Pitching Times Bay: A PR Guide to Guest Posts and Press Releases
For PR teams, small businesses and freelance writers, finding the right place to publish a story is half the work. Big outlets are hard to reach, and generic directories rarely bring real readers. Independent lifestyle sites sit in a useful middle ground: they have a clear audience, a friendly tone and, often, an open door for contributors.
Times Bay is a good example. The site publishes family and lifestyle content on parenting, babies, family photography and gardening, and its About Us page describes it as an independent digital media platform. It also lists press releases, interviews, sponsored content, brand storytelling and guest contributions among the things it publishes. If you are thinking about pitching Times Bay, this guide explains how to prepare a guest post or press release that fits the site and respects its readers.
Step 1: Understand the Audience
Start by reading the site. The family articles on Times Bay cover camping with kids, father-son activities, parenting habits, newborn photos, outfits for family photoshoots and eco-friendly landscaping. The tone is practical and warm, and most articles are built around clear tips. That tells you a lot: readers are likely parents and families looking for useful ideas, not hard sales messages.
Make a short note of what the audience cares about, the tone the site uses and the format of its articles. Your pitch should feel like it belongs next to them.
Step 2: Match Your Story to a Section
Times Bay organizes family content into sections such as Life Matters, Baby, Photo and Gardening, and its About page also mentions news, business and startups, technology, lifestyle topics like travel, health and productivity, and finance. Decide where your story fits before you write a word. A few examples:
- A children's outdoor gear brand could offer a guide to packing for a first family hike.
- A family photographer could share a seasonal guide to planning a holiday photo session.
- A garden center could write about native plants that attract butterflies.
- A startup with a parenting app could share news about a launch, written as a clear announcement.
Step 3: Write a Guest Post That Helps Readers
The best guest posts are useful first and promotional second. Follow a few simple rules:
- Choose a practical topic that answers a real question.
- Aim for a full article, usually 800 words or more, with clear headings.
- Write in plain, friendly language that matches the site.
- Keep brand mentions light and relevant. One natural mention is often enough.
- Make sure the text is original and has not been published elsewhere.
- Offer a good landscape image that you have the right to use.
Step 4: Format a Press Release Properly
A press release is a different format with its own structure. Editors expect:
- A clear headline that states the news in one line
- A dateline with the city and date
- A strong first paragraph that answers who, what, when, where and why
- Supporting details in short paragraphs
- A quote from a real spokesperson
- A short company description at the end, often called a boilerplate
- Contact details for media questions
Keep it factual. A press release that reads like an advertisement is much less likely to be published.
Step 5: Be Open About Sponsored Content
If your article is paid placement, it is sponsored content, and readers deserve to know that. This kind of paid content that matches the look of normal articles is often called native advertising. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission expects paid endorsements and advertising to be clearly disclosed, and similar rules exist in many other countries. Clear labels protect your brand's reputation and the publisher's trust with its readers.
Step 6: Send a Short, Respectful Pitch
Times Bay has Contact Us and Advertisement pages, which are the natural places to check for current submission details. When you reach out:
- Use a clear subject line, such as "Guest post idea: packing list for a first family hike."
- Introduce yourself in one or two sentences.
- Explain the article idea and why it suits the site's readers.
- Offer a short outline or attach the finished draft.
- Say whether the piece is a guest contribution, a press release or sponsored content.
- Follow up once after a week or so, and then let it go.
Step 7: Have Your Supporting Materials Ready
Editors move faster when everything is in one place. Before you hit send, prepare a short author bio of two or three sentences, a headshot or company logo, one or two images with clear usage rights and credits, and the exact link you would like included, if any. For a press release, add a media contact who will actually answer the phone or reply to email that week. Being ready when an editor says yes makes a good impression and often leads to future opportunities.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Sending the same generic pitch to dozens of sites
- Pitching topics that have nothing to do with the site's audience
- Stuffing the article with links and brand names
- Submitting text that was copied or lightly reworded from another article
- Forgetting images, author details or contact information
Earn Your Place on the Page
Getting published on a lifestyle site is about fit and value. Study the audience, match your story to the right section, write something genuinely useful, format news properly and be honest about anything paid. Approach Times Bay, or any independent publisher, with that mindset and your pitch will stand out for the right reasons.