Six Ways to Court Bloggers

For PR  professionals hoping to cultivate bloggers for media coverage, here are six invaluable tips:

• Take a blogger out to lunch: "If  you value the blogosphere, [it's imcumbent upon you to do so,"] says Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable magazine.

• Be mindful of the online audience: "Readers want personalized news," notes USA Today's Andrea Stone. "It's not want journalists want—it's what they want."

• Think outside the newspaper box.

• Don't spam a blogger.

• Target and identify the influential bloggers in your space by using resources such as Blogrolls and Google Blog Search, says Joe Ciarollo, who blogs for mediabistro's PR Newser.

• Send a pitch that's concise and to the point—and if you have video that's representative of it, all the better!