Effectiveness of press releases can be entirely dependent on whether or not there are any major national scandals brewing before that news release is sent. I don't know if there will be any major earthquakes, tornadoes or presidential sex scandals this week, but I'm very excited that television's 60 Minutes news magazine covered online education tonight!

This week WebSite101.com and OnlineWorkshops.com officially announced our partnership to the press via an electronic press release distributed online via multiple sources and sent by email to specific local media sources. I can't yet say what results that announcement will have as it just went to the inbox of hundreds of journalists across the country.

What the media pays attention to is often determined by what the media pays attention to. Every news outlet looks at what the competition is running on the front page or what tops the hourly news reports. If 60 Minutes is paying attention to online education, then WebSite101 has got great chance of being a major news story tomorrow. If my local paper, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat gets interested, their parent publication, the New York Times may pick up the story too!

All we can do now is to wait and see if the San Jose Mercury News or the San Francisco Chronicle notice a small business internet tutorial teaming up with a distance education portal. The 60 Minutes piece was specifically discussing major online distance education initiatives launched by Duke University and the well known internet education site, University of Phoenix. Talk was centered around whether it was an effective and useful way to learn. I already believe that it is.

Now we'll see whether the media agrees with that perspective. And as long as George W. Bush is faithful to his loving wife, and makes no malaprops during the performance of his duties tomorrow, maybe the Philadelphia Enquirer will take notice of a quiet little web site that is seeking to change the face of ebusiness by training a few thousand independent entrepre- neurs in ecommerce for the little guy.

I'm excited and hopeful of the potential for distance education and the small part WebSite101 can play in helping small business gain an edge in ecommerce. Our first press release was used by Entrepreneur Magazine, the Sacramento Bee and Oracle Magazine and we can only hope for more of that kind of attention will follow with the latest announcement. Ted Koppel, what do you think? David Letterman, do you care to comment? Howard Stern, would ya like to weigh in on this one?

Take a look at our press release by visiting it online at:

http://website101.com/press.html

And keep your fingers crossed for us that no movie stars get arrested for soliciting prostitution or some such nonsense. Maybe Martha Stewart'll say something nice about WebSite101. Oprah, would you like to add my ebook to your recommended reading list?

About the author: Mike Banks Valentine WebSite101 "Reading List" Weekly Netrepreneur Tip Sheet Weekly Ezine emphasizing small business on the Internet http://website101.com/arch/ e-tutorial online at: http://website101.com/shortcourse.html By week's end you're ready expand your business to the web!