Become a Storyteller Not an Advertiser and Watch Your Traffic Increase

When you read the newspaper, do you read advertisements as closely as you read news stories? Do you believe advertising as readily as you believe news stories? I don't and neither do most people I know.

Because we have advertising shoved at us from every angle we tend to ignore it, but we pay attention to news or public interest stories. Not only do we pay more attention, we also are more likely to believe news stories than your basic advertisements. When your news is published either online, on the radio, TV or in newspapers people automatically feel that since it's being published it must be worthy information.

I read somewhere that "Advertising is what you pay for. Publicity is what you pray for". This is so true. You can spend a fortune on advertising and yes, it will bring you some traffic but traffic is only part of what you need and it stops when the advertising stops.

What you really need is PUBLICITY - free publicity so that your information reaches your potential customers and people will begin to get to "know" you. When people see and hear your name over and over they will begin to think of you as an expert in your field. They will trust your judgment and buy your products or the products you endorse. They will also recommend you to others which in turn cause a chain reaction and the process starts all over again. One of the best ways to get free publicity is by writing articles and press releases then submitting them to the third party sites and newspapers for publishing. Plus with a price like FREE, why not take full advantage of it?

The most important thing to remember when writing news is to write a STORY not a sales pitch. Don't you hate it when you ask someone about a product and instead of them telling you what it is and how you could benefit from it they go into this "elevator speech" about its features and why it's a good product ("it comes with this and that, plus as an added bonus you get?.") Please! If I wanted to hear a sales pitch I'd turn on the TV.

Sales people call it "selling features instead of benefits" but among news editors this is called, "selling the store, not the story" and it's the WRONG way to get your news published.

You should be trying to sell a STORY connected to the product instead of trying to sell the product itself. Why you ask? Because people love stories! We've been listening to and telling stories for centuries and we will continue to for a long time to come. People will pay attention if they think they're going to hear a good story but will turn away if you give them a sales pitch.

By writing like a storyteller, you will get free publicity which will increase your traffic and your sales.

** Melody Spier is a work at home mom of two teens. She is the owner of Ballyhoo Virtual Services a Virtual Assistant business catering to women in business. She specializes in business marketing and promotion with article and press release submissions, blog maintenance as well as many other services. You can contact Melody by visiting http://www.BallyhooVA.com or by email Mel@BallyhooVA.com

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Google News Updated : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:07:30 GMT Obama and McCain to Make Joint Sept. 11 Visit to Ground Zero - Washington Post Telegraph.co.uk Obama and McCain to Make Joint Sept. 11 Visit to Ground Zero Washington Post - 2 hours ago By Michael D. Shear COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- John McCain and Barack Obama announced today that they will visit Ground Zero in New York on Thursday to mark the seventh anniversary of the 9-11 attacks that brought down the Twin Towers. McCain's new cast of thousands, all unknown Boston Globe Liking McCain pick, but not McCain Packet Online Financial Times - Chicago Sun-Times - OpEdNews - Philadelphia Inquirer all 1,345 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:48:49 GMT Rosetta spacecraft takes asteroid photos - United Press International Washington Post Rosetta spacecraft takes asteroid photos United Press International - 34 minutes ago PARIS, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- The Rosetta spacecraft has captured images of an asteroid in orbit more than 220 million miles from Earth, a European Space Agency official says. European space probe completes asteroid fly by Reuters Spacecraft flies by remote asteroid, camera stops The Associated Press Detroit Free Press - Sky & Telescope - Taipei Times - AFP all 547 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:33:25 GMT Rejuvenated Federer Overpowers Djokovic to Reach Final - New York Times USA Today Rejuvenated Federer Overpowers Djokovic to Reach Final New York Times - 47 minutes ago By LIZ ROBBINS Roger Federer was acing like old times - up the middle, out wide, serving up even more frustration for the snarling Novak Djokovic. Federer tames Djokovic to reach final Washington Post Federer rolls into another US Open final Sports Network The Associated Press - New York Daily News - SportingNews.com - Bloomberg all 3,163 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:19:52 GMT Mozilla updates Firefox 3.1 with Alpha 2 build - Computerworld PR Web (press release) Mozilla updates Firefox 3.1 with Alpha 2 build Computerworld - 52 minutes ago By Gregg Keizer September 6, 2008 (Computerworld) Mozilla Corp. on Friday launched the second alpha of Firefox 3.1, adding new video support and boosting the speed of some JavaScript computations. Chrome's JavaScript challenge to Silverlight CNET News NetSuite Says Chrome-optimized Apps Are Flying PC World CRN - Financial Times - InformationWeek - Hindu all 214 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:15:17 GMT US Jobless Rate Climbs Past 6%, Highest Since ’03 - New York Times US Jobless Rate Climbs Past 6%, Highest Since ’03 New York Times - 18 hours ago By LOUIS UCHITELLE The unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 percent in August, its highest level in five years, pushing the troubles of American workers to the center of the political debate as the presidential campaign enters its final weeks. Jobless rate at 5-year high Reuters Unemployment, mortgage delinquencies soar in worrisome sign for ... San Jose Mercury News Los Angeles Times - ABC News - Detroit Free Press - Financial Times all 401 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:04:03 GMT A pair of Coens might as well be one at Toronto - Reuters Canada.com A pair of Coens might as well be one at Toronto Reuters - 53 minutes ago By Janet Guttsman TORONTO (Reuters) - There is a reason they are called the Coen Bros., and not Joel Coen and Ethan Coen: they might as well be one person. Pitt Rocks to Madonna FOXNews The Coens’ Funny Bones Newsweek The Associated Press - People Magazine - Los Angeles Times - The Gossip Girls all 165 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:13:38 GMT Stunner - Alex Smith listed as doubtful - San Francisco Chronicle Stunner - Alex Smith listed as doubtful San Francisco Chronicle - 47 minutes ago The 49ers just called and said quarterback Alex Smith is "doubtful" for tomorrow's season-opener against the visiting Cardinals. 49ers QB Smith doubtful for Sunday Rotoworld.com Alex Smith injures shoulder, doubtful for Sunday Sacramento Bee Contra Costa Times all 10 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:20:25 GMT Datafeeds For Blogs Amazon RSS

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