Press releases are becoming more and more important to your
search engine optimization strategy. Many people prefer to
view them online as a source of information instead of
newspapers and trade publications, especially in the
technical field.
Online audiences are increasingly in control of the
messages they see, and will filter out a lot of advertising
and publications perceived as irrelevant. Plus, it's still
true that PR carries more credibility than advertising.
Increase traffic and link building
A good press release strategy can help increase site
traffic and bring in new leads as effectively as other SEO
tactics. An interesting, well-written press release can
"stick" on web sites for a good long time, creating
valuable publicity and interest in the source.
When your release is picked up by a relevant web site, it
creates an important link back to your site. This can help
boost search engine rankings. So press releases are a good
strategy for your link building efforts.
Know your keywords and your audience
It is critical to include carefully-researched keywords in
the copy--and especially the headline--to be sure you have
an optimized release. It is also important to designate
keywords and take advantage of available RSS feeds when
posting the release to sites such as PRWeb (www.prweb.com).
It is more important than ever to identify and understand
your target audience. This will make decisions about
optimization and distribution of the release much easier
and more effective, and can increase your relevance to the
search engines.
Use your newsroom
As soon as it has been released, you can add important
content to your site by placing each release in your site's
newsroom (if you don't have a newsroom, create one soon) It
can also help to place the headline with a link to the
newsroom on your home page. You might automate this
process. And keep your releases up to date! A prospect
doesn't get a positive first impression from a Latest News
item dated 2006.
Take advantage of blogs
It is also important to post the release to your blog and
include the keywords in the post title. This also increases
relevance and visibility. The number of people using blogs
as a source of news is quickly increasing, and this will
place your news in front of them. A good press release
increases the likelihood of attracting the attention of
people who write news stories because journalists are heavy
readers of good news blogs.
Give them a reason to visit
It may help to include a specific reason in the release for
the reader to visit your site, and make it easy with
imbedded links. For example, RefreshWeb client Clifford Law
Offices (www.cliffordlaw.com) includes a summary
introduction to free legal articles in a press release, and
includes a link to make it simple to visit their site and
finish the article.
----------------------------------------------------
Specializing in marketing technology-based companies since
1987, and active in Internet marketing since 1992, John
Rasco's skills as a marketer, team leader and strategist
are key to successful client engagements. Founder of Brand
X Austin and RefreshWeb, John has an entrepreneurial gene,
a creative bent and a passion for challenging projects.
More at http://www.refreshweb.com
No comments:
Post a Comment