Blog - Keybridge Communications

PR Tips | How to start designing a website

August 27, 2014 Kali Edwards

How do you begin a massive web design project? To outsiders, it often seems like such a huge and subjective task that they’re simply overwhelmed. But there is a roadmap...

David White weighs in on the Napa earthquake

August 25, 2014 Sam Ryan

Keybridge COO David White was interviewed today on The Steve Malzberg Show about the earthquake's effect on the California wine industry. In his other life, David runs Terroirist.com, one of...

PR Tips | The wrong way to shorten a quotation

August 18, 2014 Elizabeth Scafuro

Especially when it comes to writing op-eds, incorporating quotations from experts can be a great way to bolster your arguments. Unfortunately, an 800-word op-ed doesn't leave much room for lengthy block quotations. So writers often shorten quotes by using ellipses. However, if you find yourself doing this, be extremely careful. When you chop up a quote, it's easy to alter the meaning completely. This can be an honest mistake or, worse, a purposeful manipulation. To see how someone’s words can be misrepresented by an artfully placed ellipsis, look no further than a recent Amazon letter released online at ReadersUnited.com. The letter makes the argument that today's book publishers are attacking Amazon's eBooks in the same way that the literary community opposed the introduction of paperbacks, which were much cheaper than the alternative hardcovers at the time.

PR Tips | Like, um, err, you know what I’m saying?

August 12, 2014 Sam Ryan

Nothing weakens a sales pitch or interview more than clogging up your points with "ums," "errs," and "you knows." Just a few "ums" can make you sound nervous and unsure. Too...

PR Tips | Pitching Magic

August 5, 2014 Kristen Thomaselli

When you're submitting op-eds and news stories to the media, why do some pieces run in top publications, while others slip through the cracks? Well, it’s all in the pitch. So what are...

PR Tips | LeBron’s PR Tactics

July 29, 2014 Laura Bentz

NBA star LeBron James made big, big news this month when he announced he’d be going back to the city he’s always loved and play for the Cleveland Cavaliers once...

PR Tips | What’s up with Google+ authorship images?

July 22, 2014 Mike McElhaney

Google recently announced that it no longer will show Google+ authorship images in its main search results. This was a real setback for many web development firms, digital marketers, and...

Copy Editor’s Corner | The mysterious semicolon

July 16, 2014 Alison Dotson

The dreaded semicolon. This little guy can really throw people for a loop. Maybe it’s the look of it – it’s not quite a comma, not quite a colon. What...

PR Tips | If the biggest papers say no, don’t quit your pitchin’!

July 1, 2014 Robby Schrum

Every writer would like to see his or her op-ed published in The Washington Post or The New York Times. But you never know if you're pitching your piece on the same day that Bill Clinton is submitting one as well. It's tough to beat out a former president -- much less the scores of other writers vying for scarce editorial-page real estate. So where do you go if the Post and the Times say no? You could simply pitch by circulation -- the bigger the better. But to maximize the impact of your op-ed, a more strategic approach may be in order.

Virginia’s Finest

June 24, 2014 David White

As regular readers know, I moonlight as a wine blogger. When not cranking away at Keybridge, I’m running the wine blog Terroirist.com. Last month, I visited northern Virginia wine country to chat...