The following is a guest contribution from Christine O’Kelly. You can visit her site at http://www.onlineprnews.com/
Before I go into detail and tell you three ways you can tweak your online press release to achieve results — let me first define “results.”
In my 8 years of using press releases in my clients’ online marketing mix and my 5 years of owning and operating the press release distribution site Online PR Media, I’ve seen one constant: Most people are leaving opportunities on the table when writing press and submitting releases because they don’t realize just what kind of results are possible.
People hear that press releases are “good” for online visibility and SEO – and they certainly can be. In reviewing Online PR Media’s analytics, I regularly see press releases that get 2,000 – 6,000 views per month. The record holding press release had 448,819 total lifetime views at the time of this writing. I’ve seen press releases that have remained in the Google’s #1 search position for it’s target keywords for several years.
But it is also entirely possible to write and publish a press release that gets absolutely no results. How? If you don’t know what results you’re shooting for or haven’t calibrated your press release to achieve them.
Today’s online press releases can produce 5 different types of results – and you must know what they are and how to leverage them in order to have success.
5 Primary Results That Can Be Achieved With Online Press Releases
- A presence in Google News and/or Google organic search results for specific keyword phrases
- Get on the radar of specific key individuals or companies through Google Alerts
- Improve positive online sentiment and credibility of your company (reputation management and brand development)
- Generate keyword rich do-follow anchor text back links to your website (this is a big factor in what determines where your website ranks in the search engines)
- Produce a conversion from your target audience
The remainder of this article will focus on how to structure your press release so that it is best positioned to meet all of these goals.
Press Release Tweak #1
Use the keyword phrase you want to be found for and your company name in the title of the press release.
Results Factors Impacted:
- Achieve a presence In Google News and/or Google organic search results for specific keyword phrases
- Get on the radar of specific key individuals or companies through Google Alerts
- Improve positive online sentiment and credibility of your company (reputation management and brand development)
Why this tweak works:
If you’re reading this, you’re probably pretty familiar with the essentials of search engine optimization. While there are hundreds of factors that influence where a specific webpage will rank for a particular keyword term, one of the most important factors is the title tag and the URL of the page.
While you have control over title tags on your own site, you don’t have the same level of control when publishing on 3rd party sites (such as a press release distribution site) and this makes it a bit more difficult to optimize your content. However, with a well-optimized PR distribution site, the title of the release will become the title tag and the URL.
Make sure to test this before submitting a press release somewhere. Click some of the published press releases and see if the title of the press release is also the title tag, and if it’s incorporated in the URL. If it is, this means that you can influence the optimization of the page simply by writing an optimized title.
Using Keyword Phrases and Your Company Name in the Title Affects Results In Multiple Ways:
- By using a target keyword phrase in the title, you have a higher probability of ranking for that term (positioning yourself in front of your intended audience).
- Journalists, bloggers, and enthusiasts in specific niches often have Google Alerts set up to notify them when a new piece of content is published that includes a given keyword. Using a targeted keyword phases in the title improves the odds of your content being pushed directly to the inbox of the people that are proactively looking for information on the subject on which you’re publishing. These same people often also use Twitter to search for new content, and since the title is most often shared, having the words that people are searching for in your title is critical.
- By using your company name in the title, you have a higher probably of ranking for that term — thus increasing the number of positive content potential customers, investors, JV partners will see when they do their due diligence on your company.
Press Release Tweak #2:
Link to your web properties in strategic keyword phrases throughout the press release.
Results Factors Impacted:
Generate keyword-rich anchor text backlinks to your website
Why this Tweak Works:
As you likely know, the number, quality, and type of inbound links are a factor in where your web properties rank in the search engines. Building a diverse, credible inbound-linking profile using a variety of related keyword phrases can help your site rank higher for the keywords you want to be found for.
Look for release distribution sites that offer anchor text links (vs. only URL links or no links at all). Then be sure to include keyword phrases that you want your site to rank for in the press release and link to them using those words as anchor text.
*Post Penguin/Panda Note!*
When doing any type of link building in a post Penguin/Panda world, be sure to vary the keyword phrases in which you embed links to your site. Tons of inbound links in the same keywords can hurt your rankings. Mix up your anchor text links to include keywords related to your target phrases, your company name, your URL, and even non-descriptive text that makes sense in context for a link.
Press Release Tweak #3
Include multimedia elements in your press releases that directly correlate to your call to action
Results Factors Impacted
Produce a conversion from your target audience
Why this Tweak Works:
While this may seem obvious, its something I have seen people miss time and time again. Ideally, a press release created with the intent to convert should inform the reader of something (such as a webinar or new product), invite them to take the next step toward conversion, and then make it easy for the reader to take that action.
Every bit of multimedia on the press release should exist to
- Engage the reader so that they remain on the page longer and consume the message
- Entice the reader to take action
For example, if a press release is announcing the launch of a new product, some of the multimedia elements you can leverage are:
- Video: Embed a video within the press release demonstrating the cool features and how they work
- Images: Include images of the product from different angles and that showcase the product’s features and uses
- iFrame: Display the exact page where the product is sold in an iFrame below the body of the press release
- Links to the sales page: Press releases are often syndicated over a variety of news networks. Even though you may publish a press release on a site that offers multimedia such as videos and iFrames, you’ll also want to include links to the exact sales page in case your content is syndicated on a site that only displays text. All too often, people link only to their homepage in the press release and then readers have to wade through your site to try and find the product being announced.
Employing these three simple tactics with your future online press releases should help you to get closer to your marketing goals. When utilized effectively, press releases published online can positively affect several facets of your business.
Author Bio
Christine O’Kelly is the co-founder of Online PR Media, the press release distribution site that supercharges traditional media press releases with multimedia, social media, and search engine optimization. A recognized expert in SEO press release strategy and distribution, Christine teaches marketers, advertisers, and business owners how to gain more online visibility and publicity for their businesses. For a FREE copy of Christine O’Kelly and Tara Geissinger’s e-book, “The Results Driven Press Release Formula,” visit: http://www.onlineprnews.com/how-to-write-a-press-release.
Good tips, in general, but:
The big problem with Tweak #2 is that many businesses have seen this done by others and they just repeat it without understanding what they are doing, and they just cause themselves problems. If they overdo it, which many do, they can also cause problems for the press release distributors too.
With havin so much content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism
or copyright infringement? My blog has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either
authored myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my agreement.
Do you know any solutions to help stop content from being ripped off?
I’d genuinely appreciate it.
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Cheers!
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