that will mean a Google search will include highlighted Google+ results. Yup, Google+ is giving Google+ search results preferential treatment. What does that mean for you and your business? In short, it means you should create a Google+ page and commit to updating it at least semi-regularly. If you care about your search ranking in Google, that is. That’s because Google will, no doubt, look favorably on those who “play its game,” so to speak.

Signing up for a Google+ business page is pretty simple. First you have to create a personal page. Then, go to Create a Page on Google+ and choose your category according to the type of business you run. From there you’ll put in your business’s custom info, including a photo, tagline, and more. You can also create a photo stream, add individuals to your circles, and more. Mashable has a great Google+ page you can take some inspiration from.

Creating another social media presence may seem like a chore, especially if you’re already managing multiple platforms as it is. That’s why it’s so important to be efficient with how you manage your accounts. Don’t set out to create content for just one platform – replicate it and spread it out across all platforms, making the most of what you have to offer. And get started on creating that Google+ page (and don’t let it languish in inactivity!). If you want potential customers or clients finding you on Google, Google+ is worthy of your consideration.

Like so many others, you’ve decided to create a Twitter account for your business. That’s great – but what do you do now? It’s easy to brush off Twitter as a silly pursuit, but for many businesses, it’s an excellent way to achieve any number of goals, from engaging with customers and building loyalty to making connections with influential organizations. It’s also a great place to connect with local media, to establish yourself as a thoughtful resource, to find new customers… need I go on?

Twitter, however silly it may be to some, is here, and it’s growing in popularity. Follow these steps to cultivating your base of followers, engaging with others and hopefully growing your business’s influence.

6 Steps: How to Get Started on Twitter

1. Brand your page. There’s nothing more telling about a Twitter user than if their profile picture is the default “egg” image and their background includes the iconic Twitter bird. You might as well just have the Fail Whale as your wallpaper. Create a custom profile picture and background that reflect your business. Here are a few examples of pages Pivot has branded for clients: EPOCH Senior Living; TimeView; ComfortZone; Karissa Thacker.
2. Decide what you want your Twitter page to be. Do you want to be a resource, providing timely and relevant information about your industry? Do you want to address customers directly with support, tips and FAQs? Do you want to be fun and quirky? (Hint: combining two or more is worth considering.) Stop and think about the purpose you want your Twitter page to serve.
3. Start following. Identify the key players in your industry and follow them. There are several ways to do this. If you know of a specific individual or company in your industry with an active Twitter page, you can follow them directly. You can also search directly on Twitter for words and phrases related to your industry. Be sure to consider the number and frequency of tweets, as well as the number of followers, before hitting the “Follow” button. Someone with a handful of followers who hasn’t tweeted in a month is probably not worth following.
4. Listen first. Before you start tweeting away to your heart’s content, get a feel for the language of Twitter first. See what topics your influencers are talking about, and decipher the “twitter-speak” they use. See what’s trending, what hashtags (#) users are using, what issues matter to them.
5. Start tweeting, but be wary. Keep in mind that Twitter is like one big party, and you’re the awkward new guy who just walked into the room. Would you walk into a room full of strangers and start talking about yourself to the first person you saw? If so, you probably wouldn’t be very popular. To get others to listen to what you have to say and, hopefully follow you back, show you provide value by sharing timely, relevant information, by re-tweeting other relevant posts (kind of like an “atta-boy” to another user), and by keeping the talk about yourself to a minimum.
6. Keep with it. Unless you’re Chris Brown or Justin Bieber, Twitter takes time to master. Stick with your strategy and be consistent. If you’re just starting out, I’d recommend posting several times a day, if possible.

There are a number of free Twitter tools out there, like Hootsuite, Klout, SocialOomph and many more you can use to schedule your tweets, organizer your followers/following lists, and send automatic messages.

What about you – any tips for aspiring @JustinBieber’s out there?

Sometimes, when you’re in need of photos for advertisements, websites or other visual materials, hiring a professional photographer to do the work isn’t realistic. Cost or time issues can prohibit it. That doesn’t mean you’re out of luck, though. There are a number of easy and less cost-prohibitive ways to get high-quality images, particularly now that digital is the name of the game. Read on for some tips on getting top-notch images without a professional photographer, or even a fancy camera.

Visualize, then shoot.

Imagine the image you want – the light, where the subject is located, where the camera is focused, the color, etc. Then work on capturing what you see in your mind’s eye.

Know your light.

Certain times of day – dusk and dawn – offer the best opportunity for even, flattering light. In general, keep the sun behind you at all times. When you’re indoors, be aware of natural light coming in from the windows – don’t position your subjects in front of that natural light, but rather in a way that allows as much natural light as possible to fall on them. Many cameras have a low-light or night mode that can be useful indoors as well. It’s important to hold your hand steady when using this setting, though, due to the longer exposure time.

Be aware of the background.

A cluttered and busy background distracts from what you want your viewer to focus on. Be aware of what is behind your main focus and declutter if necessary.

Try different angles.

With digital photography, it’s tempting to take the same photo several times with little variation, hoping something will turn out all right. Instead, take a few shots from each angle – landscape and portrait, from above, and from below. Try framing the subject differently as well – instead of capturing them straight on, consider positioning them to the side in order to capture a different angle.

All in all, experiment.

Memory cards can hold hundreds, even thousands of images. Play with the various aspects that affect your image, from the light to the angle to the framing and more. For every 20 shots, you may only have one or two usable images, but that’s what makes digital photography so great – you can just delete the other 18!

Reporters, news editors and others in the media are constantly inundated with pitches from business owners, public relations professionals and everything in between. What can you do to make sure your pitch isn’t quickly shuffled to the “Trash” box? Hint: exclamation points aren’t going to help your cause. Read on for several tips to crafting a pitch that might, if you’re lucky, catch a reporter’s eye.

Identify the key points, and know what you’re talking about.

Follow this simple guideline: if I were a reporter, what would I want to know? Well, you’d want to know what makes this product/event/announcement worthy of valuable newsprint. Also ask yourself why a reporter’s readers would care about this topic. Is it a local take on a national trend? A unique or wacky event or photo opportunity? Explain.

But don’t explain for too long.

Imagine you have about .3 seconds to capture a reporter’s attention. If you were a reporter, would, “I’d like to share with you a truly fascinating story about a unique paint drying event,” capture your attention? Hopefully not. Cut to the chase – there’s no need to explain what you’re going to explain. There’s also no need to use superfluous adjectives and crazy punctuation. Just jump right in, be straightforward, and don’t go on very long. A single short paragraph is usually enough.

Know who you’re talking to.

Would a book editor be interested in the latest tech product? No, but a technology reporter might. This gets back to point No. 1, where we covered the importance of explaining why a reporter’s readers would care.

Provide accurate follow-up information.

Make it very clear to the reporter/editor/etc. who the proper contact person is and make sure that person is available. Nothing kills a potential story faster than an automated “Out of Office” response from the pitch contact, who just so happens to be on vacation.

Follow-up.

Don’t nag, but do send a follow-up email or make a call a few days after you send out your pitch. Ask if they received it and if they’d like any other information. Strive to make their job easier, but don’t be pushy. A reporter isn’t an extension of your sales team. They aren’t interested in promoting your business; they’re interested in their readers. Show you understand that.

If you haven’t already dipped your toe into the social media ocean yet, you’re not alone. Many companies are skeptical of this relatively new and somewhat uncertain realm. What seems simple – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube – can evolve into something much more complicated without the right guidelines and preparation. But say you’ve decided to give it a shot. Before you make your company’s brand new Facebook page public, or start tweeting about the latest industry news, take these pointers into consideration.

Watch from the sidelines. Before you plunge headfirst into the social media ocean, take some time to study the waters first. See what your competitors are doing. What are they writing about? What seems to be working and what is falling flat? Do others in your industry focus on Facebook while avoiding Twitter, or vice versa? Immerse yourself in the conversation, take note of the language and lingo used, and study how others handle discord within their social media channels.

Create some content. You can aim your focus on a number of different strategies here. Consider using social media to answer and respond to customer concerns, and craft content around those common complaints. You can answer their questions before they even ask. Or, you could position yourself as an expert in the industry and offer an insightful and unique perspective on issues within your field. Or, you could use social media to show the personality and character of your company and its people. You could even combine these different approaches, but just make sure you know what persona you’re trying to project and all your social media efforts tie in to this persona. It’s not a bad idea to come up with a single sentence that encapsulates your reason for getting into social media. That way you can come back to that sentence each time you create content.

Assign responsibility. Assigning one person to monitor and engage in social media ensures your company’s message is consistent across all social media outlets. This person needs a clear direction about the content and commentary they are delivering. A process for handling complaints or other issues should be developed and the individual responsible for social media must understand it.

…But don’t get caught unprepared. If the individual mentioned above takes a two-week vacation, are you going to let your social media channels go stagnant for two weeks? That’s probably not the best strategy. Creating a content calendar, guidelines for content and other fool-proof procedures ensures that if your go-to social media person is absent, someone else can step in relatively easily and keep the ball rolling.

At its core, public relations is about identifying and establishing mutually beneficial connections between two entities. It creates and maintains symbiotic relationships between groups that otherwise wouldn’t exist to their full potential on their own. It’s about telling both sides of the story. Unfortunately, as in any field, there are bad apples in PR who fail to meet their ethical responsibilities. Take former Colorado Springs public relations head Sue Skiffington-Blumberg.

Last month it was revealed that Skiffington-Blumberg followed orders from her superior to basically bad-mouth the city in the local and national press. Skiffington-Blumberg told the Colorado Springs Gazette that her former boss, city manager Penny Culbreth-Graft, gave her direct instructions to disparage her home town. And Skiffington-Blumberg obliged, though she claims not happily. Check out this quote from a recent Gazette editorial:

“Our strategic plan was to paint a picture of the dire straits of our city budget. If we could not do so locally, we would do so in the regional and national press — though I’d have preferred that it not play out with Diane Sawyer,” Skiffington-Blumberg said, referring to one of several media giants who blasted Colorado Springs. “I hated it. I grew up here. My family has been in this community since 1892. But when given a task, it is my obligation to get on board. If you give me a task, don’t expect me not to succeed.”

Just two days after the editorial ran, Skiffington-Blumberg was asked to resign, which she did. Mayor-elect Steve Bach and his team reportedly plan to take a different approach to public relations. It includes touting the city’s multi-million dollar surplus, its ranking as a top-10 college town and other notable features.

The reactions to Skiffington-Blumberg’s statements and subsequent resignation have been mixed. Some have said she was put in an impossible position – follow her boss’s orders or defy her and report her to upper management, both of which probably would have had unfortunately consequences for Skiffington-Blumberg herself. Others have little more to say other than “good riddance.” Skiffington-Blumberg had to know the truth about her orders would have come out eventually. Rather than hide behind the “I was just following orders” mantra, she could have done the right thing and spoken up, or resigned. Had she left her position and alerted the city’s media to the public relations “plan” aimed at slamming the city, she may have been commended for her honesty, which might have led to bigger and better opportunities for her down the road. Unfortunately we’ll never know.

When you consider public relations and Washington together, you probably think of powerful lobbyists with big bank accounts passing checks surreptitiously to politicians in an effort to influence public policy. I just watched a fictionalized account of the Jack Abramoff scandal – Casino Jack with Kevin Spacey – so maybe that’s what I think of. Either way, NRP recently did a piece on the unique nature of public relations in Washington, and the relationship between PR professionals and lobbyists in that arena. Often the various groups inundate Capitol Hill journalists with sometimes contradictory information – one touts a study on the health benefits of a particular item while the other offers up a study on the dangers of that same item. Gives you an idea of what journalists have to sift through on a regular basis. The playing field in Washington, of course, isn’t fair – what a surprise. Big companies have considerably more dollars to spend on PR and lobbying. Many have started using social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in an attempt to influence a politician’s constituents in an effort to spread their message. Take a listen to this short NRP piece, or read the transcript, to hear more about the difference between lobbying and public relations, the methods each use and how groups with less cash use different tools to make up for their lack of funds. It’s part of a larger series looking at the public relations profession in general. Take a listen when you have the chance., then take a look at the comments below. It’s clear a number of PR professionals are a bit incensed by how NPR characterizes them, and particularly when NPR asserts PR professionals don’t have to answer to anyone while lobbyists do – not true, many stay in the comments. What do you think, is NPR unfairly characterizing PR professionals?

There’s nothing more frustrating for a journalist than to receive an interesting and possibly story-worthy tidbit of information, only to find out it’s incomplete. Maybe the contact information is worthless, maybe a crucial fact is missing. Whatever it is, as a public relations professional, not providing key information is a sure-fire way to have your email pitch transferred to the Trash folder.

The details and nuances of pitching a story idea to a reporter are varied. There are countless different approaches you could take. But if your pitch lacks key information, the way you dressed it up won’t matter one bit. Here are three things to keep in mind when pitching a story idea.

• Give them the facts. If it’s an event, where and when is it, why is it being held, who will be there? Forgetting a simple detail such as the time creates one more step a busy reporter has to take before deciding whether to cover the event. Make it as easy as possible for them by making the key details clear.

• Provide relevant contact information. You sent them a concise pitch with all the details. That’s great. But did you also provide a contact who can tell them more who is available? Contact information for someone who’s on vacation or who has nothing to do with the story idea is useless. Be sure to hook the reporter up with the most knowledgeable and available contact.

• Tell them why they should care. Will his or her readers care? If you think so, tell them why. If you don’t, why are you pitching them in the first place?

A Denver Post columnist recently wrote about the possible closure of the journalism school at the University of Colorado. His take? People don’t need J-school to become good journalists – they need decent writing skills and an innate curiosity. Classes like “Advanced Feature Writing” are essentially useless, he claims.

As a J-school grad myself, one who actually took a class called “Advanced Feature Writing,” his column piqued my interest. He’s not the first to bash journalism school, and he won’t be the last. While he had some valid points, I think his overall take is too harsh. Journalism school is what you make it. I can’t speak to programs at any other institution, but I feel the program I graduated from at Boston University was an excellent one that prepared me not just for journalism jobs, but for a career in any number of fields.

At the core of my program was a focus on writing: concise, factual, informative writing. Learning how to efficiently and repeatedly write quality pieces is a great skill to have in any job. Classes that taught me how to write a good lead, what a nut graf was, how to structure a feature piece, and other journalism tools enabled me to jump into my first journalism job relatively confident I could succeed. Nothing duplicates the experience of an actual journalism job, but a good J-school program comes close.

The Post columnist wrote that being a good journalist is about knowing your subject and writing clearly. He says you don’t need J-school to do that. Perhaps not, but it definitely helps. Along with improving my writing, j-school taught me how to identify the most important aspects of a story quickly.

As I prepared to graduate and began searching for jobs, many employers sought applicants with a journalism or communications program background. If j-school is useless, why did so many job descriptions contain phrases like, “Journalism school background a plus,” or “Graduation from a journalism program can be used in place of X years of newspaper experience”?

Journalism is changing, there’s no disputing that. J-school has to change as well. Perhaps traditional journalism programs focused solely on print reporting are becoming more obsolete, but the best programs to emerge will be the ones that incorporate multiple media – print, video, social – into the curriculum while still retaining a strong emphasis on the importance of skillful writing.