Taking the serps by storm

Getting your page to the top of the serps at the right time

[willbl]

There is a big widget event coming up in 1 month that is very relevant to my widget website. It will last about 1 month. When the event starts I want to have my site at the top of the serps for related widget searches. At the moment I am on the first page of results in G & Y but I think it will be hard to stay there when all the big news sites start their widget event coverage.

I have one card up my sleeve... I have another big website with thousands of pages which gets regularly crawled by google. I was thinking of putting a link to my widget site (with my widget event keywords as the text) into the page template of my big site. This should hopefully boost the popularity of my widget site and keep its ranking high.

What I am wondering is when should I make this move? If I add this link now will my rankings peak before the event? Is it wise to wait until the week before or might that be too late? Or do you think that it will make little difference whatever I do?!

I would like to hear from anybody who has tried anything like this before.

28 days and counting...
Will

[willbl]

PS. Any other tips would be appreciated too!

[isorg]

Consider a press release on PRWeb. Go for the $30 option at least. It will get included in news.google.com amongst other places, and may help.

[willbl]

That is exactly the sort of advice i am looking for... thanks isorg! Would you recommend making the release now or just before the event happens?

[isorg]

Depends how big/important the event is, and how much you are prepared to spend. Normally I go for the $30 option (or is it $40?), and that for me appears to be the most cost-effective one. I do not see any need (for my site) to go for the more expensive options.

If it's a really big event, then go for a press release leading up to the event, for example, to tell people that it's happening next week or next month or whenever. You can use that press release to invite people to send their questions, or contributions in advance of the event.

Then another press release perhaps a week or a day before the event, to remind people.

Then another press release on the event itself. This is the main one.

Then another press release a week after the event, to announce the results, sales, feedback, success of the event.

Then maybe a final one a month after (when people have almost completely forgotten), to tell people of the next event.

In each case, aim to submit the press release to PRWeb about 36-48 hours before the day you want it out in the field. This gives it time to be approved and distributed (they only distribute it once a day, unless you go for a more expensive option).

Good luck!

[isorg]

Just checked - $30 is the standard rate, $40 if you want them to display thumbnails of any images you have uploaded.

[willbl]

That has been very useful thanks...
I might use prweb to promote a few other sites as well! :)

[hp11]

If finances are an issue, barter. It takes some searching and time, but it can really pay off. For example, since your site is on the first page of G and Y for your keywords, you can barter with companies to have their link/ad/etc placed on your site for free and in return have them place your link/ad/promotion on their busiest page AND in their newsletter/e-mail campaign to their developed e-mail list - not a purchased list.

Of course, these sites need to know your deadline and they need to organize and include you in their ongoing e-mail marketing, newsletter marketing or by whatever means they market themselves to exisitng or previously interested visitors.

It may also be worth while to offer a percentage of each sale, that came via a site owner, as an added incentive to aggressively market for you.

With these methods, your promotion can get in front of alot more people without costing anymore money and since your site is on the first page, you should be able to find companies that will promote you in their developed marketing campaigns.

[pageoneresults]

Who is sponsoring the event? Can you get any advertising space with them? Is it a local event? If so, maybe some local advertising. Have a sign made, go stand a corner in a busy area where your target audience might be. You think I'm crazy huh? Well, crazy works when it comes to advertising. ;)