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All of the above assumes your website is non-commercial. If your page is a commercial one, you should limit your postings only to newsgroups which are designated for commercial announcements. Remember, you are trying to build goodwill, not ill will. You might do this gradually, posting only one or two messages a day spaced a few days apart. If you start getting flames (irate e-mail messages) you'll know you are doing something wrong, and these messages will tell you exactly what that is. To avoid any problems you should read the charter for the newsgroups which describes its intended use. You can use the search engines to find much more detailed information on posting to newsgoups and the sins you should avoid.
Your local newspaper, the Littleville Beacon, may think your having a website on the internet is big news. After all, nobody at the paper has browsed the internet themselves yet and they don't know anyone else who has a website. So by all means send a press release to the home town newspaper. Time magazine, on the other hand may not be so impressed. They may not have actually browsed the web, but someone met somebody sometime at a cocktail party in Manhattan who did. So its not news. Yet if you have the right kind of site you might get into Time. How? Well, if its a special interest site it might correspond to a special interest section of the publication or be involved in a special event of the time. For example, the periodical has a section that covers politics and your website is the be all of all times on politics. Or you might get lucky and send them your PR Release on your model railroading website just as they are putting together a special report on how model railroading is taking the nation by storm. Of course, you will not know that, but if you send enough PR releases out you just might get lucky.
You could get on the radio. Does one of your local stations have a talk show that covers computers? Perhaps there's a local talk show that's about crafts and hobbies. Your website on model railroading might be an appropriate subject to talk about when you call into the show. Hey, you're doing a public service here. Don't be shy.
Special interest media would include Model Railroading Magazine, NetGuide, ComputerWorld, and a variety of programs on public television and radio. The closer the fit of what your website covers and what this particular media covers the more likely you will get coverage. If a particular media is a super fit for your site, like if there were a publication called Model Railroading on the Web, you should probably make a special effort and maybe tailor your release to meet their specific needs. You might even call the editor for the department you are targeting to reinforce your message.
Writing the press release should not be too difficult. Keep it brief. About two pages double spaced is about right. Check out some of the press releases you can find at the websites of some of the major companies listed in my Computer Industry Companies section. You can use them as a model for the form of your press release. Always include some direct quotations as if you were being interviewed. For example, "Mr. Churilla stated that his Eureka! Internet Search Engine is the greatest thing since sliced bread." With some good direct quotes, the reporter can write the story as if he actually bothered to interview you. Since reporters are very busy people, this extra touch will be very appreciated and your website is more likely to get some press coverage. A well written press release can be used verbatim by some trade publications. The trade publications that have no paid subscribers and a lot of advertisers often don't have a lot of reporters hanging around looking for something to do. The editor just might pop your entire release, unedited (He's busy too.), right into the Industry News Column.
You can't receive these accolades unless the web reviewers learn about your site. They look at a lot of sites everyday to make their selections. In fact, these guys are so busy looking at sites, how do they find yours? They don't. You find them. The best way to get noticed, reviewed, and maybe even recognized with an award is to submit information to them just as you did to the search engines. In fact, you probably can even use the same text you used for those announcements.
Here is an example of text which I used to announce this site to the search engines and the website reviewers:
Eureka! Internet Search Engine http://www.best.com/~mentorms/./ Eureka! is a simple and easy to use internet search engine that still provides all of the powerful and complex features of all the major search engines on the web. It is the ideal starting place for the beginner and the final stop for the expert. Eureka! provides a simple yet unlimited interface to all the major search engines on the web. All in one place and all on one easy form. Eureka! also provides an easy interface to add your URL address to all of the major search engines on the internet. You can submit your site to the engines where 99% of all searches take place in a simple, but effective results oriented fashion. Eureka! provides the best default parameters for each and every search engines so in most cases all you need to do is enter the key words you want to find. You can then refine on the search or change the display of the results to fit your needs, when you need to. Eureka! provides a consistent user interface, common and simple terminology, convenient and uniform options, and a consistent presentation of all search options for all search engines. Instructions aren't really needed to operate Eureka!, but the author does provide detailed information on search engines and how they work. This covers robots and directories in a variety of their manifestations. It is a short course on how to use search engines in order to extract the most information out of the web. These instructions show you how to optimize a search and to save time in finding the resources you need. An entire large chapter is dedicated to showing you how to get your web site listed in all the major search engines. This chapter tells you why you should submit your website, where to submit it, and what to submit. It contains a detailed example of what and how to submit the information. It outlines priorities for submissions and tells you what you can expect and when to expect it for your efforts. Not only do you get a terrific free service in Eureka!, but you also get some of the best advise, free or otherwise, on how to search the internet and to promote your website. Bottom line: If you haven't looked with Eureka!, you haven't looked at all.This announcement is probably a little too long. But then you have noticed that I'm a little on the loquacious side. One good paragraph of less than fifty words is probably about right. The reviewers probably won't read much more than that to decide whether your website is worth a look. The important thing is to write the announcement and to submit it.
There are over 300 review sites where you can submit your website. Some of them have special criteria for inclusion. For example, there are review sites that only look at scientific websites. Don't submit your site unless it is appropriate. The science guy doesn't want to know about model railroading. And if he did freak out from overloading one day and recognize your site with a badge of honor, it probably wouldn't be of much interest to his readers, and you probably wouldn't want there visits anyway.
Not all web reviewers are created equal. A review or award from one reviewer may produce thunderous traffic, whereas another may not even produce a ripple on your site access stats. Except for a few of the biggies, you can't really tell what will produce the most visitors to your website. All I can say is submit your website to as many of the appropriate ones as you can. If you recognize some names, you should probably submit to them first. If you don't know where to start, here are a few websites that keep track of these reviewers and you can follow their links to the submission points.
Don't bother with the automatic link sites either. These disorganized, sometimes totally random, listing of websites are not going to provide you with any worthwhile traffic. You can spend your time and energy on many of the other more worthwhile pursuits outlined above to promote your website.
Do request reciprocal links. Reciprocal links are the word of mouth advertising of the internet. Other sites providing links to your site are extremely important in getting your website the kind of exposure that generates traffic to your website. I stress that you be generous in providing links to other websites because a smart webmaster will recognize the favor you are doing him and he is more likely to put a link to your website on his website. On the other hand, if a website has no links to other websites on its pages, why should someone bother to do him a favor. Those kinds of websites are obviously isolationists caught up in their little private world. Let's leave them alone.