I Got Featured on MSN and Yahoo. Here’s How Much It Cost Me & Why It's Not a Big Deal

A behind-the-scenes look at PR features, what they really cost, and why they’re often overrated

In 2021, I got featured on Yahoo! News and Yahoo! Finance and was named one of the top course creators to watch that year. Here’s the article.

And yesterday, my feature on MSN went live. It’s titled Top 10 trailblazing entrepreneurs to follow in 2026.

Today, I want to talk about how that happened and why it’s not the win most people think it is.

How These PR Opportunities Came My Way

It’s very simple - PR agencies contacted me. For the Yahoo! feature, it was via a DM on Instagram. And now, it was via email.

Both features were paid. I’ve been cited, interviewed and featured on other platforms too, but then it was free.

Big sites usually charge though, and the middle-men are the PR agencies.

Another interesting thing is that in both cases, my first thought was ‘That’s too good to be true!’

Imposter syndrome can quickly show up in moments like that. But then you remember you’ve been in business for 10 years, have built some authority in your niche, have been creating valuable content on many platforms for a long time now, so it makes sense to be found my others and get some recognition.

How Much Does It Cost

The Yahoo! Feature was $250.

For the MSN one, I negotiated. They first said it costs $500. After that, they offered a 30% discount, coming down to $300.

As this was an agency I haven’t heard of, and just an email I got from someone I didn’t know, I said my budget was $200. They agreed.

I then said I’d like to pay only after the publication is live. My reason was this, as I stated in an email:

“As we haven’t worked together before, and as your email doesn’t include any specific company, I will only be comfortable with payment after publication.”

That didn’t work for them, so I came up with another solution:

“I understand. However, I’ve been contacted by companies for influencer marketing before and have had bad experiences. A website and testimonials sadly don’t mean that much anymore, in the age of AI.

Would it be possible to meet in the middle and pay 50% of the amount upfront, and the rest after the publication is live?

This would be only for the first time we work together.”

They agreed and so we proceeded with the collaboration.

I had to wait over a month till the article went live, and I was relaxed because even if this was a scam, my investment was low.

What This Means for Us

All this is good. It shows that small business owners can get featured on big publications too.

It shows that it can be affordable.

It shows that even if you don’t do email outreach yourself, you can get discovered.

It feels good to see your name there, to get a dofollow backlink to your site, and to be able to use this on bios everywhere.

But at the same time…

It’s Not a Big Deal, and You Probably Won’t See Any ROI

Anyone can get featured there and can write anything they want in their bio. No one is actually checking what services or products this person offers or how much they are earning.

So it doesn’t really mean someone is an expert.

Please don’t invest in someone simply because their name appears on a big publication.

Also, it’s nice to add the Yahoo! and MSN logos in the Press section on my site, and the dofollow link does help with building trust with search engines over time. But that’s pretty much it.

Of course, someone can find you from these articles, an exciting opportunity might come your way, a big client can sign up to work with you (if you’re a coach, for example). But still, the chance is small.

Such big sites post so much content daily, there are whole media companies behind them after all. So your feature gets lost quickly. It’s up to you to use it well.

It can be a big ego boost, but I think we shouldn’t let it be.

Today, it’s much more meaningful to have a post on Substack go semi-viral, for example, and have hundreds of people subscribe to you thanks to it and leave comments.

That’s intentional.

That’s how you make a difference.

That’s how you build your tribe.

Even without virality, it’s a win when you show up, share your wisdom, and create something original. You’re worth being read.

Let me know what you think.

Until next time,
Lidiya