Impact – Ken McArthur - “Some people spread a simple message that is so compelling that their voice is not solo for long. People rally around their message and spread it like wildfire.” This one is all about how to make an impact in a crowded marketplace.  The book is very easy to follow with step-by-step lists and bullet points, but with relevant stories thrown into the mix as well.  With an emphasis on online marketing the book is more practical than conceptual…which is why it’s on our list.

How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie – “This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies.” This one is a classic and it’s been called the PR person’s bible by more than a few.  The techniques and strategies presented in the book are just as relevant today as they were more than 70 years ago.  Stop what you are doing right now and go read it.

Can We Do That?! – Peter Shankman – “What would you do to get your business noticed?” A funny, insightful look at some of the more ridiculous PR campaigns of the past and why they worked or didn’t.  If you are looking for a How-to book, move on – it’s not this one.  But the book is entertaining to read and can motivate you to get creative and develop inspired ideas of your own.

The New Rules of Marketing & PR – David Meerman Scott – “This excellent look at the basics of new-millennial marketing should find use in the hands of any serious PR professional making the transition.” Out with the old, in with the new.  New Rules focuses on how PR has changed with the advent of online marketing, blogging and social media.  It’s a great overview of new terms and strategies that will bring everyone up to speed in terms of PR online.

Writing Effective News Releases – Catherine McIntyre – “Would you like to have your business featured in hundreds of newspapers and magazines, and on radio and television stations around the country?” Catherine McIntyre provides practical advice and step-by-step guides to writing releases that will get you placed.  There are also plenty of real examples to learn from – all in all a must read guide.

Guerrilla PR – Michael Levine – “The manifesto for waging a street-smart publicity campaign with no- or low-cost strategies from one of Hollywood’s most successful publicists. “ This one is an oldie, but goodie.  It covers all the basics (except Internet – which wasn’t a factor when the book was written in 1993).  The conversational style and logical organization make it a great reference, but the witty advice and real-life examples and stories is what makes this a must read.

Did we miss your favorite?  Let us know in the comments…

So here is my attempt at an easy to understand guide to basic SEO practices for PR people- which I realize may be completely obsolete by next Thursday.

First off, you need to know there are 2 main categories for SEO: On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO. Here’s what these mean in a nutshell:
On Page SEO: everything you do specifically on your website, i.e. site structure and the web developer’s domain – as a PR person you may not have much control over this, but it never hurts to know what you are dealing with right off the bat.
Off Page SEO: everything you do outside of your  immediate website, i.e. your relationship to other websites

✔ Have a site map. If you don’t have a site map stop reading right now and go tell your developer/client to make one. Its one of the easiest ways to make sure the search engines find your site (and any new pages you add) easy to crawl.
✔ Keywords. Put the keywords you want to rank for in your URL and domain name if at all possible. Make sure your web design team puts them in your your title tag and, just for fun, in the meta tag as well. Now, Google says in no longer uses the Keyword meta tag, but others do, so it can’t hurt to put them in there. Be careful though – every single keyword in the keyword meta tag MUST appear somewhere in your body text, otherwise Google will mark it as irrelevant and penalize you.
✔ Links. Your internal links should have keywords, and lower level pages should be linked together appropriately. A general rule of thumb is that a user should be able to navigate to any page on your site within 3 or 4 clicks from the homepage. As for external links, make sure you only link to reputable sites (no links farms or ‘bad neighborhoods’) and check to make sure your links are all valid.
✔ Be old and new at the same time. Google likes old sites because of the perceived ‘trust’ they have, it also likes ‘fresh’ pages. The best site in Google’s opinion has been around for a long time and puts new content up on a regular basis. Good to know, even if you can only control the second part.

☠ Keywords. It’s a two way street, keywords are an essential part of good on page SEO but it can easily go wrong. Rules of thumb: Don’t have too many (keyword stuffing) and make sure every single one is 100% relevant to your site’s topic.
☠ Bad language/ethnic slurs/’stop’ words. This is just PR common-sense. Basically don’t use any word Google has associated with shady dealings in the past.
☠ All Flash with no HTML option. Most search engine spiders can’t read flash, make sure your developers give them an HTML option to read or they won’t index your page and your ranking may suffer.

✔ Links, Links, Links. Incoming links from quality sites are extremely important. You want stable (the older the better) links that contain your keywords in them pointing to you from a site that is a trusted source – you get bonus points if its from an “expert” site.  Bloggers/webmasters are just like journalists, so your PR experience in building relationships and pitching is completely relevant, it’s much easier to get a link from someone you have an established relationship with.  Also, everyone hates off-topic pitches, so don’t do it online either.
✔ Traffic. The more people on your site the better. If your site is new and you don’t have much traffic, you get a little boost if there is an increasing pattern, you also get a boost if people stay on your site for a long time (low bounce rate). If visitors bookmark your page…even better! I know this seems a bit out of your control – but by making sure you or your clients create content on your site people actually want to read and find interesting you can encourage better traffic.
✔ Article Submission/Blogs. By creating articles and submitting them to other sites you not only create links pointing to your site, you create interest among visitors. The same is true for having a blog. You’ll be creating new content on a regular basis (which Google loves) plus you’ll be building a loyal base of readers who may help your site to be seen as a ‘trusted’ source and give you a consistent stream of traffic.
✔ Page Rank. It’s based on the number of quality links pointing back to you, but other factors are included as well. There are differing opinions among SEO professionals as to just how important Page Rank is. Many say that it isn’t important at all anymore, some still rely on it. Our take? Don’t obsess over your site’s Page Rank, but don’t completely discount it either.

☠ Bad Links. Google is cracking down on link-buying by penalizing sites. Link exchanging is also an issue, while there is no penalty for exchanging links with other sites Google deems these type of links much less valuable than quality incoming (one way) links. You also want to look out for bad ‘link neighborhoods’ – sites linked together through spammy sites or link farms. If you link to these sites by accident chances are you’ll be OK, but if Google finds too many of these type of links on your pages you could be in trouble. Here is a tool to help check your links – Text Link Checker Tool.
☠ Being “spammy” aka pitching off topic. Link building activities can get a bad rep because there are so many ‘techniques’ that are just plain spammy. Mass-posting links into forums, posting links into comment sections of completely unrelated blogs, or mass-emailing hundreds of bloggers/webmasters asking for links are just plain annoying and not all that successful anyway.  Do your research and find the right sources/outlets for your specific site or topic – just like in the ‘real world’.

Keep in mind these are just the basics, there’s a plethora of resources out there if you’d like in depth info on one specific aspect of SEO. Check out Vaughn’s Google’s Ranking Factors for more Google specific details, its a great resource if you’ve got the time to go through it.

If you have any SEO or online public relations resources you use or just a great informational site let me know!