Advertise Your Business with a Press Release

By definition, a press release is a statement prepared and distributed to the press by a public relations firm, governmental agency, etc. Its intent is to notify the public about a newsworthy event, person or thing. While you may think that nothing you have to offer is newsworthy, even a seemingly insignificant event or service may have more to offer than you realize.

Did you recently launch a new website? Is your restaurant the new “in” place in town? Does your auto repair facility offer a free car wash with every service? Does your organization offer a free service to underprivileged members of the community? These events, while at first may seem unimportant, are actually what press releases are all about.
When writing a press release, there is a specific format that should be followed, as well as some basic guidelines to keep in mind.

• Select your keywords carefully and then use them. Use keywords that are specific to your industry, focusing on words and phrases that potential readers might use in search engines. Use these several times, but be careful not to overdo it.
  
• Keep your headlines short and to the point. The headline will become your page title in the source code of the web page that it is published on, so it will be crawled by search engines. Make your keywords count here. One thing to keep in mind is that Google will only display 63 characters of a headline, so they recommend between 2 and 22 words for optimum visibility.
  
• Add a sub headline. This will elaborate on your headline; make it to the point and add your additional details here.
  
• Use italics, underlined text and bolt print. Using the features available in your word processing program will make your key words and phrases more visible to search engines as well as people.
  
• Write professionally and avoid clichés.
  
• Keep your content relevant to your industry, and provide useful information that is timely and interesting.

Once you’ve written your press release, get it published! If you’re lucky, your local newspaper might pick it up. There are plenty of places on the internet to publish your press release however, and these will quickly be indexed by search engines, resulting in more traffic to your website. Some sites will publish your press release for free, such as PRLog.org and Free-press-release.com. There are several companies that offer complete marketing packages along with your press release distribution, so shop around as they offer a wide variety of different services that you may or may not need. Many of these sites will also offer tips, templates and other tools to help you write your press release.

The Importance of Data Backup

Okay, show of hands......how many of you have lost critical data to....dare I say it..... a hard drive crash???

It’s happened to me on more than one occasion over the past couple of decades, and I’m willing to bet that most of you can say the same thing. It is NOT fun, especially if your business relies on this data to function on a day to day basis. In fact, every week in America approximately 140,000 hard drives crash.

Even if it’s just personal information, losing it can cause countless hours of work to recreate it, if it can even be recreated. In many cases, irreplaceable photos are being lost, that can’t be recovered. At the very least you will lose valuable time, and in many cases, money, that most of us just can’t afford to part with. For this reason, backing up your data is more important than ever.

There are many ways to back up your data. The least expensive and simplest, in my opinion, is an external USB hard drive. These come in a range of sizes, from about 320 GB all the way up to 1.5 terabytes. The newer USB hard drives are becoming so compact, that most are only about 2.5” to 3”, and about as thick as your checkbook. They take up very little room and are very portable, should you need to take it on the road. Prices for these hard drives will range from approximately $80 for the smaller ones, up to $160 for the larger sizes, depending on where you shop. Most of these hard drives will also be pre-loaded with back-up software that you can use to schedule regular backups.

The downfall to external USB storage is that should theft, fire, flood or some other type of disaster occur in your home, you lose all your data. For this reason, many are choosing to back up to a remote location. There are a myriad of companies out there all vying for your business, so shop carefully. Prices can run the gamut as well, with most companies offering a free trial. Some, such as MozyHome, offer 2GB of storage for free, but many will find that this is not enough space for them. The typical cost seems to range $50-60 per year for unlimited storage, but some services will be more expensive. This is a small price to pay for the security of knowing that your precious data is intact.

Some online backups will run in the background, such as Carbonite, protecting your data automatically, so you don’t have to be bothered with the tedious chore of running a backup every day. Recovering your data can be done from any computer with just a few clicks. With so many services to choose from, take advantage of the free trials to see which interface and service will be right for you.

If you just want to back up small pieces of your data, USB flash drives are also a solution. While these might cost you more in the long run, they are a convenient way to quickly back up whatever data you choose and keep it handy. You still run the risk of losing the flash drive, since they are small and can grow legs and walk away I’ve discovered, but none the less, they are a viable alternative for some.

Whatever method you decide to use, shop around. You will find that pricing and services will vary immensely.

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