LATEST NEWS
Newspage Geosearch Goes Live
22 May 2023In case you haven’t noticed, the internet is local.
The web and the metaverse were supposed to kill off the local media. That was utter bulls*it, because local is making a comeback.
The majority of business generated from publicity for Newspagers comes from being featured in the local media, not the national media.
Sure, it’s great to be featured in the like of the BBC, Times, and FT, but if you want to generate money for your business nothing beats being featured locally.
Local media coverage is the quickest, easiest and longest-lasting SEO hack your business can get.
Search engines prioritise your location and credible sites. Local media hits both those like a one-two combo from Muhammad Ali.
Want your business to get oodles of organic search traffic? Get featured in the local media and the job’s done.
This is why local news has been a focus for us at Newspage UK since the beginning, but with thousands of businesses and journalists located across the UK our challenge has been bringing them together easily and quickly.
So we tasked our clever CTO Peter Vidlicka and his team to come up with a solution.
Peter’s come up with the goods and I’m delighted to announce that we have now launched Newspage Geosearch.
Newspage Geosearch enables local and regional journalists to effortlessly connect with businesses and charities in their towns and cities to source new stories and secure expert comment for the stories they’re working on.
So if you’re business is not on Newspage yet, get yourself signed up now (Free or Premium) and we can get you that all-important local coverage.
As for you existing Newspagers, make sure you’re address is added to your profile otherwise you’ll be missing out on LOTS of local media opportunities.
Big shout out to Peter Vidlicka for bringing Newspage Geosearch live.
Geosearch was only one of the reasons I was in London last week to meet with Dominic Hiatt and Jonny Stevens. We also made progress on our upcoming mobile app and our pet project, NIBs (news in brief), which will deliver a knock-out punch to the press release, making it possible for you to pitch stories to the media in a matter of seconds. But more about that later…
Jay Vaananen, CEO, Newspage
LATEST NEWS
Four easy PR tips for small businesses
1 March 2023Here’s a picture of a retro-feeling bog I took on the weekend in some random Bristol shopping centre.
Now that I’ve got your attention with this photographic masterpiece, 4 PR tips for you all — following some recent conversations I’ve had with users of Newspage UK.
Don’t just tell a story, add a story
A lot of you are unaware that there is a stories function to Newspage and have never used it at all. Like ever. If you add a story (and you can add unlimited stories even if you’re a free user), it will be looked at by an experienced journalist. If we believe it’s strong enough, it will then be sent onto all relevant media for free. So check out the Stories function in the left hand nav of your Newspage. It’s arguably more powerful than the News Alerts, as if you create a good story, you’ll often be the only business featured in it.
Boost your credibility
PR can ‘sometimes’ get the phone ringing and result in new business on the same day but it is not about instant leads per se. It is about credibility and findability. If you’re regularly quoted in the mainstream media, people will trust you, especially if you work within financial services. When they search for your name and company on Google, chances are that that hit on the BBC or in the Daily Mail or Evening Standard will be right up there on page one — which will make them more likely to use you rather than your competitor, who isn’t all over the media like a rash.
Don’t wait for traffic, drive traffic
PR raises awareness of your brand, drives traffic to your site and has massive SEO benefits, especially when you pick up backlinks from major news outlets, as Newspage does day in day out — backlinks that SEOs can only dream of. But the key is to generate media coverage regularly, not sporadically. That’s when the real value shows through and you start picking up new business from articles you’d forgotten you appeared in but someone found online. PR is a long-term play, not a short-term tactic.
Ignore the trade media at your peril
“I only want to be in the national media, not the trades.” Give me strength. All national journalists read the trades as a source of stories, and will see you in those articles. Also, a lot of trade journalists go on to work at national newspapers, and you’ll go with them if you are one of their trusted commentators. And lastly, getting trade coverage is still great for findability online and backlinks. Ignore it at your peril.
Right, on that note I’m off to a bog in Bath to take some photos.
In the meanwhile, you can upload your stories to your Newspage, if you’re out of ideas, then sign into your Newspage and click the “News Chat” button on the left of the page and you can book a 20-minute chat with a national news journalist who will come up with at least three ideas for stories about your business the media would love to publish.
Dominic Hiatt, Founder, Newspage
LATEST NEWS
Free PR for UK charities until inflation hits 2%
17 May 2022The world’s first free PR platform, Newspage, today announced it will offer its Premium subscription for free to all UK charities until inflation is back at the Bank of England’s 2% target, to help them through the cost of living crisis.
Newspage, which launched in early 2021, gives every charity the chance to be featured in the local, trade, national and even international media for free.
Newspage enables charities to create their own publicly visible and fully branded media centre — something many of them don’t have — in a matter of minutes.
They then receive ‘NewsAlerts’ ‘in app’ to breaking or upcoming news stories that they could contribute to and are also able to add news stories of their own. The Newspage editorial team will edit and promote stories it believes will be of interest to the media for free.
Benefits of the Premium subscription, which usually costs £19.99 inc. VAT a month, include:
A video testimonial about Newspage by Marie Peacock, CEO of Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Charity, can be viewed below.
Charities should simply create a free Newspage – https://newspage.co.uk – and will be upgraded to Premium by the Newspage team.
Dominic Hiatt, founder, Newspage, said:
“It’s been a brutal two years for UK charities with demand for their services soaring during the pandemic while donations have gone off a cliff. And now, with the cost of living crisis, it’s getting worse, as there is no Government support and cash-strapped consumers are finding it hard to donate. With this in mind, we’ve made the decision to offer our Premium subscription for free. Hopefully, this will ensure they stay front of mind and drive donations. Once inflation is back to 2%, we’ll offer charities a discounted rate but, with inflation at a 30-year high, it looks like we will be taking care of charities for the foreseeable.”