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

July 1, 2014
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

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...

PR Tips | How to get your op-ed in the New York Times

June 17, 2014
"How can I get my op-ed in the New York Times?" That's one of the most frequent questions I'm asked. And for good reason. The publication boasts a circulation of 1.25 million, making it one of the top papers in the United States. While it's nearly impossible to guarantee placement in any publication, there are some important guidelines aspiring op-ed writers should follow if they want to increase their chances of getting published in a top outlet. In fact, I recently came across a piece in the New York Times in which Trish Hall, editor of the paper's Op-Ed and Sunday Review sections, offers a few important tips to writers. Below is what I've found to be some of her most helpful points. So if you've ever wondered how to increase your chances of catching an editor's eye, keep reading …

Check out KeybridgeWeb.com

June 10, 2014

    We just launched a new website called KeybridgeWeb.com. Check it out, especially if you like cute puppies and awesome $7,500 websites. So why did we launch this product-specific site? Because we’re moving...

#BringBackOurGirls

May 27, 2014

As nearly everyone knows, 276 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped last month by Boko Haram. Following these horrific kidnappings, two Nigerians tweeted with the hashtag #BringBackOurDaughters. It wasn’t long before the hashtag...

PR Tips | Social TV: Changing the Way You Watch

May 20, 2014
ABC is home to some of my favorite TV programs -- namely, Nashville. I love the main character, country star Rayna Jaymes. Tons of songs are featured in each episode, as you might guess, and they're all sung by the actors and actresses themselves. No faking! I think that's what makes it so realistic. And it became even more realistic when the show used Social TV to engage fans and reward loyalty. Social TV is a term used for technology that encourages social interaction with a television program or related content. ABC employed this new tactic with the latest season of Nashville, which has been about Jaymes’ new album launch. Using its Tumblr to host a competition among fans, ABC asked them to create and submit album cover designs. I can only imagine, as a fan, how cool it would be to see my design used on the show!

PR Tips | Choosing a Hosting Provider for WordPress Websites

May 7, 2014
If you're planning on creating a new WordPress website -- or are unhappy with your existing hosting provider -- you'll need to choose where to host your site.  It's daunting to sift through the hundreds of different hosting options to figure out which best suits your needs. Here's a quick primer to make this choice a bit easier for you. For the majority of small- and medium-sized businesses, third-party “shared hosting” is a reliable cost-efficient hosting solution ($5 - $15/month). With shared hosting, your site is sharing a server with several other websites. This is what allows hosting companies to keep costs low. The tradeoff is that if another site on the same shared server sees a sudden increase in traffic, then the server could get bottle-necked and temporarily slow your site down. Shared hosting plans typically do not include site backups and back-end WordPress upgrades, so we recommend having your own backup and upgrade strategy in place if you plan to use shared hosting. Examples of shared hosting companies include ICDSoft, HostGator and BlueHost.