A successful Web site needs to create interest, maintain customer
attention and generate the desire to purchase a product or service,
motivating customers to follow through with an order. An online press
center or virtual newsroom where you inform users about new
products and announce events allows journalists and your customers
to see that you're a professional in your industry. It will also help
deal with emergencies and offer you opportunities to lend your voice
to issue that affect your business.
A virtual newsroom is a must for small businesses who want to raise
their profile and build their reputation. Journalists often use the
Internet to source stories and conduct research into a news story. If
your Web site comes up as an authority on an issue, the journalist
will check out your Web site and be impressed if there is an online
press center that contains the information needed to write a story.
It also establishes your business reputation if you take the time to
build an online press center, because not only journalists will
access it.
There are several key things to consider when your setting up the
online press center section of your website. Your online press center
should at the very least include the following elements:
News release(s)
Photos and illustrations
Fact sheets
Backgrounders
Biographies
Biographies provide a quick summary of the relevant background of an
individual, with the objective of building credibility.
Visuals that might be included in an online press center include a
downloadable logo the identity of your business and
downloadable online photographs of your key executives. Photographs
are especially useful as they put a picture to a name and can be used
by the press to accompany a news story.
In addition to background information and fact sheets here are some
additional suggestions for creating a "virtual newsroom" that works:
Offer real names and contact information including street addresses
and telephone numbers right up at the top of your online press
center. Nothing drives a reporter crazy more than having to drill
down into the news section of a website only to find an e-mail
address to some non-descript media center such as
media@yourcompany.com
If you have a brochure or defined press kit make ALL of it
available online. You'll be providing reporters with most of the
information they want and the calls that do come through will be from
informed reporters
Reporters love calendars of events. But they have to be updated
regularly. If you're not prepared to make these changes weekly, if
not daily, don't bother including a calendar section
An archive of news releases on a Web site sorted by date and title
is extremely useful for journalists and customers, as it places news
in context
Now that you have your press releases online remember to make sure
they get posted to your site before or at the same time you release
them using traditional methods.
About the Author
Barry Forward is the Executive Vice-President of Reputations Inc and
has an extensive background in public relations. He has also launched
several companies, including high tech ventures and products. You can
read more PR related articles like this one at
http://www.prmadeeasy.com/freeforall/freeINK.asp.