» How to Make Your Site Journalist Friendly and Increase Publicity- tutorial blog

There isn’t a journalist alive who doesn’t use the Web to develop story ideas, find breaking news, research feature articles and more. Here are some of the primary reasons a journalist might want to visit your site:

–Find the name, email address or telephone number of a top exec (it’s rare a journalist will find email addresses of key managers but you never know)
–Find the name, email address and telephone number of a PR contact
–Read press releases and other announcements related to a newsworthy event
–Download or link to images, photos, videos and other rich media for stories they’re working on
–Download white papers, case studies, market research studies and similar info they can use for background
–To double check facts such as the correct spelling of the names of employees and products
–Read annual reports and other financial information
–Find where your offices are located and directions

Here’s how to make your site journalist or PR friendly:

Public relations resources. Your site should contain a clearly defined public relations area so you can be ready the next time a journalist comes calling. That means names, email addresses and phone numbers for each of your internal PR or PR agency contacts. If you don’t have a dedicated PR person or agency, use a key marketing exec as a point of contact. Whatever you do, make sure you always have a PR-savvy contact who is available at a moment’s notice.

Provide a list of press releases in chronological order, starting with the most recent. Update the list regularly. Posting only a few press releases a year is a sign that company is either not PR savvy or has nothing worthwhile to say.

Provide as much content as you have available: That means pics of key personnel, product shots, videos, whitepapers, data sheets and so on.

If your company has won awards or has been in the news, provide copies of those articles (get permission) or use links.

Company backgrounder. Create a section for a company overview with a brief history of the company, a list of key managers with their bios, your locations and directions how to get there and a brief FAQ that answers the who, what, where etc. about the company.

Investor relations. Financial news and other info of interest to investors: annual reports, market research reports, quarterly results and so on. Obviously, public companies are more open about this sort of info than private companies.

Good will. If your company is involved with charitable causes or other good works, include that.

Events. Provide a list of upcoming seminars, Webinars, podcasts, shows where you’ll be exhibiting and similar info.

Organization is everything. Make it easy to find info and to find it quickly. Use descriptive links to content elsewhere on your site. By descriptive, I mean write links that describe in a meaningful way where they’ll take the visitor.