Small Business PR | Pesce PR

DIY PR: The TWO things you are Cuckoo C-R-A-Z-Y not to do to your Press Release

NOTE: SEE UPDATE TO THIS POST HERE!

Press releases are a useful tool for small business public relations clients to share news about a product or service in a central document.  However, these days a press release isn’t only reserved for the media.  It’s also for your customers.  In fact, a  well-written search optimized press release does triple duty!  In addition to a communications tool, a search optimized release can give your Web site a bump and potential customers/clients can locate you via your release on an online search.  Below are two very easy tips to follow to create a search optimized press release.   If you need more information on WHY you should optimize your release, open up Google and search DIY PR – you’ll see my press release come up on the first page. (At the time of this writing).

Before you begin to optimize a release, you need to determine your top 2-3 key words.  This can be done by reviewing your Google Analytics and selecting your top words with low bounce rates.  The Google Adwords tool is also an excellent resource to gather data.  While I am not an SEO expert (and this is not a post about determining key words), there are many articles online about selecting key words.  You should dedicate some time to this task, as it’s very important.   In addition to your press releases, key words should be included in Web site copy, blog posts, and other online content.  Following are the two steps I recommend once you have selected your key words.

1. Incorporate key words into the release.  Key words should be included in the primary headline of the release as well as the first paragraph of your release.  Only use 2-3 key words in total. Don’t be discouraged if this takes a little time.  Incorporating key words into copy is a bit of an art.  The article should flow nicely and shouldn’t be awkward and confusing to read.  At the end of the day, a press release is still an important communication tool.

2. Link Key words. For the key words in the first paragraph, link those words back to your Web site.  So, for example, in my release the word “small business pr” links back to my Web site.  This same key word, “small business pr,” is also included on my Web site (on the same page that the key words are linking to).

Once your release is optimized, you should distribute it over the wire using an online distribution service, which will allow your release to appear in Google searches.  I used PR Web and was happy with their service, but there are a lot of companies that offer wire distribution online.  Distributing a release over the wire is an excellent layer to a targeted PR campaign and an affordable public relations tactic. I recently did a post on wire distribution if you would like to read more on this topic.

As I mentioned above, press releases are not just for journalists anymore.  With the internet anyone can find your press release, which is an excellent way to continue to reach customers.  I’d recommend distributing search engine optimized releases over the wire regularly whenever you have relevant news to share.

I’d love to hear thoughts from anyone, especially from any SEO experts who have any valuable tips when it comes to finding key words.