Comments on: The value of a television mention for a startup website

By: tyahma

tyahma — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:50:29 +0000

Fair enough, and we agree.

By: Swing Sets

Swing Sets — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:13:48 +0000

One other point I would throw out there is that radio and TV results may improve if you do it with some frequency. That is, a one time spot on radio won't buy you much. But a regular radio spot will get you to start sticking in people's minds. I'm NOT suggesting that you should pay for these spots, but if you can find a guest gig, it might work out for you.

By: dsf

dsf — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:21:00 +0000

if one values his time when needs to gather SEO and SMO key data, one should use this free online tool called miniStatus (http://ministatus.com). be aware that there are always a pdf file generated for each query, ready for download.

By: Josh Kirschner

Josh Kirschner — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:19:16 +0000

Couldn't agree more, and reflects our experience with Techlicious.com as well. It largely comes down to "ease of action" for the audience.

With radio, people are in their cars - no easy way to jump on the web and check out your site. And they're not about to whip out a pen and paper to write your url down.

With TV, people are at home, but are not in front of their computers. They may get up to go to their computer and are more likely to jot something down than with radio, but still not optimal.

Print is similar to TV, but easier to bring back to the computer.

By far the most effective for us is "online print". That is links in web stories where people can immediately click off to your site (I'm talking real content links here, not link-love crap). Our biggest bumps came after popular blogs picked up our stories. Some of those bumps were 10x our average daily traffic!

One other point I would throw out there is that radio and TV results may improve if you do it with some frequency. That is, a one time spot on radio won't buy you much. But a regular radio spot will get you to start sticking in people's minds. I'm NOT suggesting that you should pay for these spots, but if you can find a guest gig, it might work out for you.

Finally, if you want a quick way to uncover more coverage opportunities across all these channels, definitely subscribe to the Help a Reporter Out newsletter at http://helpareporter.com/. It provides free PR opportunities from reporters looking for story sources and ideas.

By: Kieran Hawe

Kieran Hawe — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:55:50 +0000

I have had SEO and SMO be the only channels that work, despite all of my best efforts – just the nature of the game. The problem with having a limited amount of successful marketing channels is that there is always an inevitable down-ward trend that you need to offset.

By: Ty Ahmad-Taylor

Ty Ahmad-Taylor — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:30:50 +0000

Kieran,

You are spot on regarding using SEO and SMO to the best of one's ability. Scott argues for this in fact. And certainly, the bulk of our traffic comes from these channels.

His argument, which *doesn't* conflict with your point, is that SEO and SMO cannot be the ONLY means for customer acquisition.

By: Kieran Hawe

Kieran Hawe — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:48:52 +0000

The point for any Online or Offline Marketing campaign is to find the channel that gives you the desired results. Having any misconception about being “beholden to a big company that could care less” is being short-sighted and sets you up for failure – the focus should be on making sure ROI is being met and brand integrity is maintained. If a campaign meets both goals then I could care less if you are a no-name start up or a Fortune 100 conglomerate.