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5 must-haves on a Web site to attract media
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Always have easy to access High Res. JPEG images
for the media, and try to make as easy and quick to
use as possible (Photo by Bob Care/Florida Keys
News Bureau)
Every business owner and marketer knows that having the media interested in you can mean free publicity. Free publicity, and media coverage, can be the difference between an okay event and a great one, some guests and many.
And don’t forget that media coverage means one more step in establishing you as an expert in your industry. We’ve talked about being an expert before, and how being seen as an expert means being sought even more by the media as an expert, and in turn, by other’s who need someone with your expertise.
So, we’ve established that media coverage is a good thing.
Why then do too many (travel) businesses not provide the proper elements for helping the media out?
Newspaper, TV, radio, and freelance writers are all very busy people. With literally hundreds of press releases hitting their emails and desks every day and week, with so many people, experts, events, places, people and more, wanting and asking for their attention, being lost in the shuffle is a likelihood.
How in the world do you and your business stand out?
Recently I talked with Danek Kaus, a fellow writer, reporter, and media expert about how you can go about getting Free media coverage. Dan’s book is full of helpful tips, plans, ideas, and ways to go about getting the media to cover you, and I highly recommend it as a great means of insider information on how to improve your chances of being seen, and getting Free Publicity.
Among the things that Dan and I have talked about - in his book and in this column - are providing easy ways for the media to find you: ways that make their lives easier.
Too often, because you are busy, you think you don’t have the time to help the reporter with their job, and you think, ‘hey, I’m doing them a favor anyway’.
Wrong.
If you want coverage, you are in competition with a while lot of other people for that reporters time and energy.
So if you want to stand out, you need to make the reporters life easy. Provide them with everything they need to write about, talk about, and tell others about you.
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Just as you place Twitter or Facebook button on your page & make them
easy to find, you must make your media page easy to find, and it should
be all about what the media can learn about you, not what was already
written (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
If you want to be stubborn and still insist you are doing them the favor, knock yourself out. But unless you’re Anglelina Jolie or Brad Pitt, the reporters of the world are not going to waste their time, and will look elsewhere for their story.
I can promise you, I have walked away from a story idea on several occasions because a business (and some of them big name travel businesses) have made my life hard. And there is nothing more aggravating than contacting the business for information, only to find their obscure little button.
Your choice.
How can you improve your web site to attract media coverage
As a reporter/writer/blogger, I’m often on web sites for travel related businesses, looking for information about their business, events, what they do, and what might interest me in covering them. I use the web site as a starting point, before approaching for an interview or visit.
It stuns me how often web sites, including those for major corporations (that have marketing departments and “experts,” yet don’t do these things) do not include basic information to make a reporters life easier.
One important point that drives me nuts as a writer: going to a described “Media Page” only to find it only provides ways that the business has already been covered.
Sure, you want to tell people how you’ve been covered - but offer a separate page called “Media Coverage” “Where we’ve appeared” or something else.
A Media or Press page to to provide information to the media who will cover you now and in the future. Make the distinction.
A major first line of attack in attracting a reporter to cover you is your web site.
Provided here, 5 elements to include on your web site to help you get the attention, thanks, and even return visits by the media.
1. Have a separate page/area for media, and an easy to find button to get there quickly. I cannot stress how much it blows me away that people do not have this on their sites. Heck, if you were to look at my web site in current form, you would not find such a thing, but that is due to the new site being developed right now, and the old site going away - and my not wanting to attract attention to this older version. If that’s what you’re doing, don’t include this. However, if you have a web site up and running, if your business is open, and you are providing your product and service to the public, get a separate page and button up now - an easy to find button.
2. Include high resolution JPEG images that can be easily downloaded and accessed. Some places will offer a gallery with images, but then want you to contact them for the images to be sent. Some will require you set up a password, and in some cases you get in right away, others you have to wait for them to contact you. I fully understand not wanting to give access to everyone, and wanting to protect your copyrights. However, as a writer/reporter who will often find out about things last minute, who is at the same time working days and weeks out, but also at the last moment and needing things fast, having to wait for a password or approval, or waiting to have a PR person send me the images I need, can be a pain. So consider carefully how you are going to set up your page, and how easy you are going to make it on that press person. If you make it too hard, if it's last minute and they are running out of time, you just may loose the coverage.
Fellow Examiner & RV expert, Keith Bennett has a great, casual, yet
revealing head shot ready and waiting for when the media - such as
myself - call. You should too. (Photo courtesy of Keith Bennett)
3. Provide fact sheets & other information. When a reporter is visiting your site, they may be taking a look because they simply heard about you, and want to see what you’re about. By providing them with ready made Press Releases, story ideas, history PDF’s and Fact Sheets, you are giving them every reason in the book to write about you. They have at their fingertips, the start of a story (or stories), and basic facts to get things going. They can then call or email for follow ups, an interview, or just to cap things off, and they are more likely to take the time to do that, if you’ve helped lay the foundation. - No, you are not doing their job. You are making their jobs easier, and covering you is something more likely to happen. Again - you are in competition for their attention!
4. Provide contact information. You would be stunned how often this does not happen. I have gone in to sites, only to get a lot of information I need, but then no one to talk to and follow up with. I’ve also gone to plenty of sites that have no way for me to contact them. Um, and how are people supposed to find you? This is simple; you need to give a name, and title would be great, and the best contact information for you. It may be that you prefer email (I love to email first and set things up, then follow up with phone calls if need be), or phone, but provide it! And if you are a small business, maybe a one person operation, that doesn’t change much. Set up a separate email account - hey, there are free ones now - and make it easy to be reached. There are very few people/businesses I’m willing to jump through such hoops for.
*** Here’s a secret tip: Maybe you don’t have the money to hire a marketing staff or even a single person. Maybe you spent a few bucks to hire the kid down the street to take on your Social Media Marketing, and you are the marketing department. No worries.
Make up a Media Contact Person. That’s right, make someone up. Give them a name and email address, even their own phone extension if you want. Then when someone calls or emails, you are them. Jane Doe, Media Director. (okay, come up with some name better than that!) But Jane can receive your media queries, and respond. Or you can be her assistant, and respond on her behalf. Or you can play dress up and be Jane. However you do it, by having this separate person, you can easily identify incoming media inquiries, and respond in an appropriate amount of time, with the important information.
*** Secret Tip Two: Check out Grasshopper. This company provides you with a multi-phone line system, including forwarding and extensions, and makes it appear that your business is larger than it really is.
5. Have a headshot. As marketing-expert-crazy-man, Peter Shankman told me, your headshot does not need to be stuffy. It can reflect your personality, or it can be the traditional business shot (such as mine), but whatever you do, get one made, have the JPEG available. Having a headshot means that when a reporter calls, you have one ready. You do not necessarily have to have it on the Media Page at all times - simply say one is available, or do put it up - but having one that you can use for speeches, appearances, or that next newspaper story, will make life less stressful than if you have to scramble to get one at the last minute.
Using these tips to get your web site media-ready-and-user-friendly, will make you and your business more attractive to the media for coverage, and more likely to get covered.
Thank you for reading. I hope you take a look @ my other articles, and I invite you to join me on Twitter/RoriTravel and at RoriTravel - a blog about Traveling Florida - I am a Freelance Writer - available for hire - plus, experience the Rantings of a Social Media Marketer - as a Consultant in Florida, I will be able to help travel businesses/businesses set up and understand how to incorporate Social Media Marketing into their Marketing Plans. Please contact me for further details & service area.
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