Press Releases Are Useless
Did you know that 98% of journalists go online daily? (Source: white paper released by Expansion Plus Inc. ( www.expansionplus.com). Here’s the breakdown of what they’re doing while they’re on the ‘Net:
92% article research
81% searching online for stories and information related to piece they’re currently working on
76% to find new sources and/or experts
73% to find press releases
If you’re crafting a press release to fax or email to the media – stop! This is a colossal waste of your time. Why? Because the old way of doing press releases no longer works. Press releases, the old way, are useless. And here’s another tidbit: by posting your release online you can circumvent: gatekeepers, spam filters, or your press release disappearing in the glut of emails a reporter or producer gets each day.
A recent study indicated that over 70% of Americans get their news content online so not only are reporters online, but consumers are, too. This has made online press releases very attractive to media professionals and authors. A few years ago you could almost guarantee a media person would call you if you posted your release in an online newsroom like Prweb.com. It was simple and free and a posting generally took you no longer than five to ten minutes. It was time well spent. But as the flood of press releases hit these online venues, the ratio of posting vs. media attention changed, and the deluge of releases only served to clutter these portals until finally a paid service was offered.
Many thought this was the salvation of the online press release posting and for a while, it was. Now, however, this has changed yet again. The low cost of posting to these sites makes it fairly reasonable for anyone to get a listing and consequently, the clutter continues. But much like the clutter of sites on the ‘Net, the solution to this is very simple: press release optimization. What is “optimization”? Let me explain.
When your press release resides online, whether it’s through a service like Prweb or you’ve just put the release in the media room on your site, you need to treat this release just like you treat a web site and optimize it using keywords and techniques that are “web friendly”. At AME we’ve developed an entire system for optimizing releases with our Resident SEO (search engine optimization) guru, Susan Gilbert. Susan cites an example that she used to gain her a mention in a major news source: “Here’s an example from a new web site I created:
The domain name was registered on Feb. 3 and the site was completed on Feb. 10. I created a press release (which had an official date of Feb. 15, 2007 ) and submitted it to several online press release agencies. My site was indexed in Google within a week, and was considered the ‘authority’ on the topic in Google by March 15. On April 2 I was contacted by a journalist who found my press release online. She was researching my topic for inclusion in Home Style magazine. Home Style is published both offline and online by Contentthatworks.com. Content That Works has licensing agreements with more than 200 newspapers in the United States and Canada. Combined, these newspapers reach more than 12 million households. My website and interview will be featured in May’s issue.”
The trick here are the keywords, which are often misunderstood: “The biggest mistake a novice can make,” offers Gilbert, “is thinking that your keyword is the root word of your subject matter. The competition for all root words (i.e. romance novel, scrapbooking, etc.) will never achieve ranking. Keyword research is an art that takes a long time to learn and takes keyword research tools that can be costly. Additionally, keyword research changes based on the newest algorithms and search engine advances.” Much like a web site designer, or someone who writes your press release, don’t trust your keyword searches to just anyone. Make sure they are tuned into the ‘Net and aren’t just offering standard or “root” keywords.
Once you have your keywords defined, you’ll want to use these in the headline and the first 50 words of your release. The next piece of this is the length of your press release. Generally, online releases should be no more than 600 words in length and have at least one (preferably two) hyperlinks back to your web site. The keywords can also be used as anchor text for these links, too. Again, a good keyword person should come back with two or three relevant search terms that your target audience is likely to use for a news search.
By optimizing your release you’ll not only get onto the radar screen of your desired media and consumer targets, but you’ll also get some valuable incoming links, and search engines love those! Anytime your story gets picked up by web sites (and in particular news web sites), it creates an inbound link which helps with your site ranking.
And finally, if you’re still not sure this is the route for you to take, consider this: Yahoo! News outranks CNN and the BBC, meaning that Yahoo has more news readers than either of these two giants. So if you’re planning a campaign, or still knee deep in an ongoing one, consider optimizing your press release, it might give you the boost you need, and who knows, maybe even get you noticed by that elusive media target.
If you’d like more information on press release optimization, please contact us at: info@amarketingexpert.com.
Last 5 posts by Penny Sansevieri
- Press Releases Are Useless - April 9th, 2007
- Powerful Podcasting - May 4th, 2006
- Getting Your Book on QVC - April 3rd, 2006
- Super Savvy Internet Promotion - February 1st, 2006
- Solving the Riddle of Book Publicity - December 6th, 2005
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May 8th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
You wrote about Press Release - Just wondering how much you charge if you write a Press Release for my book that’s coming out soon (in progress with the printer).
May 8th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Thank you for this information. I am in the process of marketing and hiring someone to craft a press release and I shall utilize the ‘online’ release more efficiently.
Adrienne Zurub
May 11th, 2007 at 7:33 am
Hmm, the press release I had delivered direct to various media (around 1,500) resulted in more tangible media exposure (2 radio interviews, 2 mentions in magazines) and ultimately more book sales for me than the next press release I posted on PRWeb (which yielded 19,372 headline impressions and 402 page reads). Perhaps my PRWeb release was not “optimized” as you say. PRWeb has various “levels” of distribution - which one is recommended to get the most “bang for your buck” (keeping in mind the bucks are limited!)?
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Great post and thanks Penny. The Is the core of your message that access has once again opened to people who’d previously not been able to lower the barriers to entry.
Interesting!
Could you elaborate a bit on best key words? Any examples?
June 8th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Hi Penny.
Sorry to be wandering into this a month late. That is a great post and well thought out. I am the marketing ‘guy’ at PRWeb and I greatly appreciate your feedback and analysis.
Some footnotes:
PRWeb does distribute to the media but only to those who have expressed an interest (read opted-in) and we send them only releases assigned to the categories or geographic locations they have asked for. So based upon your choice of industry categories and/or geographic regions for us to emphasize during distribution, your release will reach differing numbers of media types. Certainly, choosing “Business” will reach more media types than, say, “Sports - Equestrian.”
Even as we do reach the media, one of our battle cries is, “Direct to Consumer Distribution.” This means we don’t wait for the media to act on your release and repurpose it to their audiences. People are using the Internet as their primary information resource (consumers and business-to-business), so PRWeb places your release into the search engines and applies massive amounts of SEO magic (based on your keyword usage as you adeptly explained) in the process. So your message will reach a large audience for a much longer period of time than if the media ran with it.
Also, as of October 2006, PRWeb no longer accepts free press releases. Which means your release’s audience is getting “more signal and less noise.”
I hope this information helps.
June 8th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
@joan - When using PRWeb Standard Visibility package, you can select up to 5 categories. In addition to “Lifestyles - Travel & Tourism” or “Lifestyles: Food / Beverage”, you could also include “Business: Travel,” “Industry: Food,” and “Industry: Leisure / Hospitality.”
When doing a release for less that the Standard Visibility package, you can only select one industry category.
Your release entitled, “June’s Florida Food Festivals Feature Fabulous Fresh Fruits” is a great example of how to use keywords in a headline and in the copy. You’re going to reach people interested in food festivals and even more so those with Florida interests. By listing out the various locales by name, you’ve better enabled people to find your information when searching using the keyword, “Florida” but also when being more specific and using, “Clearwater” or “Boynton Beach.”
If this is any indication, you certainly do understand how to “optimize” your release with keywords just as Penny explained in her post.
ps… transparency disclaimer: I am the marketing ‘guy’ at PRWeb.