"Learn the Secrets of Optimized Press Releases"

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Presenters:

Doug Hay, Expansion Plus/PRESSfeed

Melinda Van Patter, Marketwire

Agenda

• Communicating in a Web 2.0 World

• 3 Types of Press Releases: Traditional, Optimized, Social Media

• The PRESSfeed Toolbar

• Optimizing Your Release: Detailed Steps

• Social Media: Potential Audience

• Social Media Press Releases

• Top 5 Takeaways

• Type your questions and we will answer at the end

• Q&A

Communicating in a Pre-Web 2.0 World

Companies controlled the message

Media acted as gatekeeper

Audiences waited for the story

Conversation was “top-down” and one way

Communicating in a Web 2.0 World

What kind of digital camera should I buy?

What are you doing NOW?

What doesEVERYONE ELSE think?

Check out howCOOL THIS IS!

Communicating in a Web 2.0 World

Conversation is multi-directional

Audience is actively participating

Gatekeepers are gone

Image courtesy of Brian Solis

Pick Your Tools

• Blogs – publish and/or reach out

• Microblogging – presence (Twitter)

• Podcasts

• Video

• Articles

• Press Releases

• Images

• RSS Feeds

• Social News Sites

• Social Networks

Search Trends Among Consumers• 93% of Internet surfers look for company information

through search

• 80% use search to make purchases on the Web

• Top search engine rankings can generate up to 900% more traffic to a site, potentially increasing exposure up to 80%

Search Trends Among the Media• 98% of journalists go online every day

• 76% of journalists search for sources/experts

• 73% of journalists search for news releasesSource: MarketingSherpa

3 Types of Press Releases

1. Traditional: for newspapers, radio, TV, magazines - top down, rely on media to reach target audience

2. Optimized: for online audiences & buyers –online press kit, unique web page, direct communication, searchable

3. Social Media Press Releases: for media, bloggers, consumers – viral, word of mouth, conversational

Traditional Press Releases

Text-only news writtenalmost exclusively for

‘traditional’ media and otherstakeholders

Press Releases Online

News Engines

Search Engines

Journalists/Bloggers

Buyers

Optimized (SEO) Press Releases

Integrating key words, phrasesand embedded links to

optimize “findability” and rankwithin search engines

Targets for SEO releases areconsumers, not media

REMEMBER! You don’t need to be a

programmer to take advantageof SEO – the technology is

SIMPLE!

Optimized (SEO) Press Releases

Integrating embedded multimedia such as video

and photos –

ENGAGESreaders and buyers

TELLS A STORY

Detailed Steps

• There are 11 key steps to research, write, optimize and distribute an online press release

• Full toolbar:

http://www.press-feed.com/toolbar

1. What Is The Release About?

• Get the data about the release. Look it over for obvious keywords

• E.g. ABC Company and the Green Foundation plan to hold an event to educate parents about the effects of harmful chemicals found in ordinary household products on children.

• The most obvious words of interest will be harmful chemicals and children

2. Find A News Item

• Find a news item or statistics that can be used in the lead

• Tool: Yahoo! News, Google News Timeline

• E.g. A release about chemicals in household products.

• A news search reveals a book written by a pediatrician and statistics about kids being poisoned by household chemicals.

2. Find A News Item

2. Find A News Item

3. Key Word Research

• Do your Keyword Research based on what you find.

• Look for words and phrases that people are searching for, so you get the most traffic to your release

• Tools: Google Adwords Free Keyword Research Tool or Nichebot

4. Make A Search Term Grid

Create a grid of the search term, number of searches and competitive pages in Google.

5. Write The Headline

• Use the keywords as close to the beginning of the headline as possible.

• The headline should not be longer than 65 characters (with spaces)

• Original headline: ABC Company and the Green Foundation Educate Parents on the Effects of Chemicals on Children 93 characters

• Optimized headline: Toxic Household Chemicals Harmful to Children 48 characters

• Subhead: ABC Company and the Green Foundation educate parents on the effects of dangerous chemicals in everyday household products

6. Write The First Paragraph

• Use main keyword in the first paragraph.

• Put a link to your website at the end of the first paragraph, using the keyword or phrase as anchor text for the link.

• Example: …The study links damaging the protective layer of the skin to the formation of dry skin. (When you use keywords to make the link it is called anchor text)

Photo credit: Ariel Soudak

7. Write The Body Of The Release

• Use your main keyword a few more times in the release and once in the last paragraph.

• Link to your website at the end of the release.

• E.g. Shielding lotion replaces the protective layer of the skin and dermatologists have found it effective for the treatment of dry, itchy skin.

7. Write The Body Of The Release

• Check to see that you have not used the keywords more than 2% of the total word count.

• E.g. If the release is 300 words - use the keyword or phrase a maximum of 6 times - in the headline, the first paragraph, the last paragraph and a couple of times in the body.

2%

8. Post To Your Own Website

• Put the release onto your website in your Media Room before you send it on the wire.

• Google will acknowledge the first site it appears on as the owner of the content. So you want that to be your website.

• Use a tool or platform that allows you to load the release yourself so you are not dependent on a webmaster or the IT department.

9. Syndicate In RSS

Syndicate your release with an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) News feed.

10. Distribute On Wire Service

• Distribute the release on a wire service such as Marketwire

• There are Free Press Release Services but these will not get you into Yahoo! News, which is the largest news engine on the web.

11. Track Results

• The wire service should give you lots of stats about how well your release does.

• Also check in Yahoo! News and Google News to see where it shows up for the keywords.

• If it is well optimized, on the day it is released it should appear on page one when you do a search for your keywords in the news engines.

11. Track Results

Detailed Distribution and Access tabs, showing who received your release, and who read it

Web Clips tab highlights online pick-ups from leading news destinations and search engines (Yahoo!, Google, Lycos)

For SEO releases, SEO tab highlights top search engines and popular search terms from the release

Potential Audience

Twitter½ Million Users

iTunes 70 Million Users

Facebook50 Million Users

Photobucket38 Million Users

Top Blog Sites24 Million Users

YouTube300+M videos viewed daily

Second Life13 Million Residents

LinkedIn35 Million Users

Flickr1.5 Million Users

Social Media Press Releases

•The Social Media Release is an adaptation of the traditional news release to make your message more engaging and user-friendly in this new media environment

•If your goal is conversation and increased web presence,

then the Social Media Release is a key tool and a first step in

sparking the dialogue

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Reed'S-Inc-

NASDAQ-REED-984473.html

Social Media Press Releases

Multimedia Elements

DIGG,Technorati, Search Engine Stats

Trackback and Friendly Permalink

Technorati Navigation

Social Media Newsroom

Corporate RSS Feed

Moderated Comments

Bulleted News Facts

Multiple Quotes

Corporate Web Site

Audio HeadlineSummary

Social BookmarkingLinks

Intelligent KeywordNavigation

Resources

LinkedIn/Facebook(Social Networking)

Social Media Press Releases

The Social Media Release format puts the power of distribution and content repurposing into the hands of

the social media community via sharing and bookmarking…it can become a viral PR mechanism.

Top 5 Takeaways

1. Optimized press releases allow you to communicate DIRECTLY with audiences online - there is no gatekeeper

2. Keywords are important – research, choose and use them wisely

3. Add your press releases to your website in a RSS feed

4. Use a wire service for broader distribution

5. The technology behind optimization is EASY – all you have to do is write great content

Social Media Webinar Series

• 4-part webinar series + 4 social media white papers

• Webinar #1: Setting Baselines & Goals

• Webinar #2: Researching & Planning

• Webinar #3: Choosing Your Tactics

• Webinar #4: Measuring ROI

• Vistit www.marketwire.com/SMStrategy to register

Contact

Doug Hay, CEO, Expansion Plus

dough@expansionplus.com626-793-4911

Melinda Van Patter, Client Relations Manager, Marketwire

mvanpatter@marketwire.com

416-941-5828

Resources

http://www.press-feed.com/toolbar

http://www.marketwire.com/mkt/PR2.0/PR 2.0

Toolbar