by Bill Stoller, Publisher Free Publicity, The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp

You know that getting publicity is vital to health of your business. You probably also know that e-mail is way most publicity seekers get in touch with reporters to score that precious coverage. Here’s what you don’t know: The vast majority of e-mails sent to journalists never get read.

Bottom line: if your e-mails don’t get read, you have no shot at getting publicity you so desperately need.

Here's how to beat odds:

Avoiding Spam Trap

To a spam filter, your humble e-mail pitch may appear to contain an array of trigger words and suspicious phrases. A server that relayed your message may be on a blacklist - a "do not open" list of known spammers. Or perhaps filter’s having a tough day and has decided to start blocking things arbitrarily. You can’t prevent every instance of spam blocking, but you can take some steps to help lessen chances of your e-mail ending up in a black hole.

The most important step is learning how spam filters think, and creating e-mails that avoid usual pitfalls. Fortunately, you’ll find that -- once you can do this -- many spam triggers are easily avoided.

Rather than taking up space here with all how-to’s, allow me to simply direct you a terrific site on subject: http://www.wordbiz.com/avoidspamfilters.html

Getting Your E-Mail Opened & Read

After beating spam filter, next up is getting your e-mail opened and read. The key: subject line. No matter how on- the-money your pitch, a subpar subject line will kill any chance of getting reporter’s attention. You’ve got one shot at getting your e-mail opened, make most of it with a killer subject line.

Here’s how to do it: 1) Place word "News" or "Press Info" or "Story Idea" at beginning of your e-mail subject line, in brackets e.g.: [Story Idea]:

2) Try to incorporate reporter's first name also at beginning of subject line.

If an action doesn’t directly and logically plug into site goals, then there are likely more profitable ways to spend that time and effort.

Publishing third-party articles on a Web site is one of those marketing strategies that can be right for one site, yet wrong for another.

Publishing Guest Articles as a Strategy

Publishing guest articles as one of your Web site marketing strategies can help broaden amount and quality of content on a site, which in turn can lead to a more solid, stronger reputation. James Edwards of Umbrella-Consultancy, http://www.umbrella-consultancy.co.uk , explains:

"IMO having quality articles on your site will show that you are...someone who embraces industry and respects work of others. Most research scientists post links to other respected scientists’ work. I think it can only be good to have quality material by other people in your field posted on your site."

Helping Web Site Visitors

Another situation where adding others’ articles to your site can make strategic sense is when a lot of visitors arrive looking for a solution other than one you provide on your site. Rather than have them wander off, no closer to an answer to their problem, you can build goodwill and credibility by having articles on Web site that give them more information.

For example, several types of people arrive at my site through search engines:

- Some are people researching marketing consulting services. - Some are students looking to write a paper or finish an assigned project for school. - Some are looking for marketing software. - Others are looking to buy printed material (e-books, templates, workbooks, etc.) in order to proceed, step-by-step, on their own.

The only ones that are going to be interested in what I have to sell are those in last group. Instead of letting majority of visitors go without a fight, I have articles on site from handpicked individuals or companies.

Those articles are chosen according to how good quality is, how well subject matter fits, and whether I think information will help site visitors.

Information Sites

If a site (or section of a site) is informational in nature, guest articles can be a viable Web site marketing strategy, for several reasons: