Soropa Blog

Your site is most important to you, but it is also important that you extend your reach beyond your own site and contribute elsewhere. By contribute, I mean writing articles that others can post, joining newsgroups and adding your comments, writing rebuttals for other newsletters and articles. You want to spread out so that your name and expertise become recognized. If you do things only on your own site, you will remain famous on your site alone. Unless you market yourself to others in unobtrusive ways, you will never be recognized as an expert in your field.

You can send out press releases to e-newsletters and e-zines in the same way you do for print materials. Just as you need to follow up with your press releases in print media, you need to do the same within the Web. Locating the contact information for the editors of eMedia may be just a bit more difficult, and the mode of communication often is through e-mail. But if you just e-mail the question, “Did you get my press release?” you may be ignored. On the other hand, if you are able to find the phone number of the individual, you may find that a phone call will get you a lot farther and you may find your release published.

Even better, you may find that you get an interview. eMedia is often better distributed than print media. Having your name and touting your expertise in front of subscribers is just what you need to do to increase your chances of getting more business.

Send out a few test rebuttals to articles and see if you get printed. You should also parallel your efforts with the print media. You can make announcements for others to read about you in a specific Web e-zine.

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Here is the basic format for a Press Release: (You can also
receive it via email at: mailto:pr_sample@emailexchange.org )

Subject of email should read:

Press Release - [ Then Type Your Subject In Several Words or a
Short Sentence ]

[ For the BODY of your email message, write: ]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Your Name Company Name Street Address City or Town,
State, Zip USA or Your Country Phone: Fax: Email: URL:

Short one sentence headline. This can be the same as your Email
Subject Header. The “KEY” is to make it a good one.

The “Subject” of your email message will either get your Message
read eventually or deleted immediately.

Maximum of three paragraphs.

Cover the standard Who, What, Where, When, Why and How that
media people deal with all the time.

<---------End Press Release Text-----

Why bother with a Press Release?

If you have a good story, you can benefit from HUGE FREE
exposure to a real world audience of millions, perhaps even tens
of millions of people online and off.

A Press Releases must be sent to a media contact.

Pick and choose who you send a release to according to what info
it is that you are trying to publicize.

For example, you do not want to send a release about a new AUTO
PARTS to the editor of a SEWING magazine.

These media people can reach millions of people with just one
Press Release. That is why it is so important to tap this FREE
resource for publicity and exposure.

So, how do you tap into the email addresses of all these media
pros?

Visit the web sites of the top media outlets.

Here you are going to need to do a little leg work. Or, rather,
"let your fingers…"

First, visit :

Internet News Bureau - Partial Distribution List
http://www.newsbureau.com/medialist/

This web site lists the names of 100's of media contacts that
accept Press Releases via email. Unfortunately, they do not
provide you with contact information as they sell that as part
of their business.

But you can still make use of the list, because it is a list of
media contacts that do business on and via the Internet.

How do you get their contact info?

Easy. First of all, make a short list of those media contacts
that you think would be most interested in your Press Release.

Keep in mind that MORE is not necessarily good in this case as
your Press Release will be of interest to a narrow focus group
of people.

However, even a SHORT list of, say 2 dozen, Media Contacts Could
exposure your message to 10's of MILLIONS, FREE!

So, make use of your favorite Search Engine and find their web
sites and also where to send your email Press Release.

Once your list is complete, send out your Press Release on an
individual basis, NOT bulk email or Bcc as this would make it
too impersonal for the media contact.

You want their email address and name to show up on the headers
of the email you send them so they feel it is a single mailing
just to them.

They all know you are sending it out to many others but it gives
a great illusion of being exclusive.

Want to tap into the big media outlets?

Visit the web sites of ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc. and you will
find not only the email address of the main offices but also
many contact email addresses of the affilliates.

ABC http://www.abc.com

NBC http://www.nbc.com

CBS http://www.cbs.com

CNN http://www.cnn.com

Here is another FREE Resource that DOES supply you not only with
the physical address of the Media Contact, but also with email
address contacts when they are available:

FAIR's Media Contact List
http://www.fair.org/media-contact-list.html

There are also services available that will sell you a list of
email addresses. I personally have never used one of these
services so I suggest you investigate before you purchase.
Gebbie Press: http://www.gebbiepress.com/

There are also Press Release Services that send out your Press
Release - for you - to their established list of Media Contacts
: HREF="http://www.interferenza.net/xpresspress/al/affiliates.cgi?2
15" rel="nofollow"> For a Fee Press Release Service

And, finally, here is the URL of a web site that has a list of
things that annoy those that receive press releases for a
living. It makes several good points:

Pet Peeves of the Press http://www.automatedpr.com/pet_peeve.htm

If you do it all yourself, you will quickly find out that the
time and effort you invest will be GREATLY rewarded.