Why Should Journalists Write About Your Website?
Posted Under: Internet Marketing Information
Why should journalists write about your website when you may not feel deserving of the recognition?
Why not? They write about news.
If you want some great coverage, and the website links that go with it, you need to make news and start paying some serious attention to news in your own market niche.
The obscure we see eventually, the completely apparent takes longer. –Edward R. Murrow
Inbound links, and opportunities for free publicity are apparent everywhere around us if we just take the time to stop and look.
Every day, we read our morning newspapers, weekly magazines, news blogs, and online news sites, without the vision to see what is completely apparent.
Most of the time, our human brain works on autopilot.
We look at things, and our subconscious mind files what we see, even when we don’t recognize what we see.
This is why so called positive identifications, made by eye witnesses to crimes, are often wildly off the mark.
This is also why trauma victims, sometimes lose memory of their ordeals, even though the event is still stored in their subconscious mind.
Eventually what is obscure, becomes apparent to us.
Why should a journalist write about your website? Here are some probable reasons.
- Journalists need stories to write for every occasion.
Journalists plan their editorial stories weeks, to months in advance.
If you create a press release with relevant content specific to a seasonal event, or occurrence; you have a good chance of getting your business covered.
This obviously requires advanced planning on your part, in order to capitalize on the event.
If your business produces an info product training DVD on step-by-step “creative artistic pumpkin carving”, you should submit your PR well in advance of the Halloween season.
Timing is everything in creating a press release that the journalist will need.
- Many journalists provide lists of recommended suppliers when they review different topics.
Small businesses can capitalize on this, if they do their homework and have their websites listed in Google news, online directories, and ranked in the top five of the search results for their product or service.
Journalists like to use Google, and online directories to compile their recommended suppliers lists.
If your website is prominent in these locations, you stand a good chance of being considered for this valuable coverage.
- Most journalists like to follow big stories.
You can take advantage of big stories, by creating Google alerts, using specific keywords and keyword phrases, to search for opportunities and expand on these stories.
Submit your press release reaction to a big story that a journalist could expand on; and you have a good chance of being published.
- Journalists like to say they are “fair and balanced”.
Keep track of your competitors, and the business articles that they write.
Make sure your website is next to theirs on the search engine results page, so that if a journalist does write about your competitor; they may include your website to “balance” out, or show a comparison, with the article.
- Journalists may be targeting a specific group.
Journalists often cover specific groups for their business stories.
It pays to join these groups! These could be special interest organizations, or whatever.
They are a great place to get help, and you may get an opportunity to get in front of a media interview!
- Journalists need an expert in the field they are writing about, to comment on the topic.
Journalist often write about issues and things they don’t fully comprehend.
They often need expert help, from people who can explain complex issues.
If you can build a reputation in your industry for clearly explaining your niche, you can be assured trade journalists will eventually find you.
If you persuade them on your expertise, you will be called upon again by them, especially if you perform satisfactorily.
