E-PR Essential Guide to PR on the Internet: The Essential Guide to Public Relations on the Internet: The Essential Guide to Online Business Communications [Paperback]

"Refreshingly devoid of the hysterical e-branding waffle that can be found in many other tomes about the Internet... a good solid book." -- Marketing Week

“A useful introduction to the strange new world of e-PR.”

“A good, solid book, refreshingly devoid of the hysterical e-branding waffle that can be found in so many other tomes about the Internet.”

“As easy to navigate as the best designed web site, with something of value for everyone.”

A study of the theory and practice of public relations on the Internet. E-PR Essential Guide to PR on the Internet offers advice on every aspect from understanding the difference between real world and virtual publics to PR tricks and techniques that attract new customers and keep the old ones coming back.

‘A useful introduction to the strange new world of E-PR.'

‘Refreshingly devoid of the hysterical e-branding waffle that can be found in many other tomes about the Internet…a good solid book.'

Public relations (PR) on the Internet has a much bigger and broader role to play than it does in the "real world". With traditional PR you are reliant on (or at the mercy of) a journalist to convey your message, or even forced to spend money on ad space. With e-PR you can bypass both these options and communicate directly with your audiences. In this practical and lively guide, Matt Haig shows you how to bring an e-PR perspective to all your online communications. Giving clear, step-by-step advice, the book should help you to: think from an e-PR perspective; do your market research on the Internet; create a Web site that will build business relations; use e-mails more effectively; get a good position on the major search engines; conduct press relations online; send out online newsletters; set up an online discussion group; use PR tricks and techniques to attract new customers; and integrate your e-PR activity with real-world PR. Whether you're a business owner, marketing manger, PR professional, Web-site manager or a student of business/marketing/PR, this book shows you how to put the power of e-PR into practice. Find out how to create an exciting e-PR strategy and maximize your chances of e-business success - learn the new three Rs: Relations - interact with your different audiences to build relations; Reputation - your most important business asset, E-PR is the art of managing your online reputation for long-term success; and Relevance - make sure everything you put online is directly relevant to your intended audience.

Matt Haig is an independent consultant advising organizations of all types and sizes on creating integrated marketing and branding solutions. As one of the very first writers on e-business, Matt has always been at the forefront of developing leading edge marketing solutions. More recently he has carried out mobile marketing consultancy for several companies and has researched and written extensively on the subject. Its rapidly growing popularity inspired him to write his popular book Mobile Marketing: The message revolution. Acclaimed for his no-nonsense pragmatic style, Matt is a popular speaker and writes regularly for the national and business press. He is also the author of several other best-selling guides including E-PR: The essential guide to public relations on the Internet, E-Business Essentials, E-Mail Essentials, The E-Marketing Handbook, The B2B E-Commerce Handbook and How Come You Don't Have an E-strategy?: The essential guide to e-business (all Kogan Page). Matt can be contacted at matt@matthaig.co.uk.

1. Introducing e-PR

About this book

What is e-PR?

The e-PR difference

E is for everything

More than Web sites

Have an e-PR perspective

Narrowcasting

E-PR versus advertising

Summary

2. E-PR preparation

Your e-PR objectives

Your e-PR strategy

Targeting audiences

Getting the right information

Summary

3. E-PR and research

The importance of Internet research

The ultimate research tool

Search engines as research tools

Narrowing a search using AltaVista

Narrowing a search using Yahoo!

Searching the search engines

Competitor research

Researching discussion groups

Conduct research from your site

E-mail research

Use research findings to generate publicity

Summary

4. Web site basics

Identify your site objectives

Wrong reasons to have a site

The domain name game

Download times

Love at first site

Navigation

Writing on the Web

A site for sore eyes

Make your site 'sticky'

Building trust on your site

Cyber suspense

Summary

5. Get interactive

'Itchy finger' syndrome

Add forms to your site

Add a guest book

Hold an online auction

Coupons

E-mailing lists

Have a 'Q and A' page

Sell products and services online

Encourage your visitors to send you articles and features

Hold regular and imaginative competitions relevant to your business

Offer something for free download or access

Put a search engine on your site

Personalize your site

Provide links

Add multimedia

Provide translations

Create a community

Be creative

Summary

6. Make your site a resource

The information product

Avoiding information overload

Syndication

Audience agenda

Update your site

Third-party endorsement

Become a third party

Summary

7. Search engines

The hardest audience

Before you register

The next step

Spiders and crawlers

META tags

The main META tags

Tag aid

How to register with search engines

Keywords and descriptions

Yahoo!

Evaluate your success

Summary

8. Action e-PR

Announcement services

Relevant links

Web rings

Bookmarks

Starting pages

History list

Mailing list updates

'Favourite' menus

Summary

9. E-mail essentials

Applications

The role of e-mail in e-PR

E-mail efficiency

Automatic response

As simple as a Bcc.

Emoticons

Subject lines

The body of your e-mail

Salutations and signature files

Layout

The golden rules of e-mail netiquette

E-mail checklist

Summary

9. Discussion groups

The difference between newsgroups and mailing list discussion groups

Finding the right groups for your business

Hang around

Create a 'signature' line

Keep messages in context

When to post

Advisors

Volunteer to become a sysop (system operator)

Handling complaints

Writing messages

Answer questions

Contribute without answering questions

The dos and don'ts of newsgroup 'netiquette'

Create your own mailing list

Summary

10. Online newsletters

Online v offline newsletters

Clarify your objectives

Content

Make your newsletter objective

Size is not important

Frequency

Format

Distribution

Do it yourself

Getting people to sign up

Promoting your online newsletter

Posting your online newsletter

Using a service to post your newsletter

Newsletter or e-zine

Virtual-Festivals

Summary

11. Internal e-PR

Web sites and internal relations

Internet online newsletters

Internal e-mail

Compiling an internal e-mailing list

Intranets

Security issues

Summary

12. E-media relations

Third-party e-media

The right media for the right audience

Researching the media

Finding the contacts

Avoiding 'snooze news'

Grabbing attention

Putting together an e-media release

Distributing releases

Contribute articles

Become a media source

Summary

13. Crisis e-PR

Newsgroup controversy and how to deal with it

Deja News

Media Relations

Develop a media mailing list

Use Bcc.

Hold an online press conference

Set up an online media centre

Distribute press releases online

Provide media training

Anti-sites and how to handle them

Summary

14. E-PR in the 'real world'

A hot media topic

Finding the right angle

Relating to the real world

Sending e-media releases to the offline media

Supplementing e-PR with offline methods

Beyond the media