Once coverage is confirmed, correct the hours on every listing, warn the host and lighten the home page. On the day, put a short note at the top naming the story and the next step for viewers.

Searched for at a quarter past six

A reporter from the local television station spent an afternoon at the business, and the story airs on the evening news at six. Within minutes, viewers are typing the name into their phones.

They all arrive in the same half hour. Some meet a site that stalls, because a cheap shared hosting plan was never meant for a crowd.

Others find last year's hours on the map listing, or a home page with no sign of the story. Many close the tab, and the interest fades by morning.

What a viewer wants in the first minute

A viewer, a listener or a reader of the community paper wants a few plain facts, usually on a phone:

Most home pages answer all of these except the first. Someone searching for a half-remembered name needs to see the story mentioned before trusting the page.

Questions for the reporter

Once coverage is confirmed, ask when it will run, on which program and at roughly what time, and whether the story will also appear online.

Ask how the business will be named, and spell it out. A name shown differently on screen sends viewers searching for something that does not exist.

Ask what the piece will show. If it features one product or event, that is what viewers will look for, so the home page should lead with it.

Warn the host before the evening

Shared hosting places many sites on one server, each with a limited share of its memory and processing. A sudden crowd can reach that limit within minutes, and pages stall.

Tell whoever hosts the site the date and time, and ask what the account can handle. A good host can raise the limits for the week or suggest a larger plan.

Make the home page lighter too: shrink oversized photographs, pause the slideshow, and turn on page caching so the server stops rebuilding each page for every visitor.

The listing many viewers stop at

Many viewers never reach the website. A search for the name shows the map listing first, with hours, phone and address, and for some that is the whole decision.

Check the Google+ Local listing, the Facebook page and any review sites. Correct the hours, the phone number and the website address, and remove any closure notice that has expired.

Do this several days ahead, because edits to a map listing can take days to appear.

A note at the top on the day

On the day, put a short note at the very top of the home page, above any slideshow: what the story was about, the program and the date.

Follow it with the next step for an interested viewer: this week's hours, how to book or order, or what to ask for at the counter. Link to the online story once posted.

Write it as information rather than celebration. Visitors want confirmation and directions; thanks to the reporter belong on a separate page later.

A worked example

An independent cinema in a small town on Vancouver Island shows new releases and older films on one screen. The owner runs it with a few part-time staff.

Over the winter it closed for a month to replace its film projector with a digital one, and a regional television station asked to film the first night back.

The producer called on a Tuesday: the story would air on Thursday. The map listing still showed the winter schedule, closed Mondays and Tuesdays, though the cinema now opened nightly.

The home page led with a slideshow of large film posters and said nothing about the new projector.

That afternoon the owner corrected the listing, the host raised the account's limits for the week, and the posters were resized to the width the page actually showed.

On Thursday a note at the top named the program, described the reopening in a sentence, and listed the week's films with showtimes and a ticket link.

On the night, viewers' questions were answered in the order they arrived: the cinema from the news, what is showing, and how to get a seat.

The morning after the broadcast

The next morning brings messages, calls and perhaps new reviews. Answer them the same day, and note any question the site should have answered.

Reword the note to give the date the story aired, and keep it for a week or so. Then move it to a page of past coverage, with a link to the story.

Thank the reporter by email. A business that answered quickly and gave correct details is easy to call the next time a story needs a local example.

Coverage that arrives without warning

Not every mention is arranged. A newspaper roundup, a radio host's remark or a customer's video can send people searching with no notice at all.

That is the case for keeping the listing, the hours and the home page right all year. Most of the preparation above is ordinary upkeep done on a deadline.

Keep the host's contact and every login where you can find them quickly, so a correction never waits for a password.

The counter-case

Some coverage sends few people searching. A brief mention in a long segment, or a story about a firm that sells only to other businesses, may bring a handful of visits.

A business already booked for months, or with a waiting list, also has less to gain from a rush of interest that evening.

Whoever does search still judges the business by the listing and the home page, and both deserve a regular check anyway.

Between the phone call and the broadcast

  1. Ask when it runs and how the business will be named.
  2. Find out whether an online story will follow.
  3. Correct the hours on every listing, days ahead.
  4. Tell the host the date and the time.
  5. Lighten the home page and test it on a phone.
  6. Add a short note at the top on the day.
  7. Answer every message the next morning.

Step three cannot be rushed. A listing corrected on the afternoon of the broadcast may still show the old hours that evening, and viewers will believe them.

Keeping the hours the same on the site, the map listing and every other place people check is covered in a kitchen that closes before the doors do.

Frequently asked questions

Why does a news story slow a website down?

Viewers search at the same moment, often within minutes of the broadcast. Shared hosting gives each account a limited share of the server, and a sudden crowd can reach that limit.

When should the map listing be corrected?

Several days before the coverage runs. Edits to a map listing can take days to appear, so a correction made that afternoon may not show in time.

What should the note on the home page say?

What the story was about, the program and the date, then the next step for a viewer: hours, how to book or buy, and a link to the online story.

Should the host know about the coverage?

Yes. Tell them the date and time and ask what the account can handle, so they can raise its limits or suggest a larger plan before the evening.

What should I ask the reporter?

When it will run and on which program, whether an online story will follow, how the business will be named, and what the piece will mainly show.

What if the coverage comes without warning?

The same checks apply, which is why hours, listings and the home page should be right all the time. Keep the host's contact and the logins easy to find.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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