Its official, I’m going to Dreamforce 08. My tickets have been purchased so now I just need a place to stay. Shelby, the girl in our office who has been sweet enough to book all of this for us, tells me all the hotels near the event are filling up, and fast. I might have to sleep in a tent, but it would be worth it.

So they have this nifty calendar tool that plots all the events you register for. Its like a google calendar just for Dreamforce. Mine is double, triple, and quadruple booked. There’s just so much I want to learn about. I’ll be sure to hit all the marketing sessions, but I’m hoping to attend some of the coding stuffs while I’m there.

Oh and I’m going to see Journey. They’re playing during the opening gala or what-not. Its like the SaaS Olymipcs with these guys.

Anyway, I hope to be blogging from the event to keep track of all the great stuff going on there.

Or is one of your clients? Wouldn’t it be great if you could reach out to reporters looking for expertise in your field? Well, now you can!

www.helpareporter.com

If you don’t read Seth Godin, you really ought to.

His recent post, Ads are the new Online Tip Jar, reminds me of a colleague’s blog from a few years ago. I remember reading this person’s rant about the ads that pop-up on our local newspaper’s website. She felt she should be able to read the news online without pesky little ads popping up. I tried to explain to her that the ads are what makes the website ‘free’. I never could make her see the logic, but it did prove once again, that there is no free lunch. Or news.

We live in a world where information is at our fingertips, seemingly free for the taking. Wikipedia replaces the home encyclopedia set (except we actually use wikipedia, where as the encyclodias tend to just gather dust), news websites replace printed papers, and the good folks at Google, Yahoo, MSN etc make it easier than ever to find the exact information you’re looking for. And its all free, right?

I remember my senior economics teacher wrote on the board the first day of classes “There is no free lunch”. Even when you don’t pay with cash, credit, or check…you still pay. So what is the price of all this free information?

The marketers that place their ads on our favorite websites hope that we’ll pay for all of our ‘free’ information on down the road when we go grocery shopping, plan a vacation, or even purchase our next vehicle. The hope is that even if you don’t click their ad, you’ll remember something about it. The name, logo, theme, or even just a color, and when you go shopping next time, you’ll choose their product over the competition.

So, is it a bad thing? I think no. I don’t mind banners and the occasional pop-up ad. I can close or ignore them, and occasionally click and shop from them. It keeps the ‘free’ information flowing, and seems a small price to pay.

So, you’ve been tasked with writing a press release…what next?

I followed the advice of my friend and colleague Cheryl Anderson and went straight to PR Web. I decided my best bet was to attend the free training for a little PR 101.

Mario Bonilla, trainer at PR Web, had the following advice for would-be press release writers.

First, some things to keep in mind as you draft your first press release.

Purpose: Is your goal to reach readers on RSS feeds, print media, bloggers? Or are you just looking for some inbound links to your website?

Message: Is your message appropriate for a press release? Your press release is not an ad, its not a marketing piece and its not an article. Its a news-worthy statement, nothing more, nothing less.

Audience: Who is your audience? What do you want to say to them? and What form would they want to receive your message in?

Starting at the top and working our way down…

Here’s some very basic fundamentals to keep in mind as you write your press release.

Heading

• The most important part of your message
• Should be short, 80 characters max
• Provides a solid promise of what is in the press release
• Uses keyword phrases that are meaningful to your reader, not to your sales/marketing team

Subhead

• Summarizes your press release in 1-4 sentences.

Images

• Should be relevant to the press release
• Must be easy to see in thumbnail form
• Provide a focal point for the reader and force them to slow down and think
• Should always include a meaningful caption

Pull Quotes

• Should summarize your message in just a few lines
• Need to be long enough to attract the eye, but not so long they distract from the text.

Links

• Most links should appear above the fold
• Use a ratio of 1 link to every 100 words
• Point to individual landing pages on your site
• Use appropriate, meaningful anchor text.

So what now? Use your method of choice to distribute your message.

Up next: Let’s have a chat about SEO from press releases.

ADX Advanced Data Exchange is hosting a Biggest Loser Challenge for the Las Colinas area.

To participate, come to the first weigh-in on September 8, 2008 at ADX 8650 Freeport Parkway Suite 250 Irving, Texas.

Starting 09-08-08
Ending 11-10-08
Total of 8 weeks

First weigh in 09-08-08
Check point weigh in 10-20-08
Last weight in 11-10-08

Check Point
Check point weigh in 10-20-08
Winner of the check point weigh in will receive 20% of the pool

Rules:
In order to play you have to pay.

Each person will put $50 into the pool.  The money will be collected at the first weigh in and distributed to the winner on the day of the final weigh in.

Final Weigh In
Final weigh in 10-20-08

Winner of the final weigh in will receive 80% of the pool

In the case of a tie
The money will be split equal ways.

Seems like I’m one of the last of my kind to jump on this blogging bandwagon, but now the time has come for me to start sharing my every thought and whim with you, the general public.

Seriously though, I’ll mostly use this space to share things I learn/discover accidentally/just think are fun.

Happy reading, and send me a link to your blog, I’ll happily link to it.