PAYjr is an online chore and allowance management site that lets parents define chores, assign worth and frequency, track status, and earnings. In what might be considered the first e-nagging application, kids receive email reminders about chores, check off completed chores, and track earnings. I didn’t see text message reminders in my quick review, but surely that is the next logical feature.

Perfectly suited for today’s digitally enhanced preteens, PAYjr also fits in with the professional, web-driven lifestyle of a working parent. But, it’s more than a convenience. PAYjr is designed to

“…help parents teach kids and teens to be responsible, manage money, and spend right.”

There is an affiliate program for companies who wish to align with the cause. From the PayJR site:

PAYjr offers Affiliate relationships for educational content providers, child, teen and family service providers and possible organizations with like-minded values and missions. At PAYjr it is our mission to help educate today’s youth on personal finance with hands-on money management tools and services. As the leading prepaid teen card provider in the U.S., an affiliation with the PAYjr network of Banks and Credit Unions and other Youth Brands can prove to be an invaluable alliance. For more information visit www.payjraffiliates.com

Parents can officially add, “I didn’t get the email” to the list of excuses.

Below is a list of web safe fonts that are usually installed on every computer. Typography on the web is a bit restrictive because designers must select from this list to ensure consistency across platforms and browsers.

It is possible to substitute an image of text rendered in any font, but for accessibility and search engine optimization, it is good practice to keep as much text as actual text, not imagery.

That said, there are alternative techniques like swfIR and many others that fix accessibility and SEO hitches, but these are usually meant only for headlines or short text phrases.

This screen shot was taken in Firefox 2.0.0.4 for the Mac.

I had a lot of help in this post from a podcast called Internet Marketing, by Academy Internet. For more, subscribe to that podcast.

This is a brief on online public relations and SMO. I’ll pose each topic as a question that you’re likely to ask at some point. The answers assume you’re at least a bit web savvy. Let’s go.

Where are my target audiences going online?

Whatever you’re selling, Google it. Chances are, that’s what your customers will be doing first anyhow. Try to stay away from jargon that only your industry would know. Visit the top sites of the search results to get a feel for who might be considered the authorities of your industry.

What keywords does my target search for?

I use Google’s free Keyword Tool to discover words and phrases that customers are using in search. If you have absolutely no idea where to start, use the tool’s Site-Related keyword tool. Google will scan any site you enter, and return what it considers to be the keywords and phrases on that site.

Once you have your list, keep it around. You’ll need it for SEO, SMO, and CPC campaigns.

Where are my competitors being exposed online?

Find out where your competitors are getting mentioned, and do everything you can to get in the same space. Use Google’s Advanced Operator, “link:”, to find out what sites are linking to your competition. For example, to see who is linking to Grady Britton, enter “link: gradybritton.com” in the search bar. To see who is linking to First Indy, enter “link: firstindy.com”.

Who are the vocal authorities of my target audience?

Blogs and discussion forums or discussion groups have become the go-to medium for customers looking for ‘unbiased’ reviews and advice. Both have the added advantage of constantly updated content and commenting. Search engines love fresh content. Often, the top search results on a product are pages from a blog post or a discussion group thread.

To find which blogs to target, use a blog search engine. Two of the biggest are Google Blog Search and Technorati. These allow you to search by keyword, returning the top blogs that feature that word or phrase.

Discussion groups and forums can be found by searching for a topic in Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, or MSN Groups.

How do I influence them to talk about my product?

Many blogs (like this one) allow you to comment on a post. Your comment will usually display below the post with other commentators. By offering more info, something useful, or any valuable content related to the post in a comment and including a signature, it is possible to generate awareness for your product or site. It has to be useful though. Bloggers are very adept at sniffing out a commentator who is strictly there to advertise. In fact, comment SPAM is one of the biggest issues bloggers are battling today.

Join the discussion groups! Participate in the forums. Get in there, answer questions, offer help and insight, even start topics of your own. The idea here is to become a trusted, regular contributing member of the group. Again, don’t over sell it, or the members will think you have an agenda. Make sure your signature on your posts links to your site. The more you participate, the more you can become a trusted authority in the group, and thus, the more weight your suggestions carry in the group.

Bonus Online PR Tips

Note where your customers are in the buying cycle.

This a good question to keep in mind. It will help you decide where to focus your efforts on your site. If they are comparing prices, help them get right to it instead of burying the pricing info. If they are comparing features, make it easy for them to line up your product against the competition.

Use Google AdWords for Crisis Management.

In the event that you do run up against negative PR about your product, you have to react quickly. Besides posting comments and addressing the issue in discussion forums, consider purchasing featured placement using Google AdWords. Natural search optimization for the negative phrases will not be fast enough to stop the snowball effect.

For example, let’s say you sell widgets and there has been mention that your widget has a faulty gear alignment. What a crisis! Using Google AdWords, you can effectively own featured placement for the search phrase, “widget faulty gear alignment” until the issue blows over. By keeping your CPC bid the highest, you can guarantee that anyone searching about this topic will see a link in the featured Google results to your landing page addressing the issue. Slick, huh?