Go to Google right now and type in the word “Publicity” without the quotes. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Notice the second item that comes up in search? NOT in the Google ads, but in actual organic search? Here’s a photo, in case you didn’t. Yes, that’s HARO right there as number two, right behind Wikipedia, and in FRONT of a domain with the word “Publicity” in it. Thank you Evan, at First Page Sage. I was never a real believer in SEO, thought it was too much math, and figured it better to get people to link to us, which would help grow our ranking in Google. I still DO believe that – no doubt. But I also have been [...]

Spent the past four days in Vegas at Affiliate Summit – Much like Twitter was the big noise on everyone’s lips last year, this year was all about FourSquare. If you haven’t gotten sucked into the black tar heroin that is FourSquare, it’s essentially a location based check-in service, where you compete to become “Mayor” of various locations around the world. You can enter new locations as you find them, and if played right, will be a goldmine for savvy companies who understand the value of immediate marketing. Some of the key takeaways from the summit regarding FourSquare from my perspective: People simply LOVE to announce where they are. Whether it was at the Rio Hotel, the Heart Bar or [...]

UPDATE! TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SPOTS SOLD ALREADY. THREE TWO LEFT ONE LEFT!!!! SOLD OUT!! SOLD OUT!!! Any desire to get your company, logo, or brand image in front of thousands and thousands of people, all around the world, all throughout 2010? It’s no secret I travel a lot. It’s no secret I speak a lot at conferences, major corporations, etc. when I do. It’s no secret my Macintosh comes with me wherever I go, from Asia to Starbucks, from Australia to Whole Foods, from Newark Airport to the Tokyo Subway. So far, I’m booked for over 50 speaking gigs in 2010. I’ve already purchased airline tickets totaling over 125,000 miles SO FAR. I’m expecting this year to be busier [...]

I’m speaking at a conference in a few months – keynoting it, in fact. I’m obviously not going to mention which one, it could be any of the countless conferences at which I’m speaking over the next six months. But the person running this conference has sent me (and my assistant) no less than five emails a piece asking me to blog, tweet, or otherwise do free PR for their conference. Knowing that I have over 50,000 followers, this conference organizer suspected that getting me to tweet about my attending would be an easy way for her to get free PR. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen. I’ve built my Twitter following on what I preach in my speeches: Honesty, transparency, brevity, relevance, [...]

Co-written by Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans There’s a new phenomena of people declaring themselves social media experts. We’ve actually heard from firms who pushed someone to become their resident social media expert because the person was on Facebook. There is no endorsement or accreditation to set apart legitimate industry leaders from bandwagon opportunists. Social media is a hot topic. We get it. And we don’t want to see people getting scammed by self-touting experts ready to make a quick buck. There are very few people who could, or should in all honesty, be called social media experts. We’re sharing this list with our networks, including those not yet involved in the social media world to give them a helpful [...]