Optimizing your online pressroom

Considering that journalists are overworked, your organization has a better chance of getting into a news story if a reporter is easily able to access the information that he or she needs. One of the best ways to do that is to have a well-organized online pressroom.

Here are some insights on how to make your online pressroom meet today's media needs:

1. Keep it simple. Reporters are often on deadline and need information right away. Make it easy for them to find what they need.
2. Make media contact information prominent. Often reporters just want to pick up the phone and call someone. They become frustrated when phone numbers are not readily available.
3. Ensure easy access from your company's home page. While many departments of a company compete for precious home page real estate, if reporters cannot find your media information then your organization may not make it into the story.
4. Provide RSS feeds. Rather than checking frequently to see if your company has released information, RSS feeds can give reporters your company's news as it happens.
5. Keep your online pressroom organized. Clutter and chaos have no place in an online pressroom.
6. Use the terms "media" and "press" in your online pressroom. A reporter's typical Google search to find media materials is either "media" and the company name or "press" and the company name. If you use both, reporters have a better chance of finding you.
7. Offer a search box. While your online pressroom should be intuitive and easy to navigate, offering a box in which reporters can search for specific terms can help them find information.
8. Provide more than just press releases. Online pressrooms that provide executive bios, company statistics, research, downloadable content and more give reporters story ideas as well as the information that they need.

These insights are from an article that I wrote with search engine optimization expert Chris Peterson. Here is the entire article (opens PDF).