The main objectives of a Press Release are for publicity, marketing buzz, credibility and driving traffic to your website. Press Releases (if reprinted or broadcasted) will build far more credibility for your business than you can buy with advertising. Best of all, the news media does not charge to reprint or broadcast your Press Releases.
There are two ways of distributing Press Releases: On and off line. Each provides distinctive but different benefits.
Offline Press Releases
The traditional ways that companies have been distributing Press Releases since their invention are generally by mail, fax, and/or email. Although online Press Releases offer certain advantages over offline, the traditional method still has specific advantages.
If you are a local business only, you are more likely to attract attention of the local papers, TV and radio using the traditional offline distribution methods. If you have a really great human interest story, you may even secure a television interview. Most TV stations have websites and will post the video interview on their website with links to your site. Chances are you can even secure a digital copy of the interview and include it on your website.
It is less likely this sort of thing will happen with online press releases, unless you have your own video that you can include a link to in your Press Release. As an example, I am reminded of the recent Kevin and Jill Heinz wedding here in St. Paul where the wedding party danced down the isle.
They filmed it and put it on YouTube. It spread like wildfire and soon even all of the national networks were clamoring for an interview. If you are not one of the more than 25 million that viewed it on YouTube or the millions that saw it on TV, you can see it now by clicking the link above. A video like this will gain widespread visibility regardless of the distribution method.
Online Press Releases
When you distribute press releases online you enjoy a different set of benefits. While other elements shown on the Web 2.0 Online Marketing graphic remain vital pieces of your online marketing strategy, online Press Releases can play a major role in driving traffic to your website as well as build great brand recognition and credibility.
When submitting a press release through an online distribution service such as PRLog.org (free), PRWeb.com (fee-based), MarketWire.com (fee-based) and others, it will be submitted to various search engines, news search engines, and media sources. In addition, online Press Releases with newsworthy information and/or human interest stores can be optimized with keyword-rich content that can make them easy for journalists and consumers to find when searching the web for information on a specific topic. Plus, many journalists and consumers subscribe to RSS feeds, JavaScript feeds, HTML feeds, Google Web Gadget and multiple daily newsletters.
Here is some interesting data that may help you better understand the importance of online Press Releases:
98% of journalists go online daily:
- 92% for article research
- 81% for research
- 76% for new resources or experts
- 73% for press releases
On an average day, 68 million American adults go online
- 30% use search engines to find information
- 27% to get news
Sources: Middleberg/Ross Survey and Pew Internet and American Life Project
In a matter of hours, your Press Release can be on hundreds of websites and in the hands of millions of people. Your Press Release can be optimized with specific keyword terms and include links to your website and/or blog. If you read my previous post, Web 2.0 Search Engine Optimization, you already know the importance of links to your website as it relates to search engine rankings. For maximum exposure I would try to find opportunities to add links in your press release to both your website and your blog. This will give you twice the bang for your buck.
Here are a few of the many benefits of using online Press Releases as part of your overall Web 2.0 Marketing strategy:
- Publication within hours of submission
- Top news search engine rankings for targeted search terms
- New listings on search engines with links back to your website and/or blog
- Posted on hundreds of web sites with links back to your website and/or blog
- Distribution through RSS feeds, JavaScript feeds and multiple daily newsletters
- Wide distribution to consumers, journalists and researchers
- Increased brand awareness for new and existing customers
- Help in building link popularity for your web pages
- Archived press releases continue to provide long-term link value
As you can see, online press releases can be a very effective way to create marketing buzz and publicity, build credibility for your company and your services/products, and drive traffic to your website and/or blog.
Ezine Articles
For those who lack newsworthy or human interest content for a press release, the alternative is using a service like EzineArticles.com where you can post articles about your business or your industry for free. Naturally, you can include links back to your site and/or blog and your article can be optimized with keyword-rich content that search engines love.
There is a long list of benefits (longer than this post) for using EzineArticles.com or a similar service. Rather than listing them all here, simply click here to go to their benefits page to review.
Just Added: EzineArticles.com has just added a new feature that automatically updates the author’s Twitter account and “tweets” whenever the author posts a new article in their system. Click here to check it out.
Although EzineArticles is a great tool, you should first carefully read the Editorial Guidelines and Terms of Service. It allows publishers or other blogs to reprint/repost full copies of your articles on their sites just like a Press Release. Plus they require that it is original and not posted elsewhere. The minimum number of words required is only 250. So it is pretty easy to write fresh copy.
There are already hundreds of thousands of articles there, so search engines love the EzineArticles.com website. Top authors have posted tens of thousands of articles that they have written themselves.
Those that enjoyed this article, also enjoyed:
Web 2.0 Online Marketing Series – Overview
The Elements of a Web 2.0 Website
Web 2.0 Blogging For Business
Web 2.0 SEO – Search Engine Optimization
Web 2.0 Email Marketing & Autoresponders
Web 2.0 Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Web 2.0 Forum & Blog Commenting
Web 2.0 Professional & Social Networking
Web 2.0 RSS Feeds and Widgets
Web 2.0 Video & Podcasting
Web 2.0 Wikis & Open Source Marketing
Web 2.0 Bookmarking & Reviewing Sites
Web 2.0 Affiliate Marketing Programs
If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mike.clough@bestbizpractices.org or visiting my LinkedIn page.
Posted by: Mike Clough
