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Press Releases
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 Press ReleasesOn one side, a great number of press releases services ask for articles that count at least several hundred words. Among those write them and those who read them, there's a great clamor today to eradicate press releases. Over the past couple of years, I've gotten out of the habit of writing press releases. Sending out press releases is not the first step in obtaining meaningful media coverage of your product, service or business. I hope that this article helps you realize that press releases are not the primary ingredient to garnering meaningful publicity coverage for your product, service or business. Now that we understand a bit more about just why press releases are not the way to entice the media to cover your product, service, or business, let’s talk about some strategies that will interest them. As a part of your marketing strategy, you will likely have include the distribution of press releases in order to let people know about the latest events and movements of your business or website. Enter the online press release: Written to proclaim your business to the world; Optimized to be found in keyword searches relevant to your business; Distributed to thousands of web resources for maximum exposure; Linking back to your website to increase traffic and search engine rankings. Any press release should include motivating factors to bring in the clients for a quick look-see and registration for whatever your business is releasing. Speaking as a former newspaper and magazine editor, the worst part of that scenario is that once an editor receives a press release that is junk, he or she is unlikely to open future communications from that business again, unless that business is a large corporation that cannot be ignored. As a former editor, I speak from experience when I say that most press releases end up in the garbage can. But you can't build a successful publicity campaign on press releases alone, for the simple reason that very few press releases ever make it into the paper. Among the most effective techniques that helped us build quality links to our website was the use of press releases. But building quality links to your site is only one of the benefits of using press releases. The main reason and the ultimate goal of press releases being to get picked up by Google, Yahoo, MSN and the others to get the maximum of inbound links to one's web site and better a Page Rank that will give as much opportunities to be THE winner as playing the lottery… what an apparently ironic world, isn't it? But remember, you have to try not to get discouraged if your press release is not picked up immediately, or if it takes several releases and attempts until you finally get the coverage you want. The most important thing to remember about writing press releases is this: The press release is not about YOU; it's about your media contact's AUDIENCE. By writing and submitting a press release to the media, you’ll receive free publicity and the best part is that most consumers will read an article before they’ll look at an advertisement. Benefits of preparing and sending a press release to a few outlets at regular intervals will get you in the habit of promoting your site, and getting free publicity for the site. When preparing your press release you should optimize it for the keywords, which are important for your site, product or company. To optimize your news releases your keywords should be placed in the title of the press release and near the beginning of the content of the document. Issuing online press releases also gets your company’s messages and news items into the editorial content of other websites. Traditionally, a press release is short lived, it has a limited amount of time make your impact on the media before it becomes old news and is replaced by fresh press releases. Writing a press release isn’t a daunting task – most press releases really follow a basic template and once you write one, you can just copy it, replace the information with your “new news” and submit again. With just a little more effort than you would normally give, your press releases can pull “double duty. With very little effort, each of your press releases can be turned into optimized pages that draw in additional, qualified traffic. As you can see press releases are great ways to increase targeted web site traffic. Publish your press releases on your own web site and also submit them to online media outlets. Remember, in our information-hungry society, most media want to publish your timely, accurate, and informative articles and press releases. Now, inundating the media with press releases has not been a good practice since shortly after Edward Bernays opened the first PR firm in 1919. I have one client who hosted an event and submitted one well-written and well-distributed press releases to the media. In the not-so-distant pre-Internet past, press releases were aimed solely at trade and consumer media outlets. A press release is of great benefit to any company and web site and we invite you to check back soon for all of the latest tips and tricks regarding press releases. Press releases can be prepared and submitted easily using push-button software. Try it, you will find it generates more traffic, and customers, to your web sites. |