Where it all goes wrong

ok so here is the scenario.

I have this website, i will not mention the name of it here. its australian owned. and in fact its the first time an australian has owned a site like this.

I have written articles and released press releases and done everything that we read is correct when trying to get publicity for it. BUT WAIT.....

because everything i seem to do gets reported as spam and that its not actually news. Granted my site is a dating site. and everyone seems to hate advertising from dating sites but i would have thought that releasing articles that i am the first to be doing my niche in my country would have been normal news.

For those of you who are smart and really need to see what kind of articles i have been releasing you would have google some of the hints i have been giving you in this post.

let me know what i am doing wrong here. i honestly need good solid feedback on how i can improve and write articles that wont get deleted from news websites.

i definately dont want to be one of these assholes that the online world hates

 

try submitting to offline companies as well. for example, local and national press

 

sorry i should have mentioned this part in original post.

My largest rival also owns the majority of newpapaers and tv channels in my country

 

That not good
Other than press release you should try other thing such as SEM to increase your website visitor

 

definetly do a press release with pr web.

 

thanks for the tips, is pr web really that much different to the other press release sites i have been using

 

I write press releases quite allot and get top results from them. Can you PM me one of your PR's and I'll go through it and tell you exactly where you're going wrong.

There are a few major things you need to keep in mind when you're writing any PR:
- The press don't care about you
- The press don't care about your business
- The headline is the MOST important part part of the PR, if this doesn't get the journalists attention it will go in the bin with 99% of the rest of the press releases they get. It needs to be a headline that will capture the readers thought to read on
-If you are promoting your business then don't make the PR about your business. Find a story that is in context with your site and tie yourself in at the bottom of the story, you can insert yourself as an 'expert in your field'
- Send the PR to journalists by direct mail as well as releasing it on the PR news networks but do it this way- Send the PR in a big red envelope with the journalists name and address written in bold black marker, this will make yours instantly stand out from the rest of the white envelopes in the press release pile
- Conduct a poll and use the results, newspapers love polls i.e. '47% of men claim to use dating sites while 67% of women claim they never would'. The poll has to be a reasonable number of people, as in over 1,000 at least.
- Include a photo- This will boost your chances of getting the story in the publication fast as you've basically handed them the material ready to go
- You may want to make a few drafts of your PR, I do this to change the wording of the draft to better suite the publication. i.e. change the wording for a 'financial/business news' publication from your 'tabloid/red top' draft
- Phone the journalist you sent the press release to 2-3 days after you sent it and tell them your making sure they received your PR you sent and will they be publishing it, you have to be persistent with them, remember they work for you not the other way round and they're on deadlines so make your headline as inventive or eye catching as possible

Here is an example of how I tied myself in on a story at the end to give you an idea of what I mean-
http://i-newswire.com/pr193201.html

This got released and got over 120,000 views in under 12 hours and a 5 star rating. It's since been published in many publications globally and I have had several reporters contacting me since to ask more about my site, I have another being written about the site as we speak and the BBC also want to feature my site on one of their shows.

Don't worry about your competitor owning the TV, newspapers or radio stations, they still want news and there is no way they monitor it that detailed. They won't care if your site is tagged in a story.

PR really is the way forward dude, if you want any help writing one or want me to look through one for you let me know.

 

hey thanks for your info global covenant your thread was awesome to read i also pm'd you my press release

Thanks in advance

 

I'm a Web publisher (with a print journalism background) and I look at press releases everyday. The ones that catch my attention the most are the ones that have conducted polls or have done statistics.

I bypass the ones that are blatant advertisements, unless my readers will find the information useful. For a dating site? There has to be news there: polls, the owner found his/her love interest on a dating site, something. But a poll is good.

 

I haven't seen your press releases, but I agree that there are too many dating sites. Make sure that you put almost no emphasis on the dating part, and emphasize what you do that's incredibly unique. And remember, there are other ways to advertise than press releases. Personally I think they are a small part of an overall strategy. But find the outlets your rival doesn't own and keep on trying!

 

LOL

Sorry bud, you are NOT the first Australian to own a dating site. There are many Australian webmasters owning sites of all kinds.

 

Never said i was.... But handy to know how some people are mis reading the original press release. Definately will take your mistake and turn it into a positive