FAQ
What is a Web News Release?
A web news release is essentially a press release that is distributed in electronic form. A news release is also called media release or press statement. The Internet and explosion of social media have created a partnership that makes it faster and easier to start sending out press releases. Web news releases are the wave of the future for business owners and the media. When used properly, a good web news release has the potential to enhance your business.
A news releases can be used to announce a range of news items such as: scheduled events, personal promotions, awards, news products and services, sales, accomplishments, etc. They are often used in generating a feature story or are sent for the purpose of announcing news conferences, upcoming events or change in corporation.
Why Press Releases?
The three major reasons people submit online press releases are: improving online visibility, generating website traffic and building inbound links (also called backlinks). In order to get high quality backlinks aiding in SEO, you need to submit press releases with anchor text links back to your site. You should also know that not every press release site gives you the benefits you truly need. Some of the press release sites do not even give backlinks, and when they do, they only provide you with notfollow links. The best way to figure this out is by looking at the html source code for the web page.
So the question is, what is nofollow? When search engines like Google sees the attribute (rel=”nofollow“) on hyperlinks, the links will not get any credit when ranking websites in search results. So, what you really need is hyperlinks with dofollow linkattributes. WebPressRelease.com provides dofollow links on all its press releases. With that said, below are other top ten reasons why you need a press release.
- More and more people are using online news sources to find information on products, services, companies and ideas. The public looking for data reads most news stories and press releases.
- A correctly optimized online news release can get you to the top of page one for your chosen keywords in the news engines within 24 hours.
- If there is a relevant and timely news result on a keyword, both Yahoo and Google are displaying this news item above the number one organic position in web search.
- You reach your target audience directly - no reporters or editors to filter your message.
- You know that when someone reads your news release they are interested in that subject - they asked for it by keyword.
- Online releases can be tracked - for the first time you can get statistics of how many times your press release was accessed or downloaded. With the proper web analytics in place you can track click throughs to your website too.
- The article will get picked up and published on other relevant sites increasing the number of people who see your content and visit your site.
- If your article has been correctly optimized, it will have keyword links in it. Every time your article appears on another website it builds more relevant inbound links to your site, which positively affects your search rankings.
- Optimized online press releases migrate from the news search to the web search within a week or so and they can show up in the web search on your keywords.
- If you add the releases to your website and put them into an RSS feed you increase your visibility. Soon your articles will be showing up in news aggregators, Yahoo News and Google Blogsearch.
What is the difference between traditional press release and online press release?
As traditional print media publications go out of business, or consolidate their operations to online visibility only, the online press release becomes an even more desirable publicity tool. Traditional press release companies and publicists are slowly catching on to the effectiveness and economy of online press release distribution. Some well-respected PR websites operate much like article submission websites, only with stricter writing guidelines.
A traditional press release is geared towards print, radio, and television. Some online press release services offer penetration into traditional media as well. With a focus on being picked up by traditional media, the distribution channels and priorities are clearly different for a traditional PR. A traditional PR service might focus on good regional or statewide lists that are up to date with recent names and phone numbers of editors who may be contacted with follow up phone calls and emails.
How does a online press release increase a website’s visibility on search? Online press release, if written professionally with a hook, can be posted at multiple locations on the web. A link to the website is sometimes provided for free (in the contact info) or the user must pay for multiple links. The digital press release is very effective at stimulating search engines because once added to the websites search robots will dig for keywords and find the new text.
The backlinks are set up on PR websites where the release is posted immediately. Many of these sites archive their press releases so these backlinks are mostly permanent (unless the PR site goes out of existence). As the release is republished by website editors and picked up by those who subscribe to RSS feeds with related topics and themes, the backlinks are spread even more widely.
What are the benefits of SEO press releases?
There are plenty of benefits that come with submitting SEO press releases aside from Google search results if you do them correctly:
- Backlinks from news sites
- Ranking in Google News and Yahoo News for your keywords
- Tens of thousands of headline impressions across hundreds of blogs, websites, and news sites that run RSS headlines (with some PR publishers)
- Increases the ranking of your website or blog for your keywords
- Can help your new website escape from the “Google Sandbox” quickly
An optimized press release is an extremely effective marketing tool. You will experience significant traffic from potential clients, interest from editors and higher overall rankings on your selected keywords. Increase your brand awareness and get listed in the top News search engines. Optimize your release and see results!
How do you optimize your press release for search engines?
Why not get extra benefits from your press release? Add four simple steps and have a search engine optimized press release. It’s simple. Follow the normal process for writing a release with the following additions:
- Research keywords for your target audience/subject matter
- Add keywords to the press release to create keyword-rich content
- Add keywords to your H1 header tag
- Add keywords strategically within your press release copy
- Add keywords in links back to your site
- Make sure density levels are appropriate (I recommend an 8-15% overall density)
- Make sure your optimize the first 250 words of your content