Free press is one of the best ways to spread the word about your website, your product, and your brand. However, most people don't know where to start. Fortunately, it's really not as hard as you might think.

There are thousands of articles being published every single day on blogs, newspapers, and magazines. Bloggers, writers, and journalists have pages to fill and all of them are actively looking for interesting topics to write about.

Many people forget that PR is about public relations. It's not just about writing a press release. It's about getting to know the journalists. Find out what kind of stories they're working on and see what you can do to help them. PR is really about listening and engaging key influencer's.

You need to connect. Connect with journalists who are writing about stories in your industry. Send them a quick note to tell them what you like about their writing. Provide them with story ideas within your industry. Provide them with value and they will have open ears whenever you want to pitch your own story.

But remember, a journalist is extremely busy. You must respect their time. Keep everything short and sweet. Get to the point quickly and concisely.

Most journalists can be easily contacted through email, which can be found on their website, in their byline, or within the publication they write for. However, many writers and journalists can also be found on a number of different social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These social media platforms are another great way to connect with bloggers and mainstream media journalists.

However, what if you could get reporters and writers for major publications like the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal to actually come to you for their information for articles?

This is exactly what you'll get with PR Leads, a service which connects experts with reporters. At $99 per month, this is one of the best publicity bargains around without actually hiring a full time PR agency.

This is one of the easiest ways to get your name in print. PR Leads connects you with journalists in your area of expertise. They put you in direct contact with reporters who are actively looking for quotes. In fact, you'll get 3-5 emails per day sent directly to your inbox.

However, if $99 is a bit too high for you, there's also a free service called Help a Reporter Out that offers a similar service. It's run by a New York PR guy named Peter Shankman.

Much like PR leads, they connect you with PR people and journalists who are looking for sources.

Each day, they will send you up to 3 emails containing anywhere from 2-10 queries per email. You can then respond to any queries that are targeted within your niche.

This free service actually started out as a group on Facebook called "If I can help a reporter out, I will." However, it got so big that Peter decided to start sending the enquiries by email. They now have over 10,000 members getting free PR leads.

You can sign up now at www.helpareporter.com .

Have you ever wanted to be a featured guest on National Television?

If you're looking to get on national TV shows, there's a specialized directory that will provide you with all the contact info you'll need to apear on top TV shows, including Oprah, the Today Show, CNN Fox News, CNBC, Nightline, Bloomberg TV, and many more.

This incredible service is known as "Harrison's Guide" and will give you 927 key contacts for 259 top national TV and cable shows that interview guests.

You'll find out exactly who to contact at each show and what to say to get them to put you on the air.

Find out more at http://www.freepublicity.com/getontoptv/ .

Participation is the key to good press. Get to know the influencers. But most importantly, get to know your readers. In today's world of social media, word of mouth can spread faster than ever. Everyone is now a content creator, a blogger, a social bookmarker, and an evangelist. These are the people you want to connect with.

People used to say that you had to get out there and knock on doors, but today you need to leave blog comments, interact on social networks, and above all: provide value. Contribute to the conversation.

Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, FriendFeed, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, Ning, Google Groups, and many others can bring massive amounts of traffic, links, and attention. However, many people miss out on one of the biggest benefits of social media...

Feedback

Your customers are having conversations at this very moment in forums, social networks, blogs, and other media outlets. Connect with them and you'll be amazed at the amount of valuable feedback you'll get back.

This feedback can then be used to improve your products, your content, and your customer experience.

Building good PR is a process of building relationships with key influencers, building relationships with your community of readers and customers, and most importantly: creating insanely valuable content.

By being remarkable, you'll naturally be noticed by bloggers, reporters, journalists, and talk show hosts. Build a business that's worth talking about and people will start talking.

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