Before You Send Out That News Release

I get a ton of emails from other bloggers asking me to write about a post they wrote or give their blog a plug. Most of them go unanswered not because I want to be evil (I do) but because the blog or article is not newsworthy. Before you send out that news release to other blogs asking for a plug, make sure the following items are place.

Your Blog Has More Than One Post

Today, I received a request from a blog that “shows webmasters all the ways they can monetize their website.” The email asked that if I find the blog useful, I can write about it. I go to check out the site and the only post on there was a welcome post. There were no other posts.

Know The Blog You’re Targeting

Before you send out that news release you should know the blog you’re sending the release to. This way you have a much better idea on whether they will be interested or not.

Yesterday, I received an email from someone who claimed to be a longtime reader. He wanted to tell me about a great new service call AGLOCO. He tells me that AGLOCO pays you to surf the web and you get paid for referring other people into the program. Wow! That’s amazing stuff right there. Where do I sign up?

Do Not Beg For A Post

If your content is good, you won’t have to beg other bloggers to blog about you. I’ve received some very creative emails begging for posts before. If these people would put that same creativity into their blogs as they do in their begging emails, they may actually get some traffic.

Get To The Point

I receive hundreds of emails everyday. Please don’t make your news release a 1,000 word essay. Just tell me what the article is about and list the URL to the post. You’ll have a much better chance of getting a plug doing than trying to fluff up the release.

An Example Of A News Release Done Right

Hello Again John,

I wrote a WordPress Plugin that I figured you may be very interested in. It adds navigation links to travel back and forward through posts when you are in the single view. I specifically had themes like this one in mind that do not add these links in by default.

Look it over, try it out, see if it is something you like. And if you really do like it, I would really appreciate a post about it since I know so many of your readers model their sites off of yours and specifically choose to use the same theme.

The Plugin’s WebPage: http://blog.reformatthis.com/plugins/bobsnav/

Thanks for your time John!
Bobby

Good work Bobby. I believe you’re two for two now.

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