Penelope Trunk has a helpful post on how to get your blog mentioned in Print.
She writes some good tips in each of the following areas:
- Don’t pitch yourself, pitch an idea.
- Pitch an idea with the print audience in mind.
- Tailor the idea to the journalist.
- Sign up for Profnet.
- Answer questions strategically.
- Be available.
It’s a useful list and a lot of it could be applied to getting mentioned on other blogs also.
I’ve had moderate success in getting into mainsteam media articles over the last few years – however I find a lot of it either comes out of the blue (through journalists approaching me after finding me in Google for a term they are writing about) or through relationships that I’ve already established with journalists.
Once you do get an approach from a journalist it’s worth giving some careful consideration to what you want to get out of the interaction. You’ll find that journalists will have their own agendas and ideas on where they want their article to head but it’s worth giving some careful thought to what sort of message you want to convey. Pick one particular message that you want to get across and keep saying it throughout the interview.
Also ask (politely) if they could please give a URL for the article. For example I generally respond to them by calling my blog here ‘ProBlogger.net’ instead of just ‘ProBlogger’.
Lastly – getting mentioned in the press is not everything. In fact the times I’ve been written about in major papers I’ve had very little noticeable increase in traffic and limited opportunities have arisen from it. In many cases it would be more beneficial for a large blog or website to link up than a paper to do it – still, it’s fun to see your name in print and it can legitimize what you do in the eyes of some (ie – parents love seeing their kids in the papers!).
