Michael White PR - Latest Comments

Re: Pirate Party UK: Liberators of free speech or media stirrers?

web hosting delhi — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 03:34:28 -0000

Great Post.

Re: Ignore your boss. This is where Digital PR is Going.

theBookPond — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 06:45:06 -0000

From the point of view of a blogger, I agree completely. Blogs are growing in readership and authority and PRs are mad to ignore them. The problem, from my perspective, is that bloggers are not journalists (many would cheer this fact) and some PRs don't know how to handle them properly. They are a different breed and it all needs new thinking and practice in the PR industry. If you ever need a heads-up on blogging communities, particularly those in the family blogging or student sectors, give us a shout.

Re: Blogger Outreach: “To Be (anonymous) or Not To Be (anonymous)?”

Liam 'Lewy' Shepherd — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 07:05:09 -0000

I would approach it in the following order:

1. Attempt to groom someone within the company I’m
working with to be the author of the content that I am authoring, by getting
them to review and approve the copy before going live. Also ensure they’re of a
high enough position so that there is little risk of them leaving the company
anytime soon.

I’d also ask the client for access to a generic @clientdomain.com e-mail
address (such as info@ or author@) too so that I could pose as that employee
and contact these websites for potential guest posting opportunities.

2. If that failed I’d then I’d go in up front as
myself when enquiring about guest posting opportunities. I would still be
reluctant to author them under my own name though, I’d initially try to have
them authored under the name of the company or if not a pseudonym. I wouldn’t
want my own personal name associated with the brand. For both my own personal
privacy and because I wouldn’t want to be portrayed as a representative of that
company.

The reason I’d opt for using an alias or posing as a company
employee of a client as opposed to being upfront about my intentions is purely
down to the response rate my contact attempts would receive. Not that I would
be trying to hide anything, but from past experience I know that people are far
more likely to respond to a company familiar to the industry they wish to have their
article published within as opposed to an agency body where it is immediately clear
what their intentions are, advertising.

Re: The Bloggers Guide to SEO

Dave Dungan — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 06:19:32 -0000

Thanks for the comment Yasin, glad you liked it.

Re: The Bloggers Guide to SEO

Yasin Aydin — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 04:43:16 -0000

Great post Dave. Agree with the long tail thing, it's no longer keyword optimisation but key phrase optimisation.

Most important lesson I learnt in content creation and SEO.

Re: Settling in, Shaping up.

Ben Cotton — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:54:12 -0000

Hey Mike,

Congrats on the 1st - that really is a fantastic achievement!

Keep up all the good work.

Ben

Re: Playing around with Raspberry Pi

mikesoft98 — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:32:08 -0000

Do you have any interesting projects planned for it? I can't decide what I should use mine for yet!

Re: Playing around with Raspberry Pi

Quoc Truong — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:59:39 -0000

My Raspberry Pi has just arrived! Can't wait to start playing around with it.

Re: The Case Against Richard O’Dwyer is Ridiculous

Faye Oakey — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:41:57 -0000

Wow, I wasn't aware of this case until now - I used to use TV Shack a lot before it was censored. How ridiculous, if the US Government would like to send a message regarding data sharing they could use an example of an actual crime, and possibly one committed in their country.

Re: The Case Against Richard O’Dwyer is Ridiculous

oohelen — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:35:47 -0000

Oh wow. I googled some more after reading what you wrote here and the absurdity of the case astounds me too. First of all, if it were the UK requesting extradition of a US citizen for the same reason I'd bet piles of money that the US would never allow it. Secondly, if he only broke UK laws isn't the US infringing on the sovereignity of the UK by requesting to trial him especially since he was only "the middle man" and did not even directly violate copyright.
Which brings me to my next point; what he did was done at a time when copyright and the Internet was even more of a gray area than it is now. TvShack wasn't the only website of a similar nature, so why try to make an example out of it when there's SAME or worse websites STILL around and I'm pretty sure some are US-based. And like you say, the function of his website wasn't much different from that of google or other search engines. Obvious to anyone that he's a scapegoat and of whom.I agree with you that it's high time the matter of copyright on the Internet is settled and not in this way, not when there's the American corporate lobbies relentlessly enforcing their own outdated solutions when the Internet is moving ahead and our usage habits are changing with it. All in all, hope to see more of public outcry against this case. Thanks for writing about it and thus informing me!

Re: Defining Loyalties: Now a member of Pirate Party UK

mikesoft98 — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:29:49 -0000

I completely understand your view. At heart I am also more of a Conservative, also wish they would take into account some of PP UK views. Yet I just felt like it was the right thing to do. Especially considering all the digital related cases over the last couple of years.

Re: Christopher Hitchens honoured with Orwell Memorial prize

mikesoft98 — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:26:09 -0000

I think it would be true to say that out of Hitchens' circle of friends (Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie) that you're right, he was known for his fervent views. Yet I quite enjoy his writing style. It isn't always graceful but it is unique. I guess reading is quite subjective?

Re: Christopher Hitchens honoured with Orwell Memorial prize

Richard Bailey — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:44:47 -0000

He was a thinker, provocateur and polemicist, sure - but a writer? I found Hitch 22 hard going and often pompous. Devonshire: need I say more?

Re: Defining Loyalties: Now a member of Pirate Party UK

Michael J K Findlay — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 11:42:27 -0000

I must admit I will remain a member of the Conservative Party however I do agree with a lot of the items in their Manifesto.

Again as Liam mentioned I could not quite take the jump to joining the party but I do wish that other parties would take in to account some of their manifesto.

Re: How I landed myself a Graduate PR Role

Heather Baker — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:38:08 -0000

Congrats on the role and good luck. Sadly, too many agencies don't understand that the interview process is as much about selling the company to the candidate as it is about the candidate pitching themselves to the company!

Re: That’s it then, I’ve finished University

Michael J K Findlay — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 07:34:03 -0000

Are you going too get another domain name or host it here? Time for a new name perhaps?

Re: That’s it then, I’ve finished University

mikesoft98 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:52:08 -0000

Real world seems to be going well so far! Can't wait to actually earn money. Student life sucks with respect to bank accounts. Boo. :-(

Re: That’s it then, I’ve finished University

mikesoft98 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:51:27 -0000

Glad the real world is going well for you. Just completed a minor design change. Everything looks a bit cleaner and some new features have been added. Not sure what to call the site yet :-)

Re: That’s it then, I’ve finished University

Rebecca Bardess — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:52:08 -0000

Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You're going to love it. :)

Re: How I landed myself a Graduate PR Role

mikesoft98 — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:54:52 -0000

Agree with everything you say. Having a blog is certainly a good way to stand out from the crowd. Yours is brilliant. Where do you find the time to continue blogging in a full time job though? Will be a skill I will need to master!

Re: How I landed myself a Graduate PR Role

Ben Cotton — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:45:32 -0000

That's great to hear - I certainly found that to be the case when I graduated back in 2008.

Blogging takes time, commitment and energy, as well as requiring the blogger to stay up to date on the topics they discuss, become adept at constructing arguments, understand CMS, publishing and how content is shared online - all skills and attributes every PR agency will value in a potential employee.

Re: How I landed myself a Graduate PR Role

mikesoft98 — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:40:23 -0000

Thanks Richard.

Re: How I landed myself a Graduate PR Role

mikesoft98 — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:40:13 -0000

Glad you have found the post useful! I've learnt so much throughout each interview process.

Re: How I landed myself a Graduate PR Role

mikesoft98 — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:39:16 -0000

Thanks Ben!

For the schemes where I reached the assessment centres I am certain that having a blog was part of the reason of getting through to the later stages. Much focus was placed on writing skills, interview and group tasks though. It all makes a difference!

Re: How I landed myself a Graduate PR Role

Ben Cotton — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:57:14 -0000

Great post, Michael - and well done on landing the role at Red!

You've obviously put a lot of work into researching and preparing for the different grad schemes. I'd be interested to know if you think your blog helped you land the role?

Thanks,

Ben