Once upon a time, when companies wrote up press releases, there was only one outlet for them: mainstream media. That meant that after companies wrote up their press release, they had to do research to figure out where to submit it, and then fax it out to dozens of newspapers and radio stations and television stations, and hope that someone found it interesting enough to cover.

 

Now, the internet has breathed new life into press releases.  Any person or company with something to promote can write up a press release,  and distribute it through numerous press release distribution sites online, without being at the mercy of traditional media when it comes to publicity.

 

However, there are a few additional steps that need to be taken to ensure success with an online news release.   

 

 

The first thing that you need to do is "keyword research".  Keywords are the words or phrases that people type in to search engines in order to find what they're looking for. Let's say you sell organic jams and jellies online. You would want to look up keywords like "organic jams and jellies", "organic jam", "organic jams", "organic strawberry jams", and find out how many people are searching for these phrase each month.

 

Then you would make a list of the relevent keywords that get the most monthly searches.

 

You can use tools like "google adsense external" to do this, for free, or you can buy any number of keyword research tools these days.

 

Next, you would write your press release - and incorporate the best keywords in your press release.  You want your best keyword in the headline,  and in the first paragraph, and then put in approximately one keyword per paragraph for the rest of the press release.

 

Remember, write naturally and don't just force keywords in randomly for the sake of having a keyword in there. 

 

Some press release distribution sites will let you use "tags" - they will ask for a list of your keywords. When they publish your press release, those keywords will be used as part of your press release description in the search engines so that they are more likely to be found when people search for them.

 

Some sites also have the option of using anchor text. Anchor text allows you to make your keywords into a clickable link. So if your keyword is "organic strawberry jam" and someone clicks on it, they will be taken to whatever page you choose on your website.  Search engines pay special attention to anchor text, so using anchor texts is another way to help your website rank well for your chosen terms.

 

And finally, at the end of every press release that you distribute online, be sure to include your "call to action".  This is the line where you send people to your website by saying something like, "To find out more about (your name)'s new line of organic jams, visit (your website link here.) "

 

Using these techniques will help to ensure that your press release is easily found in the search engines, which means more people will hear about you and will visit your website. 

 

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Margaret Ross, speaker and writer, grows and encourages people in business and in their lives. Ross is CEO of the Kamaron Institute, a leading management consulting, training, and market research communications firm. Margaret is the editor of Kamaron PI, the Positive Impact blog, host of Telly award winning Success Class and is a regularly featured guest on America’s top radio shows.