For early-stage tech startups, having a high-performing website is essential to growing your business. However, what’s less obvious for many startups is the need to have a website that makes it easier for tech journalists to learn about your company and source information that can lead to valuable media coverage.
Here are some of Swyft’s top tips to help you create a media-friendly website that helps, rather than hinders, your startup’s chances of getting into the tech news:
Homepage
As a tech startup, your homepage serves as the grand entrance to your brand and should undoubtedly be a top priority. While it’s unlikely a journalist will randomly stumble across your website and immediately decide to write an article, your homepage will likely be a major source of information after they have been pitched by a PR professional.
Make it easy for them to clearly understand what your startup offers in the shortest time possible. You can achieve this by having a striking and well-designed homepage with strong UX, easy navigation, attractive visuals, and just enough information to answer their top questions about your startup at a glance.
It’s no secret that first impressions count, and visitors will determine within seconds of landing on your homepage if they want to take you seriously and engage with you or not. So, encourage media professionals to stick around and explore more pages by designing an aesthetically pleasing homepage that succinctly incorporates your brand and services.
Put a face to your company
If you’ve nailed the homepage, you can bet that media professionals will want to know who’s behind the scenes of your startup. Adding a “Meet the Team” page or section with your complete founder and leadership team is an ideal way to put a face and personality to your startup.
This page should be personalized with short, professionally-written bios and high-quality, downloadable photos showing each person’s personality. Providing this information is a great way to lay the foundation for building solid relationships with journalists interested in learning more about your startup.
Leverage your mission/vision statement
An essential piece to making your website media-friendly is clearly articulating your mission and vision statements. So often, these statements are substituted for each other. In reality, you should think of your mission statement as your “how” and your vision statement as the “why” for your startup’s purpose.
For startups, mission and vision statements are valuable tools for building meaningful connections with media professionals by communicating your objectives, goals, and priorities. You’ll want to ensure that your statements are well-crafted, digestible, effectively convey your purpose, and are easy to find. Consider incorporating your mission and vision statement into your about page or even creating a specific page.
Share your origin story
Your startup’s origin story is your chance to introduce your company to the media by explaining the important people, places, and moments behind the creation of your business. For example, did your startup begin in the basement of a friend’s house or your dorm room while studying for a college exam?
Allow your origin story to lay the groundwork for facilitating media coverage by taking media professionals on your startup’s journey to existence. Don’t be afraid to share fun facts, anecdotal stories, quotes, or distinct features about your startup that will help journalists understand what makes your startup unique.
Granted, your origin story alone won’t automatically win you media coverage or a new connection with a journalist. However, it’s a great way to humanize your startup and welcome journalists into your journey.
Maintain a digital newsroom
Another way to make your website media-friendly is to establish a newsroom where media professionals can visit for exciting and relevant company information. Current or recent press releases, blogs, news clippings, and sound bites from speech highlights are prime examples of content you should be included in your newsroom. You can also add access to archived material that’s easily searchable, downloadable media kits, or organizational fact sheets.
Earning media coverage involves providing media professionals with valuable content for potential story ideas as quickly as possible. A well-maintained newsroom can serve as a vital source for media professionals and help motivate them to connect with you.
Provide clear instructions on how to contact your PR professional
Your contact page is where media professionals will go to learn how to connect with your PR team. Help busy media professionals quickly find the information they need the most by prominently displaying your PR contact’s name, phone number, and email address.
It’s common to link your contact information to your main and footer navigation menus and social media handles. However, creating a contact page explicitly focused on how to connect with your PR contact will eliminate potential barriers to media professionals wanting to reach out.
Conclusion
In short, you can’t overlook the role of a well-designed website with captivating content and easily navigable pages. In addition, your website is an effective marketing and communication tool and should be optimized to help you build connections with media professionals. Moreover, having a media-friendly website can help solidify your startup in the tech industry and earn you media placements in top tech publications!
Questions about PR & marketing for your startup? Contact our industry experts today to learn how partnering with Swyft can help your business succeed.