Believe it or not, I’ve never had a paid publicists. So how was I able to get on top shows like the TODAY show and Good Morning America? Here’s five tips on gaining great pr exposure for your blog WITHOUT hiring a publicists:

1. Be newsworthy. The first step in getting media attention is to write something that is newsworthy.  Scour your local newspaper to see what topics are of interest in your community. Watch the money news shows to see what types of guest they feature. Read technorati, Boing Boing, and Lifehacker for ideas. You can also create news

2. Make sure your well indexed in Google. Many reporters and producers use Google as a resource when looking for sources for a story. The higher you are ranked on Google for your particular topic, the more likely you will be contacted by a member of the media.

3. Take media training classes. Once the media comes calling, you must be prepared. For the most part, you have one chance to make an impression on that particularly media outlet- make a good impression and they’ll call you back, make a bad impression and you’ll never get called again. One of the biggest gripes about bloggers I hear from my contacts in traditional media is that the personality display in their writing, sometimes doesn’t translate once the blogger gets behind a microphone or camera. Take media classes and/or hire a media coach to help you translate your blog voice into other mediums.

4. Appearances Matter. Even though you can blog in your pjs, you can’t wear those same pjs on TV. Appearances do matter, a lesson I learned this the hard way. My very first TV segment was for the TODAY show and I had someone do my hair and make-up with no TV experience- I looked like a drag queen. (note: hire a professional make-up/hair stylist with experience in television, it’s well worth the money).  I wore the wrong outfit (hot pink jacket that hurt your eyes to look at) and was, in general, a hot mess. Luckily for me my personality, and that fact that someone had dropped out at the last minute, got me invited back two months later.

5. Write a Book. Despite all the challenges of the book writing process, the one, VERY positive thing writing a book can do for a blogger is to expand your platform without costing you a dime. Your book is your hook (pun intended) to get on local and national media. Local television stations are always looking for guest and it can literally be as easy as making a quick phone call to a producer to get on. You want to make sure you have a pitch, which can be as simply as 3 to 5 key points, no more, you want to talk about. Keep in mind most TV segments are 3 to 5 minutes in length, so you need enough to fill a segment, but not so much that you run out of time. Furthermore, most major publishers give a book 6-8 weeks of pr support around the time of release and you should utilize your time with your book publicists to reach out to regional and national media.