SheBlogs 102: The Pieces Of A Listing

Understanding the pieces of each listing is also important to maximizing the quality of the post you write, improving your odds of obtaining product samples/winning contests, and writing the best content you can for your readers. Here are the pieces of each listing and how they’re meant to be used:

1. Copy: Each listing contains information that outlines what the nature of the promotion is (whether it’s a news release or contest) and what the PR pro is asking you to cover (again – in your own words, with your own opinions). In the case of a news release, the PR pro may be asking for your thoughts on the launch of a new line of baby products. In the case of a contest, the PR pro may be outlining the steps you have to take to enter their current contest (typically blogging about the contest or product, and sometimes friending the company on Facebook or following them on Twitter). Reading this carefully can keep you from being disqualified based on a small detail (forgetting to follow the company on Twitter, for example).

2. Important Links: Sometimes, you’ll find a number of links associated with a listing. These can be useful to your readers (for example, if there’s a national contest going on, sharing with your readers the website URL to enter, or posting for your readers the company’s Twitter/FB URLs can provide them with an outlet to learn more about the company you just covered). They may also be useful tools for you to “dig deeper” and learn more about the product you are about to cover.

3. Images: We try to provide you with all the tools you need to write about a product/company, so we always include images with our listings. You can use these, or reach out to PR pros for others that are more appealing to you.

4. PR Contact: We include emails and phone numbers for PR pros representing each announcement. Don’t be afraid to use them! Reaching out to a PR pro and letting them know you’ve covered their announcement (by sending them a link) or getting in touch to inquire about product samples. The information is there because they have actively sought out our community and want to hear from you! All we ask is – please mention that you heard about the company from SheBlogs. If our PR pros see lots of interest as a result of listing with our community, they’ll continue to list with us, which is a win-win for all involved!

5. Comments: If you decide to write about one of our announcements or enter one of our contests, please, please, please leave us some link love in the comments section of that listing. Not only is it required for some of our contests, but it helps us track how many stories are being written for each announcement, and saves us the trouble of hunting down posts so that we can report back to our PR pros. A simple, “I’ve blogged here: www.awesomeblog.com/sheblogsannouncementxx” saves us from hunting through Google search results and cross referencing blog posts with our member list to track our successes.