Having quite recently become involved in online PR and the world of blogging, I then needed to conduct extensive research in order to really understand how important online PR has become nowadays and what tools PR professionals can use in this arena. This research has helped me to identify what I hope are valuable tips regarding online PR and some basic guidelines which I wanted to share online, even though these are just the first steps. So off we go! 1. Educate your client as to the importance of online visibility and how even small online audiences can be valuable for driving traffic to their site. 2. Make sure all press releases issued are visible online – this means posting every release to a press release newswire.  Even better, think about an SMNR! (Social Media News Release, that is, which is configured to take advantage of the variety of media, such as URLs/links, videos, images, sound, and other sources of information, to best highlight the riches of your release and create better value for the journalists. Here’s an example of one we at Action did for client FxPro, with Realwire, the dedicated SMNR provider.) 3. Identify your main keywords and phrases – if your client has an SEO agency, find out from them what keywords have been selected. 4. Ensure such keywords are included in press releases and where releases appear online make sure keywords link to relevant pages on your clients’ site. 5. Actively seek out online coverage by targeting online editors and specialist websites 6. Identify the top 10 or 20 bloggers who talk about subjects relevant to your client and consider engaging with them. But please remember there are also good, important rules of engagement and practice when approaching bloggers! 7. Online PR requires a mix of social, creative, persuasive and technical skills. 8. Developing relationships with online publication editors and bloggers is also particularly useful. 9. It’s no use sending out a press release if it’s going to the wrong place, so keep an eye on media industry websites, such as FIPP or Hold The Front Page, which provide details of new publication launches, media news and personnel changes. 10. Everyday there are new developments on the web, so keep an eye out for new services, applications, tools, etc.  Mashable is a great site for keeping track. 11. Sites such as MySpace and Facebook aren’t just for bands and schoolkids anymore. Anyone with a brand can benefit from setting up a profile. But don’t just provide the basics: enhance your profile by updating content regularly to ensure repeat visits, provide downloads, such as web banners and videoclips and create exclusive deals or content for your online friends; all of these can help generate positive word – web! – of mouth PR 12. Providing a dedicated, online client press centre can save journalists time and effort, and can help you track which publications are using your clients’ news. Also, consider using a free PDF creator, to provide downloadable factsheets and copyright free articles, but also provide material as unformatted text documents, created in note or wordpad, to allow journalists to cut and paste for easy editing and writing. Hopefully, the above 12 guidelines make for a decent start for you, but your comments on the list are very much welcome; and feel free to add your own tips. Image source: David Fierstein