Build an Online Newsroom, Using WordPress
DH | May 07, 2009 | Comments 22
As you have no doubt noticed, I’ve written quite a bit about the overuse and ineffectiveness of press releases. In this Internet era – a time when the ways of public discourse are changing, whether online or otherwise – one-way shouting out an announcement no longer is effective. Press releases are shouting. We are in a time of conversations, sharing and engagement in order to achieve meaningful and sustained communication.
Here is a more timely and relevant alternative – an online newsroom for a business or organization, using the dynamic, sharing and interactive technology of WordPress. WordPress, originally designed as a blog software engine, is today not only used to power tens of millions of blogs, but also the formerly static HTML sites of newspapers, magazines, and other news organizations. Today, everyone from The New York Times and Wall Street Journal to Ford, Wired and PEOPLE are using WordPress.
For a business or organization, WordPress brings an online newsroom alive and interactive with many features. The newsroom is no longer a dusty and boring archive of news releases that go back years. Rather, it becomes an online showcase for an organization’s latest news, photos and video, and a place to listen, exchange, and share with key audiences.
You can see where I am going … in today’s Internet era, stop shouting. Reach out to the media, investors, stakeholders and others who follow your organization, and tell them that everything new will be online. Focus the media’s attention back to your site, to your organization. Give them a site they can subscribe to in order to instantly get all updates by email. Such an approach meets the legal requirements of full disclosure for publicly traded companies.
What gives each WordPress site its distinctive look and feel are called Themes, and there are many to choose from. Solostream.com and DIYThemes.com are just two examples. Incidentally, WordPress is free.
Here’s the good part – when you post news on a WordPress-powered online newsroom, it shows up on Google within minutes. In other words, it becomes search engine friendly.
If you want to learn more, send me an email.
Filed Under: Featured • Media Relations • Public Relations
Online newsrooms certainly need to go beyond the musty archive vault; so many contain dated info that discourages the info-seeker. Greater interactivity would “wake up” those sites.
Is there still a need for PR writing educators to teach the traditional release?
Paul,
I believe the concept of the press release has become obsolete. It’s like other things that have been impacted by today’s online world. However, since press releases are a crutch of the PR business, old and bad habits tend to die slowly.
Not sure about the need for educators to each the traditional release. Seems too old-school. However, there is a dire need for teaching effective online writing skills.
David
Thank you for you posting.
My name is Steve Momorella with TEKgroup International. Our company develops and maintains Online Newsrooms for organizations around the world. We run a survey every year asking journalists what kinds of things they want to see in an Online Newsroom and out of that comes our Top 20 Elements to Have in an Online Newsroom.
It can be found here – http://www.tekgroup.com/research/
Although WordPress is a tool that can publish content, including news, audio, and images, it does not contain nearly the features and functionality that is needed for organizations to effectively manage their Online Newsroom.
Furthermore, some of the organizations you mention might be using WordPress to publish their blog, but they are not using it to run their Online Newsroom. For example, Ford Motor Company’s Online Newsroom is located at http://media.ford.com. They have tens of thousands of photos, audio clips, logos, press kits, and press releases. They have broadcast quality video that can be as large as 200MB. They have a registration and password system that allows certain groups of journalists access to embargoed content or special events content. They also have an archive search tool that goes beyond just searching by keyword, but includes date ranges, categories, and foreign languages.
There is no way that WordPress could be used to run the Ford Motor Company Online Newsroom. Not to mention, who do you call at WordPress at 3AM for support when every journalist in Europe is reading your latest earnings announcement or when you have a tire recall and millions of people are flooding the site?
Lastly, one of the most important things that we have found that organizations want to ensure is a consistency of their brand across their corporate site and onto their Online Newsroom. It is my experience and opinion that using a WordPress “theme” would just not do justice to a corporate brand and with their being a finite number of “themes” available, the chance of seeing duplicate site designs would also cause problems.
I do agree that utilizing WordPress to engage with consumers and keeping content updated with press releases, photos and other content is important, and most good Online Newsrooms have these features and the ability to push out to places like WordPress, Blogger, Facebook, and Twitter automatically from within the Online Newsroom.
If you have some time available in coming days, I would be more than happy to give you a quick demonstration of a professional Online Newsroom so that you can see some of the differences. I am avaiable at any time at 734-945-7790 or steve@tekgroup.com
Thank you,
Steve Momorella
I am familiar with the service you sell, and could not disagree with you more in your statement about WordPress and Ford. I believe it reveals a surprising lack of knowledge and understanding about the power of WordPress. But I understand you’ve got a thing to sell, and there’s room for all.
dh
Hello -
Fair enough. We can agree to disagree, but I have been in the Online PR industry for more than 12 years now and have worked with hundreds of PR professionals and corporate communicators. I’ve also been using WordPress and am fully knowledgeable of its features, functions, and limitations. Personally, I find it pretty disrespectful to say that I have a “surprising lack of knowledge and understanding” when you really have no clue as to my knowledge and understanding of WordPress and the requirements of multi-national organizations and their Online Newsroom.
I am more than open to seeing some examples of Fortune 2000 organizations that use WordPress for their official corporate online newsroom. I’d also like to hear how WordPress handles managing multiple site administrators, each with different levels of access. This is a requirement of even the smallest of organizations. How does WordPress handle creating a media contact database and sending out email distributions that can track how many people have read the items? This is another huge requirement from organizations managing their Online Newsroom. Finally, do you have an example of the results of a hosting site architecture review, uptime reports, firewall and security assessments and a Service Level Agreement for using WordPress? Without that, you wouldn’t make it very far inside of Ford Motor Company’s GAO and IT departments.
By the way, there is a pretty big javascript error here on your WordPress web site. Hopefully this error won’t prevent a journalist on deadline looking for a story from doing their job.
Steve,
I stick by every word I wrote in my earlier reply … even more so.
dh
@Steve Momorella… your comment is a classic example of comment spam. David has enough class to let it slide but…
Re “There is no way that WordPress could be used to run the Ford Motor Company Online Newsroom”…
The reason I’m using WordPress as the platform & framework for all of my client projects is because it’s powerful, flexible and does all that you describe in your comment and more.
Either you don’t understand the power/flexibility of WordPress or the whole point of your comment is blatant self promotion, whatever the reason… get a clue.
I think David was the one who mentioned “Ford” and “Online Newsroom” and I was just mentioning that there is no way that the existing site could be run by WordPress. No way.
With regards to blatant self promotion and comment spam, I don’t think enough people read this blog to have it really effect our SEO. I don’t think one mention of Ford and their newsroom site is going to really cause an uptick to the tens of thousands of people a month that already go to the site. Do you?
Please show me some examples of your clients’ Online Newsrooms that are using WordPress. I’d be happy to concede your point but from my experience with WordPress there are many, many functions that would prevent it from being used at a Fortune 2000 organization in an effective manner.
This blog that you disparage has a big enough footprint for you to read it within two hours of the post going up. What more needs to be said?
I am just astonished by your defensiveness.
Hello -
I appreciate your blog and agree that your comments on Online Newsroom came across my radar. I’m not sure if that speaks to the footprint of your blog, or to the effectiveness of my blog scanning tools.
This really isn’t about being defensive. It is about ensuring that accurate information is being put out with regards to the products and services that my organization develops and yes, sells.
I stand by my comment that there is no way that you could build the Ford Newsroom with WordPress. I’m not sure that is being defensive, or just expressing an opinion that comes backed with more then twelve years of hands-on experience.
Please show me an example of a Fortune 2000 organization that is using WordPress for their Online Newsroom.
Sir, I am not disparaging your blog at all. Again, I am just trying to ensure that correct information gets put out and fend off baseless accusations against Online Newsrooms.
Your blog had 8,123 visitors in the month of March. – http://siteanalytics.compete.com/www.davidhenderson.com/ – I am confident in saying that me putting “Ford” and “Online Newsroom” into your blog will have little, if any, impact on our SEO. All of our clients combined get more than 8,123 visitors per hour. Any SEO to be had from me simply trying to point out examples of my work is not worth as much as me trying to clear the inaccuracies that have been put forth.
Do you have some examples of Fortune 2000 organizations using WordPress for their official Online Newsroom?
Steve,
Let me point out a couple of things to you. First, this isn’t about whose willie is bigger. It has nothing to do with your really silly remark about Fortune 2000 organizations or whether you like my blog’s java script. That’s downright inane.
It’s about a radically different approach to online newsrooms that embraces the protocols and styles of the current Internet era. So, it has nothing to do with how much traffic my blog gets or whether you are arrogant, which I believe you are in spades.
It’s about an era of openness, sharing, conversations and exchange. I have taken a look at Ford’s online newsroom, and it’s the old-school approach, plain and simple. Same for your other clients. If they want that, fine.
Second, I featured your company in my first book, Making News, published in 2006. It’s been fairly popular in the PR world. My publisher has asked me to update the manuscript, and this exchange has led me to review TEK Group’s dated approach to online newsrooms which, in my opinion, reflects a bygone style in the online world. So, don’t expect your outfit to be mentioned again as an example of the way to do online newsrooms.
I must say that I remain puzzled by your shrill protestations and personal attacks because it is really not relevant to either my blog post or to what’s happening in today’s online world. All I can say is … Steve, wake up.
dh
Marti, are you kidding me?
http://theblogartist.com/recentprojects.html
Do you think any one of those sites looks or has the functionality of any of these?
http://news.starbucks.com
http://media.vw.com
http://news.prudetial.com
http://news.pb.com
I am not “comment spamming” here, I am simply giving you examples to prove my point.
I’m happy to get on the phone with you and discuss some of the differences between WordPress and a professional Online Newsroom software solution.
Afraid, I disagree strongly Steve. We’ve been adding functionality to WordPress MU for our Ackura pressroom for some time and it can do most of what you say it can’t – like being completely on brand for example. Check it out http://pressroom.ackura.com/
Steve Downes
http://www.juicedigital.co.uk
Go get ‘em, David!
Paul
Steve,
Need a hand finding an exit strategy?
You might want to tread lightly regarding D’s blog. Its readership it made up of top notch executives and passionate media bloggers who would love to use your performance as a example of what NOT to do.
keep it up!
Thank you for the kind words.
My exit strategy is a solid demonstration of exactly what we are discussing here today. Our clients, PR communciators, answer to these high executives who want results in their Online Newsroom.
My comments have all been offering another side of an argument that I find flawed. Isn’t that what social media is about? The ability to engage with people and offer up arguments to what I find to be inaccurate information. If standing up for myself and my organization is seen as arrogant, then that is unfortunate, because arrogance is the last thing I am trying to portray.
The initial thread of David’s post was to say that you could build an Online Newsroom with WordPress, and that organizations like Ford are using WordPress for this purose. My initial comment was to plain and simply disagree with that. Ford is not using WordPress for their Online Newsroom, and furthermore their existing site could not be built with WordPress.
Our Online Newsroom solution takes into account the many problems that PR communications are having today. We have many social media components as well as many features that David says are obsolete, such as the press release. At the end of the day, our clients have to answer with results and our Online Newsroom solution has provided those results for a long time now, and we’ve evolved our software each and every year to include features and functions that keep up with current trends.
This isn’t about me, but about the PR people who come to us with problems every day, and we work with them to solve them.
I appreciate your concern and offer to tread lightly, and I mean that. However, I too am actively engaged with blogging and social media and I feel that I have a right to offer my opinion and my criticisms just like everyone else. This blog and my comments are in no way personal attacks on anyone, but rather just trying to ensure that accurate information gets put out. If that has come across as arrogant, I do apologize, because that is not my intent.
Steve,
Can’t find your blog or you on Twitter. What’s your blog address and Twitter name?
R.
Rebecca,
Steve posted a reply to you just a little while ago that was caught in my blog’s spam filter. In his post, he lists a number of blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts but they all appear to be about his company. Since your question is specific, as I read it, to his own blog and Twitter name, and since my blog posting neither mentions nor references his company, I have chosen not to approve his response to you because I deem it as purely commercial for his company.
If you wish me to email you the contents, let me know.
dh
Hello -
Thank you for the clarification.
I use my blog and Twitter for my business, which is Online Newsrooms and social media. Unfortunately, being the owner of a company, my personal life and business life are somewhat mixed together, so my personal blog and Twitter accounts are actually also my business accounts. We also use Twitter for our clients to help them extend their reach using social media channels.
If you would like to send me an email directly, I would be more than happy to provide the links to the Blog and the Twitter accounts. I can be reached at steve@tekgroup.com. We use it extensively for both marketing, sales, and for helping our clients get their message out, and have found it to be quite successful.
Thank you.
Okay, let me just circle around to say … that WordPress is an effective platform on which to build an online newsroom for any business or organization. The styles of TEK Group tend to be more traditional, promotional kinds of online newsrooms, and that may be just fine for big organizations that are slower to embrace change. But online methods are quickly changing to an environment of accessibility, conversation, openness and interaction. And, online newsroom built on WordPress are delivering.
Thanks to everyone for their views.
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