Dear Altadenablog readers:
This time of year, there are a lot of organizations doing a lot of things that they want people to know about. We've been getting about half a dozen announcements a day to be posted.
And we're happy to do it -- but some get in faster than others. How come? Confidentially -- we tend to prioritize things that require less work on our part. The less work WE have to do, the more likely YOU will get your event posted!
Here are the secrets of getting your announcement in Altadenablog:
1. Please think of us ahead of time: Let us know about your event at least two weeks to a month in advance. (We've gotten press releases in the morning for an event that afternoon. Also for events three months away. Don't do this.)
2. Please include the following:
- The name of the event or kind of event ("Come to the Winter Splash!" Well, what IS the Winter Splash? Don't assume we know what it is. Our ignorance is vast.)
- Sponsoring organization
- Date, time, location of event
- Does it cost something? Is it free? Is it a fundraiser of some kind?
"Who-what-when-where-why-how" is a good rule to follow. You would be surprised at the number of announcements we get that don't have this basic information.
3. Please submit your announcement as (in order of preference):
- A plain vanilla text email. These get published very rapidly. A text email with lots of different typefaces, font sizes, and colors or from Constant Comment requires a lot of cleanup and gets put into the "when we have the time" pile. Confidentially, we almost never have the time.
- An MS Word or Apple Pages document.
- We can convert PDF documents, but it's a pain, and if we never get an announcement as a PDF again, we'll be very happy.
4. If there is a graphic element (organization logo, or a flyer for the event), please include that (as a jpg, png, or PDF document). Nobody uses .tiff anymore, or .gifs (unless they're animated). Don't submit a Microsoft Publisher document because we can't read it -- turn it into a PDF or jpg if you can. JPG photos of any size are OK -- we can easlily resize them and make them web-ready.
5. Please don't send just a flyer. Yes, your flyer has all the information about your event, but the web reads it as a picture, and it probably won't show up if someone wants to search the site for your announcement. Whatever your flyer says, we need to have it as text, too, or nobody who searches for it will find it. If you don't send us the text, that means WE have to read it from your flyer and type it in. Does it sound like work? It does. And what happens when it looks like work? It goes in the "when we have the time" pile. But you don't want it in the pile, you want it on the screen.
6. If there are websites involved -- Eventbrite, Brown Paper Ticket, your organization website -- please include the link in your announcement or cover email. If you don't include it we have to research it, and if we have to do research, it goes to the BOTTOM of the pile.
7. Less is more: please keep your announcement short. We once received a 3,000 word press release. That's longer than a personality profile in the New Yorker. It didn't go in.
8. And please-please-please, your event needs to have an Altadena angle of some sort. We'll post about anything that happens in Altadena -- after that, we get choosy. Events in Pasadena or La Canada-Flintridge with no Altadena angle get printed at our discretion, and we obviously can't post every event in Pasadena. We're all about Altadena here.
9. Please include an email and phone number that we can use if we have questions about what you've sent -- it doesn't have to appear in the announcement, we just have to be able to find you!
Knowing these secrets will ensure that your announcement gets the attention and exposure it deserves!
