Developing an Online PR presence: In our other online pr related articles, we discuss how to use newsgroups, forums, email and press releases to assist in an online PR campaign. Another excellent way to do this is to be source of information on related products and services. For example, if you sell gardening equipment online, why not have information about gardening, maybe an article on tomatoes, at your site. When you are seen as an advocate for what people are looking for, you increase likelihood they will visit and mention your site to others. Write one article per week (making sure to link and archive it appropriately on your site) and submit that article or message to most influential members of media as well as outlets that ask for writers to submit their articles online. They will quite possibly mention your organizations unique outlook on whatever it is you are trying to gain publicity and help you generate links pointing at your site.

Planning for your online public relations presence is an integral part of your overall success. By laying out your plan from beginning to end, it becomes clear what you need to do to make most of your online PR efforts. But how do you plan without knowing what to plan? Before actually planning an online public relations campaign you must research industry that you are competing within.

Researching Industry and Your Competition: Any successful public relations campaign starts with a thorough communication audit. By understanding marketplace, competition (and how you fare against that competition), appropriate media, and premier opportunities available, you increase your chances for long term success exponentially.

What to look for within your research, benchmarking or audit efforts: A website audit (or process of researching or benchmarking your industry and competition within it) analyzes all communication aspects of your website. Look at your placement within search engines and how your website appears, or, if you don't appear in popular search engines discover keywords and content that you would like to receive traffic from and take note. Gather information how well your message has been integrated into media and check to see if all communication channels available to you are being utilized. If you have not been recipient of any online public relations efforts thus far, research resources that could drive traffic to your site such as news outlets, review sites or industry forums. When you have audited your external PR opportunities and obstacles, take a look at your website. Look at design and content of your site to see if it works well with what you are trying to convey. Remember to audit all aspects of your businesses communication. This will give you opportunity to positively impact communication to your publics in an influential manner.