| Did you know that second only to your blog, the | | | | Your readers/consumers do, too. Fill your press room |
| media room should be the most updated page on | | | | with any that you've created. 6) Where you've been |
| your website? When was the last time you updated | | | | featured: be very generous with this. Don't assume |
| your media room? For most of us, it's probably been | | | | that if you have only been featured online that you |
| a while. We tend to put up media rooms and then | | | | should not list that. List everything! The more you |
| forget about them. But more and more, a good, | | | | can populate this room with links that make you look |
| informative media room should be consistently | | | | like the busy marketing person you are, the more |
| updated. We've found through research, reading, and | | | | attractive you'll be to your buyer and to the media. |
| our own experiences that often it's not just the | | | | 7) Ideas for stories: if a reporter is perusing your site |
| media that visits this page, that's why the term | | | | looking for story ideas, why not give it to him? |
| "media room" is a bit misleading. It's actually a great | | | | Creating a pop up box that says "Here's how (insert |
| place to inform, entertain, and educate your reader | | | | your name) can help you with your story" is a great |
| on you, your books, your message or product, and | | | | way to generate ideas for the media and get |
| the things you've been up to, and often it's the first | | | | yourself a mention in an upcoming story or feature. |
| place a prospective buyer will go to for more | | | | 8) Bragging rights! If you have testimonials or |
| information on you and your work. In order to | | | | reviews, place them here, too. While it's always good |
| compete in the digital age, more and more authors | | | | to sprinkle testimonials/reviews throughout your site, |
| are turning to their media rooms to attract readers | | | | this is another great place to list them. Regardless of |
| to their book. Why? Well it's a great one-stop-shop | | | | whether the visitor to your media room is the media |
| place to get all the latest data on your books, new | | | | or a reader, people like what other people like! 9) No |
| editions, new products and new speaking events | | | | hunting allowed! Don't make people hunt for |
| (should you decide to list them). The old way of | | | | information. The other day I was on a site looking |
| doing media rooms was to have a list of your press | | | | for book pricing. I had to send an email to get a list |
| releases, maybe a link or two to media and that was | | | | of pricing, and why? Because it was confidential? |
| that. Now media rooms are almost the nerve center | | | | Doubtful. But most people don't think to remove the |
| of your entire website. Here's a quick rundown of | | | | extra steps. Shorten the staircase. Meaning: remove |
| what should (and shouldn't) be in your media room. | | | | needless steps to the close. Put pricing, information |
| Keep in mind that components of a media room will | | | | sheets, whatever you have up on your media room |
| vary, depending on your topic, genre and focus, so if | | | | so folks don't have to go on a hunting expedition for |
| you can't include all of these, that's ok. Better to | | | | it. 10) Events: I took events off of my website a |
| have only those components related to your book | | | | long time ago. Why? Because I do so much pop up |
| product/topic than ones that don't make any sense | | | | stuff that I had a hard time keeping up with it. |
| at all: 1) Downloadable picture of your book cover or | | | | There's nothing worse than an outdated events |
| covers, your photo and other related artwork you | | | | page, but if you can keep yours up, great! Keep it |
| want to offer. 2) About You: people want to know | | | | current, the activity will look great on your media |
| who you are, so tell them! Make sure your bio is on | | | | room. A few final tips: don't even consider cramming |
| the media room and ready to download. It's | | | | all of this information onto your site if you're not |
| especially helpful if a media person is trying to gather | | | | going to deliver this in pop-up form. Check out for an |
| information for an article and wants some | | | | example of this. Also, deliver your text content in |
| background on you. 3) Press releases with live links: a | | | | both PDF format as well as in text format so the |
| few issues back we wrote that live links in a press | | | | search engines can spider it. Don't limit yourself to the |
| release are a great way to get traffic back to your | | | | items mentioned above, experiment with other media |
| site, but guess what? It works well in reverse, too. | | | | room ideas that might not be listed here. Book |
| News posted to your site gets spidered very quickly, | | | | videos, for example, might be another great addition |
| so including links and keywords will greatly enhance | | | | to your media room. The key is, start thinking of |
| the visibility of both the media room and your press | | | | your media room as a place to present yourself not |
| release. In fact another quick tip is this: instead of | | | | just to the media, but to the world! This will change |
| placing ads, issue a press release. No kidding. Press | | | | how you view this very important page on your site |
| releases are a far better alternative than an ad on | | | | and help turn a ho-hum page into a rockin' red hot |
| the Internet. You'll get spidered, you'll get ranking and | | | | media room! |
| best of all, you'll get traffic. 4) New book/product | | | | Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author |
| information: this is the perfect place for sharing past, | | | | Marketing Experts, Inc., is a book marketing and |
| current, and future information on your book. Be | | | | media relations expert whose company has |
| boastful! This your chance! 5) Tip sheets: we all know | | | | developed some of the most cutting-edge book |
| that the media loves tip sheets, but guess what? | | | | marketing campaigns. |