TechCrunch is the most popular start-up blog on earth. A simple mention of your product or service can increase your traffic dramatically over night. Recently, rentBits was mentioned in TechCrunch and since the post, our traffic is up over 25%.

A question I have been asked is, “how did you get written up in TechCrunch.” Below are 5 tips to help your start-up get mentioned.

1. Develop a great product or service
   1. Why is your product different?
   2. What problem does it solve?
   3. Tell a Story
2. Provide a frame of reference
   1. i.e The Zillow For Rentals
3. Get their attention
   1. The editors of TechCrunch receive many emails a day. They should know exacly what your service or product does by reading the first two sentences of your email.
4. Help them get to know you
   1. Add your company to CrunchBase
   2. Got technology news? Send them tips with a link to your blog post. We got two links to our blog from this and this post.
5. Don’t use PR superlative “fluff”
   1. Stay away from terms like, “best”, “fastest”, “most”, etc. Also stay away from words like “revolutionary”, “web 2.0″, “leading”, “disruptive”