If your organization is in the public eye – or if you desire to be – you’ll want your Web site to be helpful to journalists. Use this outline as a guide to make your Web site media-friendly.
Journalists Need Your Web Site
- The Web is often a journalist’s starting point in working on a story.
- Reporters are always on deadline; they need answers fast.
- They are too busy to search for information.
- They easily grow impatient with poorly organized or outdated Web sites.
Make Your Site Friendly to News Reporters
For more organizations, there should be a clearly marked “news” or “media” or “newsroom” button on home page. A “contact” button should appear on all pages.
Be sure to upload all press materials to your site slightly in advance of any news conference or event that you’re holding. This will be helpful to reporters and fact-checkers.
List Your Media Contact People
Organizations that are frequently in the public eye will want to list their media contacts. Make it easy for reporters by including:
- Name, area of responsibility
- Phone number, e-mail address(es)
- After-hours contact procedure
Format for Web-Posted Press Releases
- Include the date when the press release was posted.
- Check your archive frequently and remove or update releases that are no longer accurate. (Didn’t that CEO you quoted leave the company a year ago?)
- Use a longer and more descriptive headline than you would for a print publication. It’s more likely to get hits from search engines.
- Include links to pages on your site.
Corporate Web Sites Should Have a Fact Sheet
- Check freshness monthly
- Include your organization’s history.
- Include Investor Relations information.
Include Images Suitable for the News Media
Downloadable photos in both low and high resolution, including executive “mug” shots and photos of key products.
Downloadable logos (color and b/w).
Many types of multimedia also should be on your site:
- Advertising
- Executive speeches
- Press conferences
- Product demos
- Video News Releases
Consider posting your videos on YouTube, where it’s likely to get more viewership than on your own site. When posting on YouTube, be sure to include a full description of the video and a link to your organization’s Web site.
Make the Most of Your Media Relationships
When dealing with a reporter, always ask for the best e-mail address where he or she can be contacted. Most reporters get hundreds of e-mails each day at their “work” address. Try to get their personal e-mail address.
Keep track of reporters’ preferences for e-mail and/or telephone contact. Ask whether they prefer to get press releases as an attachment or as plain text pasted into the body of an e-mail message.
Pitching Stories by E-Mail
Increasingly, reporters prefer to be pitched via e-mail, and they intensely dislike getting calls from PR people asking “didja get my email???”
Tell your whole story in a succinct subject line. Without a compelling subject line, your e-mail will get deleted without being opened.
Writing a good subject line requires the headline-writing skills you learned in j-school. Bad: “News from XYZ Agency.” Good: “XYZ Awards $1.2 Million in Grants.”
Begin the body of your e-mail with a very short pitch, perhaps a personal explanation as to why you think this story is perfect for this reporter. Paste the press release into the body of the e-mail. Make it easy to skim by keeping paragraphs short and including subheadings.
Instead of including the release as an attachment, link directly to the downloadable release on your Web site.
Close off with your full contact information, including instructions on how to find you in the evening.
