Our primary goal here at TechCrunch is to profile new web 2.0 companies. Finding and experiencing what new companies have to offer is exciting for us. It what gets us up in the morning. We are honestly deeply passionate about this stuff.
Usually, the passion, drive and intelligence of the creators is reflected in the company or product they create. And even if a product is very young and/or doesn’t necessarily have a high chance for commercial success, there are usually features that carry our mutual thinking on web 2.0 further along. We try very hard to dig for those forward-thinking features and highlight them on this site. Doing one thing in a spectacular and inspiring fashion and nine things stupidly is far, far better than doing ten things “well”. “Well” is boring.
How We Find Companies to Profile
We find new companies primarily in three ways. First, we scour hundreds of blog and news feeds daily to see what’s new. Second, we get a number of tips (often anonymously) about new stuff – usually these are the most interesting new products. The third way is a direct request from the company itself.
We receive on average 5-10 email requests a day to be profiled. Usually we’ll write about one of these, meaning if a company sends in an email request to be profiled, they have a 10-20% chance of getting up on the site.
This is not a hard rule but more of an observation. I believe that if more companies approached us differently, a much higher percentage would be blogged. I’ve decided to humbly submit my advice on how to approach us in requesting a profile – I think this advice will work well with other bloggers as well.
Top Ten Things You Can Do To Get Blogged
- Build a kick ass company. You can ignore everything else in this post (although you shouldn’t) if you build an awesome web 2.0 company that solves a real problem in an efficient manner.
- Approach Bloggers Directly. Most bloggers have email and other contact information up on their site (email: editor@techcrunch, GoogleTalk:techcrunch, Skype:marrington). Use it to contact them directly with your thoughts.
- Be Persistent. We are all busy. Emails get pushed down in the inbox and forgotten. Send a reminder or two and try to get a conversation going. Don’t be defensive when you are asked hard questions.
- Start a Blog. This is important for multiple reasons. First, it is an easy way for bloggers to see what you’ve done over time. It is also a good way for bloggers to find out about new releases and milestones via your RSS feed. Most company blogs have only a few subscribers but don’t let this discourage you. Those that have subscribed are keenly interested in what you are doing. It is very likely they have a blog. Make it easy for them and they will post about you.
You can also use your blog to promote bloggers who write about you. Other bloggers will see this and want to write about you too.
In this new world, links are currency. Links grant authority. Links build branding. Links equal value.
If you don’t have a blog, you don’t even have a wallet, let alone currency. Having a blog gives you a tangible way to say thank you” to bloggers who write about you.
Encourage your employees to blog too. Go easy on the blogging policy in the early days.
- Be humble. The more humble you are, the more outstanding I assume your product is. Showmanship often equals desperation.
- Be confident. Find the right balance with humbleness. Don’t be humble to the point of mumbling or leaving important stuff out.
- Be descriptive. Tell me what your product does immediately in crisp and interesting prose that is FOA (Free Of Acronyms). FaceBook is a social networking site for college students. Pandora is a music recommendation engine. See? I need more details down the road, but give me something to hold on to before you jump into the cool way you’ve implemented ajax into the FAQs, or whatever.
- Tell a Story. Bloggers want to tell a story. Help them. Pandora is different because they break down music. Technically interesting! 60% of FaceBook’s users log in daily. wow! Writely is allowing people to visualize a world without thick clients. big story!
- Don’t hide information. Put your location, contact information, team bios, faqs, blog and other important information up on the site in an easy to find location. Don’t make bloggers look up whois information or read your terms of service (for legal jurisdiction) just to guess your location.
- Don’t be a Jerk.
If someone just won’t write about you, move on to another blogger. Don’t heckle them. If someone does write about you and you don’t like what they say, deal with it by sending an email or leaving a clarifying comment. Don’t attack. Other bloggers will see it and avoid you like the plague.
It’s hard to determine tone in a written blurb. Bloggers easily take offense. Think twice before you post something that can be taken the wrong way, and be very quick to apologize if you screw up. Don’t try to explain yourself – just apologize. If you are going to say something nasty or controversial, do it via email, not in a public comment.
One example of this came up today. 9rules network has been adding blogs to their network and people have been writing about them. Paul Scrivens doesn’t like the fact that people sometimes refer to 9rules as 9Rules (capital R), and Mike Rundle wrote an arguably condescending post about it today on the 9rules blog that said:
Since our company/service/network is getting links from everywhere nowadays, I wanted to quickly clear up some confusion regarding the name of what it is we’re doing.
The company is “9rules, Inc.” and the network is “The 9rules Network” or just “9rules.”
These capital R’s dropped everywhere are making our CEO cry in public, and believe me, that’s not pretty. Lowercase r’s are where its at. Uppercase is for suckers
The post was picked up by TurboBlogger and BlogHerald and 9rules has been roundly trashed in comments.
Bad idea. Don’t do stuff like this. Once you have done it, apologize immediately and sincerely.
I won’t even bring up the Rollyo thing. Perfect example of how poor/hasty communication can hurt a company. Like I said, bloggers are touchy and I’m a blogger. The company handled this the right way and in the end everything was fine.
Please comment and tell me what I’ve missed.
I’ve got to disagree about the 9rules thing. I think that Rundle’s post was consistent with the 9rules voice (a bit rough and to-the-point), and a few folks didn’t catch the irony.
It’s a tricky issue. If someone in the office says “Hey, Maria, you want some of these cookies?” but your name is really Ted, I don’t think it’s wrong to poltely correct that person just so they know for the future. It’s a delicate issue, and that’s probably why Rundle tried to insert a little humor into it.
As soon as bloggers go into knee-jerk apology mode for anything that receives a negative reaction, they become little more than a public relations machine.
Many companies have tried using blogs as “clean and pure” PR devices, and they’ve all flopped because there’s not much authenticity to them.
Sometimes sticking to your guns is as important (and positive) of a PR move as is immediately apologizing.
James,
These are fair points.
Remember that this post is advice on how to deal with bloggers when you want them to write about you. My advice, under these circumstances, is to treat them with respect and to recognize the fact that it is hard to determine tone in a written message.
I agree that the 9rules message was probably misunderstood…which is exactly why people need to be careful IF they are trying to win people over because it is so easy to be misunderstood.
9rules doesn’t need people blogging on them, so they have the luxury of being “rough around the edges.” Others don’t have that luxury, in my opinion.
I think these are excellent guidelines. Developing a blogging voice is a bit unnatural for some. Like an email voice, what you are thinking and how you type it can often be quite different.
BTW, you guys are doing great work. Techcrunch is a must read for me at least once/day.
A good thorough post – good job.
Finding a blogging voice is a hard thing. It’s so easy to be misunderstood as in 9Rules (sorry … 9rules) case.
Getting blogged about is not much different to dealing with traditional journalists – just that it’s easier and you cut out all the BS getting to the point. Know the blog you are approaching, get to know their writing style (for me it’s the gonzo style: rough, edgy, satirical) and make a simple email approach.
It works most times … now TechCrunch: do a major feature post about my blog or else I’m taking all my links to you down
Excellent guidelines. As a small studio (i.e. just me) looking to launch a number of ventures in the web2.0 world in the coming weeks I majorly appreciate this post.
And so glad you did it now – I’ve been an avid reader of TechCrunch for a while now and would love any of my projects to be featured there.. now I know how to do it.. Nice one.
Great wish list …
CODA: They should hire Darren Rowse. This humble bloke from Down Under is now a celebrity in the blogosphere Blogging-for-profit course attracts 800 ]
Very nice list. Thanks buddy
.
One thing : be controvertible, it always helps.
/BP
Great list.
I guess that the main cause for being blogged is actually having a great idea to write about or great idea you’ve raelized with your site. You don’t have to approach bloggers directly in order to get blogged, if your information is worth of being read, it will be eventually visited.
Exactly bloggers are a bunch of chatty school girls. Appeal to their interests and they gossip all on their own.
So, basically, its about engaging in a conversation with people. The blog is used as a vehicle for the warm human to human conversation.
And its a conversation that is based on equality of participants. No one “owns” the conversation. Certainly not the organisation.
Great list, thanks.
Thank you, Techcrunch, for putting together a list of the top things entities can do to get blogged. You don’t know how many times a PR company sends me a press release two or three times because we don’t post their information within the first 15 minutes of receiving it. Here is one of their better tips…
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great list – thanks
i will referring to the list over and over again
Excellent list. I particularly liked the point no: 7.
>> I need more details down the road, but give me something to hold on to before you jump into the cool way you’ve implemented ajax into the FAQs, or whatever.
I think you left out probably the number one thing that will get you blogged, and that is
(1) Provide great content! (and in the case of a web 2.0 company, great software!)
Geez. I don’t link to people out of some silly popularity contest, or a desperate attempt to get myself noticed. I link to people who write great stuff- stuff that is worth reading and knowing about.
Honestly, the blogging community should stop wasting their time on how many peeps they have in their blogroll, or how many pingbacks they get. If you’re providing great content, then people will link to you, period. Build it and they will come.
Also, in relationship to this comment: “In this new world, links are currency.”, the assumption is wrong. The world hasn’t changed- blogging has only made what already goes on a bit faster. The name of the game is how it’s always been – mindshare. The web just makes it a bit easier to tell a million people about some book you read that you liked, or some blog post you read that you thought was good. If nobody reads your blog, it’s the same thing as if nobody buys your product, or nobody reads your book, or nobody goes to your class. Links are just the new form of promotion.
Here’s another idea you can try:
Post in other people’s blogs, and write a complimentary post in your blog. Refer people to your site for more information. The more you comment the more people will see you and maybe get interested in what you have to say, provided it’s “good stuff”.
I don’t know a thing about blogging.
I am in direct sales and have access to something new that appeals to people that would like to know if they are at risk of getting any of the diseases that are killing people these days.
Followed up with a supplement/lifestyle program customized for the individual.
there are lots of free blogs out there and they host too it’s just an online diary http://blogspot.com/
I’ve been blogging for a year and a half and I love it when people:
–Contact me to let me know about something they’re offering my target audience, for free. It can be an ebook about free publicity, or a case study on how one company solved a publicity problem, or a free tutorial on how to build an online media room. Do NOT tell me to tell my readers to simply visit your website. You’d better have a good reason for people to visit.
–Tell me right at the front of their pitch that they’ve been reading my ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” then refer to something they’ve read. It tells me immediately that they’re part of my community.
–Comment about a better way to do something. If I offer my readers a list of tips, and you have even better tips than the ones I’ve mentioned, let me know. I learn as much from my audience as they learn from me.
Great list – Well appreciated
Good list, something that hasn’t been covered much on the web yet.
Nice list…very useful tips for blogger.
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Since I have started immersing myself in the blogosphere, your blog has been one of the ones I regularly visit, and always learn from. As I am currently in the process of attempting to build readership of my blog, your tips have come at a particularly important time. Tip 2: Approach bloggers directly, is one that didn’t even occur to me, despite it now seeming so obvious. Thank you, you may be hearing from me soon!
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Good nkght, bloggers =)
we’re gearing up for launch this fall and this posting is immensely useful. thanks for the tips.
Great post, surprise to discover it just now. This is a huge Help, one more reason to keep reading Neil patel (Kind of a Big deal) Blog also.
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