PR Interview: Pitch ‘Search Engine Land’ to Get Your Message in Front of Marketers in the Search World

Contact Information
Danny Sullivan
Editor-in-Chief
Search Engine Land
714-501-8552
Danny(at)calafia(dot)com
http://searchengineland.com/

Background
Sullivan has covered the search industry for 12 years. He founded Search Engine Land in 2006, a blog that provides tips and information about search and the industry, after selling a similar site he founded 12 years ago. Before getting into the blog business, Sullivan was an editorial researcher for the Los Angeles Times, a graphics reporter for the Orange County Register, and the general manager for Maximized Online, a website development company.

Subscribers
Search Engine Land has about 30,000 RSS subscribers and 7,000 email subscribers to its daily and monthly emails. Most readers are search marketing pros or marketers still trying to figure out the industry. They want tips, says Barry Schwartz, News Editor for Search Engine Land, who writes about 40% of the posts.

Other readers are “people interested in the financial aspects of the search industry, how well Google’s doing, will it mean stocks will go up or down,” he says. Major search engine companies also follow the blog for feedback.

Editorial Coverage
The blog covers breaking news and runs articles about search marketing and search- engine issues. Almost 20 columns address specific niches in the search industry, such as “Strictly Business,” which looks only at B-to-B search marketing; “Video Search,” which looks at how search engines index videos; “100% Organic,” which is all about SEO-related issues.

How to Pitch: 3 Dos, 1 Don’t
Most of the blog post ideas come from RSS subscriptions to about 100 different search-related blogs, general news sites and technology sites. But Sullivan and Schwartz say they still consider pitches and press releases from other sources. All must relate to search. Here are some dos and don’ts of pitching Search Engine Land.

->Do: Make sure it’s 100% search

The writers won’t post about Facebook’s revenue growth year over year, for example. It’s interesting, Schwartz says, but not relevant to search. To send relevant pitches, Sullivan says, please read the site before pitching.

->Do: Offer to brief writers before launching search products, tools, services

It doesn’t have to be exclusive, Sullivan says, but it’s always helpful to get a heads-up before something is officially launched.

->Do: Provide links with your pitch

Include a hyperlink with your pitch. If you make the classic mistake of not sending a link, your pitch is going to get deleted, Schwartz says.

->Don’t: Try to connect with writers through social media sites

The best way to contact the editors and writers at Search Engine Land is by email or the contact form: http://searchengineland.com/contact.php. Don’t try to contact Schwartz through a social media site, such as Facebook or LinkedIn, because “that kind of gets annoying,” he says. Schwartz deletes messages sent to him through those channels.