At least half of the media interviews I’ve given over the years have come to me without any effort on my part. Why? Because I have positioned myself as an authority and have consistently promoted my work online.

Many interviews have come from reporters who found my blog. When the recession was just starting, I wrote a lot of blog posts about how I was going to do business in the recession (a timely topic that every news outlet was frantically covering). That’s when I learned that reporters, editors, and producers use Google to find sources. They would locate my blog, discover that I was also an author, and that led to numerous interviews with print, radio and television. I even ended up giving a live interview to Sunrise 7, Australia’s version of the today show. They featured me as the U.S. representative for what was happening in the small business economy. It was crazy!

Just last week I gave an interview to a reporter who found my books on Amazon. My books have attracted many interviews like this one. Reporters absolutely search Amazon to find sources to interview.

I’ve also been interviewed by reporters who found me on Twitter. One way to boost your chances of getting found by reporters is to follow them on Twitter first! You can search Google and Twitter to find many media professionals. Another great place to locate media pros on Twitter is via http://muckrack.com. By following them, the hope is that they will follow you back and pay attention to your activity. You can also tweet them directly to compliment a story or offer additional thoughts on a story.

To position yourself as an authority who gets found for media interviews, begin by updating the Media page on your website. Demonstrate that you are an experienced and reliable source. Then proceed to build your online platform. Update your blog two or more times each week, participate in Twitter and the other social media networks, and make sure everything you do positions you as an authority in your field. When you consistently promote your work online, you will begin to attract all kinds of opportunities.