Dennis’ Desk

David Kriozere is in charge of an interesting project. He and his father built arguably the most eye-catching new building in the San Francisco Bay Area. The building is called One Rincon Hill. They went with that name because it is the newest piece of the San Francisco skyline and they decided that the name and the brand should be defined by its location. If you look across the bay as you start to drive over the Bay Bridge you can’t help but see it.

So, by understating the name and associating it with the hill that it’s on, it becomes an integral piece of San Francisco.

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When I asked Miriam Schaffer, Placemaking Group’s lead PR strategist,  what was a new aspect of the web and getting press, this was her response…

We’re often asked by CEO’s and other business executives about how they can get their names in the news.

One publicity tactic we often recommend is an ongoing press release distribution program. Read the rest of this entry »

My colleague at Placemaking Group, Dianne Newton-Shaw, got me thinking about how to use Social Media during a conversation yesterday.

The important point she was making was that Social Media is a tool. It is not a rescue vehicle. Read the rest of this entry »

Video: Google gives bonus points for video, but use it sparingly on your site. Most visitors won’t watch unless there is a compelling reason. Something fun, interesting, insightful, visual, educational. Video can help ranking and drive traffic to your web site if you post on social media sites and provide entertainment to the visitor. If the videos are good their links will be forwarded to others, driving more traffic to your site.

White paper: One way to get more keyword density is to write a white paper and post it. Also visitors love the free information. You could possibly get them to sign up and give you their email in exchange for the white paper. But remember, it must be informational and not sell.

(e)Xternal Link Building: Also known as Back Linking - Links coming into your site. As mentioned above make sure you are posting on a well-ranked blog or a reputable and relevant outside site. Examples: Placemaking Group listed on the PRSA web site of top 100 agencies.

whY isn’t my site showing up when I search Google? There are many potential reasons but one likely reason is that it can take up to 6 months sometimes for search optimization activities to filter through Google. Also some keywords are very competitive and you might be better off using other marketing tools or focusing on special niche markets to drive traffic to your site.

Zero flash pages: Search engines need to find html text to determine if the site is of interest to searchers.

Do you remember the San Francisco concert promoter, Bill Graham? If you were anywhere near the Bay Area in the 60’s throughout 1991 you knew about Bill. Or if you were lucky like me, you knew Bill.

While I had seen him at plenty of rock music events in my teens and early twenties, I had the chance to interview Bill right after I started my music magazine, BAM. One of the questions I asked him was, “Why are you famous?” Read the rest of this entry »

Titles: The source code on a web page between the tags <TITLE> and </TITLE> forms the link in search results. Search engines frown upon packing dozens of keywords into the title tag. Best practice is to use a concise, readable description of the page using a keyword phrase. Should be varied from page to page on the site. Example: “Oakland, California Public Relations Firm Real Estate and Tourism.”

URL or Domain Name: When selecting your URL – http://wwwDomainName.com, try to include a keyword in the name. For example: www.agencyPublicRelations.com

Ever see commercials on television and you remember the funny punch line or scenario, but not what the ad was for?

I was trying to remember who did the ads with the people who are in the act of doing something for which they aren’t qualified. You remember, they have people pretending to be doctors, or lawyers, or nuclear technician. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re reading a book about online marketing, you have to read it the day it comes out. Because the longer you wait, the more out-of- date it is. Well, I’ve got a good one for all of you to read. And it is one of the most sensible online marketing books I’ve ever read. That means it will continue to have value long after many of the books coming out right now. David Meerman Scott wrote “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” in a manner that tells you about all the newest tools and practices. Read the rest of this entry »

Press Release: Sending out releases over the wire services and posting releases for the media help add links to your site because other sites pick them up. Additionally they provide content to keep your site fresh.

Q&A: Add a Frequently Asked Questions page, even if you don’t like them; Search engines do.

Ranking: Avoid linking from a site below yours. To check a page rank for a site on Google you can use a free online resource: http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php Sites which have high rankings include: Forbes.com 7 (out of a possible 10), Prnewswire.com 8/10, biz.yahoo.com 6/10 and CNBC.com 7/10.

Site map: This is an old technique but having a site map still helps search engines index your whole site.

I got a great question from John Moyer of the Chicago Rush Arena Football team. You can see him interviewed on YouTube. He asked his question through LinkedIn…

“How to brand a person? What steps does a person take to create their presence?

My answer starts with the most important piece of the puzzle: what are your goals?

The first thing you have to know is why are you creating the brand? What do you have in mind? This is the same process whether you’re creating a brand for a business, a city or a person. And you have to remember—you aren’t really creating a brand, you’re uncovering it. It’s already there, you’re just polishing it a little. Read the rest of this entry »