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Success Strategies for Optimizing Online Press Release Campaigns
By Craig Cannings (c) 2007

I was recently having breakfast with a good friend of mine who
is in management with a large Brick and Mortar Company and the
topic of Press Releases came up in our conversation. My friend
questioned the real value of this medium and pointed out that
Press Releases, while certainly apart of his company's
communication strategy seemed to have little impact or value on
their business as a whole and were rarely picked up by major
news publications. Well, in my last online press release
campaign, I can honestly say we did not receive an enthusiastic
call from the Business editor of USA Today or the New York Times
or even the Grand Forks Herald for that matter!

However, this recent Press Release campaign did result in a top
5 listing for one of my keywords in Google, multiple top 20
listings, strong placement in Yahoo and Google News, many new
quality in-bound links and a significant increase in our overall
web visibility. The campaign proved to be a roaring success in
driving quality traffic and gaining great exposure for our site,
even though we were largely ignored by all of the mainstream
news publications. So, how did we do it?

Before I outline the key steps we took in our own online PR
endeavors, let's first review the key benefits of an optimized
Press Release campaign:

  * High Quality One-Way Links to Your Website
A well-constructed Press Release campaign can result in multiple
in-bound links from various sources such as industry-related
websites, news and media sites, many of which have a decent
Google Page Rank. Given that our business was launching a new
website, we literally went from zero exposure to hundreds of
one-way links and listings within a couple days.

  * Top Listings in the News Search Engines
An optimized press release may see top placement in many key
news engines such as Google News, MSN News and Yahoo News
potentially resulting in a steady stream of traffic for up to a
period of 30 days. To put it into perspective, Google and Yahoo
News have the largest Internet News Audience in the world, even
bigger than CNN or the BBC.

  * Improved Natural Search Results for Particular Keywords.
As mentioned earlier, a recent Press Release Campaign of ours
resulted in a top 5 listing for one of our keywords in Google as
well as multiple top 20 listings all in matter of a two week
period.

  * Increased Web Visibility
For new web companies, Press Releases can be a very effective
and low cost means of increasing the sheer number of web
listings and overall exposure.

  * Enhanced Brand Awareness
Optimized Press Releases through useful media portals like
Prweb.com and Pr.com can significantly increase the brand
awareness and recognition for both new and existing web
businesses.

  * Promotion in a Rapidly Growing Medium
Statistics have revealed that more than 70% of Americans
actually read their news online, so press releases are certainly
a part of an increasingly popular news medium.

  * Low Cost Means for Increasing Exposure and Web Visibility.
As mentioned, there are a number of key PR distribution portals
such as Prweb.com that provide a great vehicle for syndicating
your releases to thousands of news outlets as well as optimizing
it for the Search Engines. I would highly recommend spending at
least a couple hundred dollars to take advantage of a few SEO
tools offered there.

  * Quality Exposure to Industry Specific Editors
I include this last benefit as an added bonus since your press
release might be deemed very newsworthy and subsequently picked
up by multiple editors and news channels. However, I must
emphasize the number of editor calls or inquiries certainly
should not be the primary measure of success for your Online
Press Release campaigns.

So, the big question here is how do you actually optimize the
Press Release in order to achieve some of the results we
experienced in previous campaigns. Let me roll back the curtain
and show you the basic formula we employed.

1. Targeted Keyword Research and Selection
Before even commencing with drafting your online Press Release,
it is imperative to conduct some thorough keyword research for
your targeted audience and subject matter through such tools as
wordtracker.com and keyworddiscovery.com. It is ideal to select
targeted keywords that have the greatest degree of volume with
the fewest competitors that will also make the most sense in the
context of your Press Release. Again, it is important to marry
relevant and newsworthy content with good SEO practices.

I would recommend narrowing your keyword selection to
approximately two to three words for your Press Release with a
primary keyword and a couple secondary words. You will lose SEO
potency by trying to incorporate too many keywords into one
500-800 word Press Release.

2. Strategic Keyword Placement in the Press Release
It is essential to include your main keyword(s) in the title of
the Press Release as well as in the first or second paragraphs
of the body. I would recommend optimizing the first 250 words of
your press release and then include the keywords in strategic
and relevant spots throughout the remainder of the body.

It is also recommended to maintain a keyword density of
approximately 3-5% for the main keyword and 1-2% for secondary
keywords. (Keyword Density refers to the percentage of words on
a web page that match a specified set of keywords) I must
emphasize here though that while it is important to be aware of
your keyword density, it should not come at the expense of
relevant and high quality content. That will ultimately defeat
the purpose and desired result of your PR campaign.

3. The Effective Use of Anchor Text
Creating Anchor Text (keyword-rich links) with your targeted
keyword(s) will provide valuable optimization and relevant
back-links to your respective landing page.

4. Relevant and Optimized Website Content
The use of targeted keywords in your Press Release will only
have real value if you also include those same words with
reasonable keyword density on your landing page. Make sure to
include the keywords in the H1 Header Tag as well as
strategically placed in the first 250 words or so of the landing
page.

5. Tagging Strategies
Finally I have experienced great value in incorporating
Technorati Keyword Tags as well as popular Social Bookmark tags
such as Del.icio.us and Digg at the end of the Press Release.
Those visitors that like the Press Release and choose to click
on a technorati tag or a social bookmark tag provide high
quality trackbacks or back links that will ultimately enhance
your site's link popularity.

In summary, I believe an optimized Press Release using some of
the above strategies can be an excellent marketing channel with
a good viral effect and great SEO potential long-term. I would
highly recommend making the small investment through popular PR
distribution sites such as Prweb.com, Prleap.com and Pr.com in
order to maximize the potential for yielding top keyword
listings, high quality back links and great long-term exposure
for your business.

I should note that while the optimization of your Press Release
is paramount, it is essential to provide a newsworthy and
journalistic feel to the release as well. Great content combined
with skillful optimization will yield the best results for your
PR campaigns.
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Craig Cannings is the owner and managing director of
ESalesGuru.com, an innovative outsourcing portal connecting
ebusinesses with niche Internet Marketing Specialists and Firms
worldwide. Visit www.esalesguru.com or contact Craig for more
information at craig@esalesguru.com.
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