Another cool PR and SEO tool that I came across on my twitter and blog roll over the weekend is something called HubSpot. In a nutshell it grades your press releases based upon a variety of criteria. It is an intuitive tool that take seconds to start using, something that I like most about the product. Within 30 seconds of landing on the site, a LexDex.com press release was being ripped apart by HubSpot’s software. Needless to say, we didn’t make the grade, scoring a lackluster 51%–it was too long, links with no key word anchors, and a whole laundry list of issues. Go check it out for yourself, especially you marketing and pr reps who make your bread and butter off of this work everyday. I was introduced to HubSpot by a blog posting by Lonnie Hodge on CultureFishMedia.

I found an interesting PR tool for all you PR gurus and start-up founders in need of new ways of spreading the word about your product or service. Check out PitchEngine. It was created by a PR executive with the idea to assist web 2.0 PR social media releases. If you don’t have a clue as to what I am talking about, well then your may want to start reading here. SMRs are becoming the buzz words in PR these days. To be honest I do not fully grasp what is going on with SMRs, but in a nut shell your press releases and press page need to be more dynamic. This may include RSS feeds, video, audio, applications, and a whole laundry list of other convenient media tools. You can have a look at the NextStepDirectory.com Press page to get a look at the basics, we still have a long way to go with that page. We are still learning ourselves. Another good Press Page to look at is Uptake.com, it can give you an idea of where we are going with our own press page. Take notes. Elliott Ng and the gang know what they are doing,they have been at it for quite some time. So if you haven’t updated your Press Page, or never really thought twice about the page or your current press releases, you may want to think again.