Optimized Press Release
Online press releases are one of the most inexpensive and highly effective marketing methods for a small business owner. Yet, many people think only “big businesses” use press releases and that’s truly wrong. The Internet gives a small business’s website the same visibility as a large corporation’s website and online press releases work the same way. Once an online press release is distributed, it’s out there in cyberspace generating hits and driving traffic to your website for years to come and will be more effective if the website is search engine optimized.
Unlike an offline press release that is distributed directed to journalists at newspapers and other media outlets, the online press release is “evergreen,” it never goes away. A simple keyword search could turn up your press release years later. Compare this to the offline press release that may or not be used by the journalists and then is trashed, never to be seen again. An online press release also has a worldwide distribution to thousands of media outlets.
How do you keyword optimize a press release?
It is important to know that the press release document will be read by software using sophisticated algorithms to determine its meaning and subsequent categorization as well as by human beings. The language used in the release must be compelling to a person as well as a "machine".
Keyword optimized press releases can rank very highly initially on news search engines like Google News, Yahoo news and MSN newsbot and long term in search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask/Teoma and AOL. At the same time, the optimized press release needs to communicate effectively and creatively to the people looking for information.
To track the effectiveness of keyword optimized press releases, the use of tracking web site URL’s to a relevant page on your web site is used. Driving targeted traffic to your web site via an optimized press release is most effective when you offer a call to action - driving the visitor to a specially designed landing page on your web site. Tracking urls allow measurement of the optimized releases' effectiveness.
Additional benefits include:
Pickups of your release in online publications, increased link popularity to your web site, additional search engine rankings on your target keywords, increased traffic to your web site from the top search engines.
Here are five tips on how to create a more powerful online press release:
- Have a newsworthy angle-
Provide the media with information that answers the questions of “who, what, where, why and when.” Make it interesting by telling a story that engages the reader. - Choose the right keyword-
When you type in a phrase in the Google search feature, it now lists the number of times that particular phrase has been searched in the last 30 days. This is a new free service being offered by Google; use it to your advantage. - Vary keyword placement-
Have a reasonable balance in your writing so that the keyword placement is invisible to the reader. Include the keyword phrase in the first sentence and then two or three more times throughout the press release. - Use eye catching headlines-
Make sure to include the keyword phrase in your headline and at the same time, make the headline interesting. Write the headline after you have completed your press release and it should easily come to you. - Use anchor text-
Although it will cost you more to place a press release with anchor text, it is well worth the money. Anchor text is the hyperlinked words on a Web page that you click on to take you to another location within the website or to another website. Search engines love anchor text because it tells them what the page is about. It’s a great way to boost your ranking with the search engines, especially Google.
So finally I would like to provide brief description that the news web sites like Yahoo News, Google News etc. receive millions of site visitors per day. Various news searchers and increasing number of individuals are getting their news and information from news aggregator services and news web sites offered by search engines and blogs.
Press release optimization enables relevant, newsworthy information about your company and solutions to achieve visibility where your target audience is looking. With keyword optimization and the right mix of distribution, press releases can drive measurable traffic and sales.
The most important point in press release optimization is to take into account that thousands of documents are published every day on news sites and while news search engine sites like Google News and Yahoo News do a good job of categorizing them, visibility of your release to the millions of news site visitors will be significantly greater if keyword optimization is used when writing your press releases.
There is a significant exposure opportunity through press release optimization. Prospects are searching for your solutions on search engines, news search engines, news aggregators and blog web sites. Through effective press release optimization writing and distribution, your company can achieve a significant and measurable increase in brand visibility, web site traffic and sales.