Once upon a time, after writing your press release, you’d send it out to a few local newspapers or magazines. The fate of it was then entirely in their hands.
Today, you can send your press release out to numerous online services, re-post it on news websites, add it to your blog or use it as part of your email marketing campaign. Plus, social media tools mean people can also share it with others therefore widening its readership.
But before you get too carried away, if you publish it online you still have to do some work to make sure it gets seen.
6 tips to make your press release stand out
1. Keywords
If you want to be found online you must use keywords. Use 2 or 3 well chosen words or phrases that are highly specific to your business. For example, ‘Daisy’s Tea Rooms, Ipswich’ shows the company name, what it is and where it’s located.
2. Headline
Your headline also acts as your title tag (or page title) so it’s vital your primary keywords and company name appear in it. The title tag is the first thing Google reads to determine what your content is about.
3. Short and punchy
Just going back to your headline for a moment, Google only displays 65 characters as the title tag, including spaces, so it mustn’t exceed that limit.
And make sure your keyword is at the start of your heading.
4. First paragraph
This is very important so it must contain all the most important and relevant information for your release. Yup, you guessed it, your primary keyword also needs to be in there.
5. Hyperlinks
Writing for online pubilcation means you can include hyperlinks. By linking your keyword back to your website, you’re letting Google know that it is a website that’s highly relevant to your copy.
6. Newsworthy
Even though this one has nothing to do with SEO, it’s still very important.
If you put out a press release that’s just a thinly veiled advert, you’ll do all sorts of damage to your company’s repuation. Your press release has to be genuine news if you want it to be read, add value and build confidence in your business.
Once you’ve published your press release, don’t expect overnight results. SEO doesn’t work like that. Have patience and eventually you’ll see your release appearing in the search results. And of course, another major plus of it being online is that it’s there for ever, constantly driving traffic to your website.