You need a press kit.

In the “old days”, that meant spending a LOT of money to have fancy-schmancy folders and papers printed that you would mail to newspaper and magazine editors. Because it is so costly to create those glossy kits, you and I would be doing without. Luckily, those days are long gone, and the Internet is here to save us. (Yes, you can still get hard copy press kits, and some may opt to do so, but it’s no longer the necessity that it once was).

So what is an online press kit, anyway? Sometimes called a media kit, it is really just an expanded “About Me” section that includes things like images and graphics (like headshots of yourself or images of your ebook cover), and lots of in-depth information about yourself that journalists could use when either writing about you, or quoting you. The more information you give reporters and bloggers in a simple, easy-to-get format, the better. The key is that you want to make it EASY for a reporter to choose you when they are looking for comments and quotes from an expert in whatever topic they are writing about today. Reporters have tight deadlines. They want answers and they want them fast.

If you accomplished all that we discussed in the last few posts, then it’s very likely that a journalist would find your site when he searched for “his current topic expert” or “whatever he is writing about guru”. Once he gets to your site, he’s going to want to:

1. Know more about you.
2. Find quick info that summarizes your expertise
3. Contact information so he can get in touch with you

An online press kit, then, would incorporate all of those elements and more. Journalists are trained to look for press kits. They’ve been relying on company media kits for decades. Just by having your own online press kit, you let them know that you respect them, and you are willing and ready to work with them. You let them know that you are available as a source. That gives you an edge over all the other “gurus” who don’t have an online press kit.

Once you have your online press kit created, you’ll want to be proactive. Let people know about it. Contact editors of relevant newspapers and magazines, or your local news editors, and let them know that you are available in the future as an expert source on the topics of “blah, blah and blah” (your niche expertise). Don’t hound them. Just let them know, give them all of your contact information, and be sure to include the URL to your spiffy, new online press kit. If any are interested, they’ll keep your information at hand in case they need it in the future.

You can also register as an expert source at either ProfNet (a service of PRWeb) or ExpertClick. These services connect journalists with expert sources (such as yourself), so they are great places to network, but the services are somewhat expensive. I would recommend doing everything you can in the first few months to build up your name recognition and have everything in place to position yourself as an authority before registering for this type of pricey service.

I can hear you asking already…how do I set up an online press kit? You can simply add a section to your current web site that gives all the pertinent information on its pages. Keep it simple and clean, with navigation that makes it impossible for a hurried journalist to get lost. Include quotes, testimonials, syndicated articles, suggested questions, podcasts and videos, images and graphics, and lots of bio information. If you want professional help, there are services that you can hire to create online press kits for you. From what I’ve seen, they seem to average around $500, so if that’s in your budget, it may be easiest to let someone else create it for you. Keep in mind, however, that you’ll still need to give them the actual content. You’ll need to spend a fair amount of time telling them about yourself, your achievements, your products, or whatever else would need to be included. After all, they don’t know those things about you – you do.

I looked around, hoping to be able to find a link to some free press kit templates, but didn’t find what I was looking for, so I decided to just go ahead and create some from scratch. I’ve created a new product called Online Press Kit Templates (no longer available as a paid product – see here to get it for free.). It’s not free, so let me tell you that right up front. But I priced it at a “reasonable” amount, so that it would be the right choice for anyone who wants help, but doesn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars. Many of you are old hands at setting up web sites, so you’ll be able to set your own up without any help at all. But if you would rather follow a template, without the actual service of someone creating it for you, then you are the right person to consider purchasing the templates I created. Keep in mind though, that you can absolutely do this yourself for free. I don’t want to mislead anyone into thinking that my product is the only solution, because that would certainly not be true. My templates simply make it a lot easier to get an online press kit up and running with minimal effort.

So that’s it. By the time you’ve covered all the steps in this Authority series, you should be well on your way to being called “the world’s foremost authority on ….”. Good luck!

P.S. If you are planning on hiring me as your ebusiness coach, don’t order my templates, because all my coaching clients get the package for free.

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Post tags: An Authority, authority, company media kits, e - business, ebusiness coach, expert, guru, hurried journalist, journalist, media kit, online press kit, Online Press Kit Over, Online Press Kit Templates, online press kits, reporter, search results, templates
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Let’s say you are an expert in mountain biking. No, you didn’t take courses in biking, and you never owned a bicycle factory. You simply have been an avid mountain biker over the last 10 years, and that experience has led you to an understanding of the sport that enables you to be considered an expert. You know much about great trails, bike safety, which bikes are best under which conditions, etc. You get questioned often about the topic, as young enthusiasts want your advice.

Now, you decide you want to spread your knowledge worldwide, so you set up a web site to do so. You’ve done your homework, you’ve made the site search engine friendly, you’ve obtained some nice backlinks to the site, and you’ve begun to see some traffic trickling in. You’ve decided that what you really need is to be recognized as an expert, so you tackle the following tasks:

• The “be everywhere” task, in which you participate in as many relevant online mountain biking communities as possible. During this task, you strive to be as helpful as possible, answering questions freely, and being generous with your time in giving advice and tips.
• The “get published” task, in which you write articles for syndication, write guest posts on outdoor enthusiasts blogs, blog frequently on your own blog, and even get published in a few offline publications, such as local newspapers and magazines.
• The “have your voice heard” task, in which you become a guest on podcast stations, and eventually even do guest spots at your local radio station.
• The “have your face seen” task, in which your head shot is your avatar, and that avatar becomes associated with your name in all the places you visit.

After a few months, you realize that you’ve got a pretty solid base of “proof” that you are indeed an expert in mountain biking. You’ve built up a nice collection of articles, blog posts, podcast interviews, etc. that all point to you as being an authority in the topic. The only people who haven’t yet heard of you are the ones you want recognition from the most – the Influencers.

The Influencers are the A-list bloggers, the well-known journalists, and the highly respected publications that reach the masses. If even one Influencer claims you are one of the world’s foremost mountain biking authorities, you can rest assured that it won’t be long before EVERYONE thinks that of you. At that point, every journalist and blogger who has a story about mountain biking will be wanting your comments, your opinions, and your quotes for their stories. And each of those influencers will likely call you an expert, or an authority, or a guru as well. But what if you haven’t been able to get that one Influencer to get the ball rolling? What do you do?

Get their attention (which doesn’t translate into becoming a pest, btw). You can make contact with them, offering your assistance to them in some way. (By giving of yourself to them, rather than asking something OF them, you become an asset and not a liability). You should be doing this whenever it makes sense to do so (again, always keeping in mind that you do NOT want to be a pest or a stalker). There are probably hundreds of influencers you can contact, so you don’t need to make a pest of yourself with any particular one. Make sure that a link to your site or blog is always in your email correspondence with these Influencers. They are curious just like you and I. At least a few of them will certainly click your link just to find out more about you. Simple curiosity can bring you right smack onto their radar. If your correspondence was helpful to them in any way, rather than asking something from them, there’s a very good chance that they will be drawn towards wanting to know more about you.

While you are attempting to get someone’s attention, you should be creating a path that leads straight to you. You see, when a journalist has a story to write about mountain biking, he will probably do the same thing you or I would do if we needed information about a topic we were not already knowledgeable about. We would google it. That journalist might even go so far as to search for “mountain biking expert”, or “mountain biking authority” or “mountain biking guru”. What if your name showed up in the top 10 search results for any of those phrases? How much would you bet that journalist would be trying to find a way to contact you to get your thoughts on his story angle?

You see, you can begin working towards being recognized as a guru in the search results long before the Influencers recognize it. Did your cousin win the local bike rally after you gave him a few pointers? How many social networks does your cousin spend his time in every day? What if he were to link to your site in each of those communities, using “Mountain Biking Guru” as the link text? Did you help your boss decide which bike to buy for his kid for Christmas? Could you persuade your boss to have his kid mention your name when he blogs about how cool his new bike is … using “Dave is an expert in mountain biking” as the link text perhaps? See where I’m going with this? In many areas, it wouldn’t take much to turn a few links into a top 10 ranking for “your specialty guru”.

Now, whether you’ve managed to get the attention of an Influencer or not, you’ll at least get their attention when they google for the experts in your field.

Let’s sum this up:

1. Recognize that you are an expert in whatever you are an expert in.
2. Spread your expertise far and wide using the various tasks described above.
3. Attempt to get the attention of an Influencer (without making a pest out of yourself).
4. Work towards a top 10 ranking for “your topic guru”, “your topic expert”, or “your topic authority”.

We’ve almost come to the final chapter in our journey towards positioning ourselves as authorities within in our niches. There is one final step that you should take, and we’ll cover that next time. Until then, make a list of the top 20 Influencers in your field and begin your journey to Guru-ness.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: authority, Christmas, expert, guru, journalist, online mountain biking communities, search engine, search results, site search engine, social networks
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The process of convincing others is vast, and we briefly touched upon a few ways to begin that process in yesterday’s post. As a recap: Write articles, answer questions, and help others. Those are all really strong ways to get the message out that you know what you are talking about, and in time, others will think of you as an expert in that area.

Ah, but there are sometimes shortcuts in life, and there actually is a shortcut for this as well. You see, you can gain “instant authority status” if the right person or publication calls you an expert. You could wake up one morning, skim through the new posts in your feed reader, and suddenly find some famous blogger has called you an authority! Trust me, once this happens, the world suddenly thinks of you as an authority too. And if some publication like the NY Times, for example, refers to you as an expert in one of their news stories, you’re on your way to authority paradise.

Obviously, not everyone is lucky enough to have that scenario happen, but it DOES happen. And you can help make it happen. There are things you can do to get the attention of those big-wig influencers, and we’ll discuss those ways in a later post. In the meantime, however, start the process of positioning yourself as an authority in your field. Write articles, guest post, answer questions on the big Q&A sites (like Yahoo Answers), and help people in subject-related forums that are looking for advice. Get your name out into the world as someone with knowledge in your field. It will be well worth your efforts.

Next time: How to nudge the big-wigs so that you can get one of them to label you as an authority.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: authority, expert, influencers, the NY Times, Yahoo
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an expert on a subject: He is an authority on baseball.

Every person is an authority on any number of things. I truly believe that. You may say, “No, I’m not an expert on anything”, but I bet within 15 minutes of having a conversation with you, I could get you to think of at least 5 things that you could be considered an “expert” or “authority” on. Maybe it’s something really small and minor – maybe you are an expert at dealing with bugs in your garden, for example. You may think you couldn’t possibly be considered an expert because you didn’t get a degree in horticulture (or whatever a degree in garden bugs might be called), but your “experience” in dealing with them makes you an expert. Let’s take a look at one of the definitions of expert now.

possessing special skill or knowledge; trained by practice; skillful or skilled (often fol. by in or at): an expert driver; to be expert at driving a car.

Notice this part – “trained by practice”. The fact that you’ve been doing something repeatedly for a long time can make you an expert without any formal training. Perhaps you are an expert at baking chocolate chip cookies. Maybe you are an expert at multi-tasking. Some of you are probably experts at coaching little league sports. The point is that we all have skills that we’ve acquired over time, and we can attach the labels of “expert” and “authority” to those topics. I am absolutely positive that I could learn all sorts of things from each and every one of you.

So what, you ask? Oh, there is a point to my rambling, trust me. My point is that you can take those skills and teach others. Or you can take those skills and create products based on your expertise of the subject. Those products may be digital (such as informational ebooks, training videos, or software), or they may be physical, such as hand-made organizational gadgets. (I just bought one such hand-made gadget on eBay today from some lady who makes them, so I have first hand experience with that one).

The key, however, is in first recognizing your talents and your expertise, and then in making use of them. In addition, you need to be able to convey to others that you are indeed an authority or expert. You don’t have to present formal credentials. You do need to present information. Write articles that show people how to do something in your niche. Answer questions on social sites related to your niche. Help those who want to learn what you know. Each of these things can help build your reputation as an authority in your field. (Yes, even an expert chocolate chip cookie maker can be useful to others in the world – seriously!)

This won’t be the last time we discuss this topic. It is a critical aspect of your success. We’ll be dealing with it more in the days to come, I promise. For now, I invite you to notice the things you do on a daily basis, and really take note of those things that you do really well. Small or large, pay attention to the things that you are an expert at doing. That’s all for now.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2008. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Are An Authority, authority, baseball, eBay, expert, expert chocolate chip cookie maker, little league sports
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