Create an Author Showcase Website the Media Will Love

By Annie Jennings - Jan 08 , 2008

If you are a book author, expert, or wish to brand yourself to the media, I recommend you develop a media website or author/expert showcase site developed especially for the media.

NAMING YOUR MEDIA WEBSITE

Choose a simple name, easy to type and without any unusual spelling in it; for example:

• www.YourName.com or
• www.YourNameCredentials.com (www.yournamePHD.com) or,

if www.yourname.com is not available, buy the .TV extension:

• www.yourname.tv

This way, the media knows they will find out all about you at the website.

And it’s certainly OK to have more than one website—in fact, I recommend it. Each site should have a specific strategy—that is, what do you want the visitor to do? (This is also called a conversion strategy.)

With your media site, you want the media to have all the info they need to book you for any media opportunity.

With a business site, you want the visitor to find out all about your business and hire your business.

And with an e-commerce site, you want the visitor to find out all about your products or services and buy them.

All three types of sites have a unique strategy, and the media website should NOT be combined with any other type of site, especially with your e-commerce or sales site, as you don’t want the media buying your products or services, right?

CONTACT INFO

I advise against using email as the only way to get in touch with you. Why? It’s not instantaneous and doesn’t leave the media with certainty that you will respond. (How do they know you will even get their emails?)

Never use something like info@ as that suggests going to an unmanned inbox. But you can use your real email address, which is more convincing. And arrange for emails to go directly to your blackberry. You can even let the media know that the email goes directly to your blackberry and that you will respond shortly.

But ALWAYS give out a telephone number if you want media placements.

YOUR BIO PAGE

The more credentials and accomplishments you have in your area of expertise, the better your chances are of being chosen by the media for the placement.

Also include all of the topics you can knowledgeably discuss, as well.

Be sure to lead with a great color picture of yourself – one that is engaging and that shows you well-groomed. Remember that your picture offers a glimpse of your personality—so don’t use your driver’s license picture!

Your bio page should be conversational in nature and not a copy and paste of your C.V. or resume. The idea is to tell a story about yourself, your expertise, who you are, and, in the end, answer the one question the media has—are you the expert they’re looking for?

YOUR MEDIA APPEARANCES PAGE

Video: Create a short starter demo for your website, with clips of your BEST MOMENTS. Don’t have the long version of each segment as the first demo the media sees. They can always look at the rest on a longer demo if they like the starter demo enough.

An Audio Clip: Let the media hear you in action, but first be sure to map out what they are going to hear. Start fast, engage fast, and deliver some awesome talking points.

I highly recommend hiring a pro to help you develop and record a high-powered, blockbuster short audio, packed with what the media needs to hear—your engaging personality with an action-packed pace and lots of great information.

Your Print And Online Placements: Include a list of your most prestigious placements, including the title, month, and issue date of each article. If the original article is online, be sure to link to it.

YOUR TOPICS & AREAS OF EXPERTISE PAGE

Your topics page should include a list of the topics you can knowledgeably discuss, along with titles of tip sheets or links to tip sheets or articles you have written.

You want to actually link to tip sheets and articles (such as “Ten Smart Career Moves” or “Why You Should Never Ask Your Boss for a Raise on a Business Trip”) because this gives you the chance to showcase your knowledge in a variety of areas.

Present yourself and your experience in the most powerful way possible, as I’ve suggested, here, and create certainty for the media that they would be making an excellent choice in choosing you!

Want to learn more about the world of publicity? Listen LIVE to Annie Jennings PR’s teleseminar at http://www.anniejenningspr.com/publicitypro.htm

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Annie Jennings of the national PR firm, Annie Jennings PR, promotes authors & experts to the most prestigious media in America. Her commitment to excellence has forever changed publicity, as she has created the most advanced publicity tools and strategies used in PR today. Annie’s mission is to help everyone share their messages all over the world for the betterment of all. You can get your free CD, “The Making Of A Million Dollar Expert,” on Annie’s site at http://www.anniejenningspr.com/experts.htm