Kim Roach has written a fantastic article on how to tap into one massive traffic resource using press releases, enjoy.
Getting Into Google and Yahoo News
By Kim Roach (c) 2006
According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 50
million Americans get news online on any given day. In
comparison, only 27 million Americans watch network TV news
on a typical evening. The Internet is quickly becoming the
preferred news source over television, magazines, and trade
publications.
News web sites like Yahoo News, Google News and MSNBC Searchbot
receive millions of visitors every day. If fact, Yahoo News
ranks ahead of MSNBC.com and even CNN.com, while Google News
ranks ahead of USAToday.com and the NYTimes.com.
You can tap into these massive traffic sources through the use
of press releases. Additional benefits of distributing your
press release include possible media exposure, pickup of your
release in online publications, increased link popularity to
your web site, additional search engine rankings on your target
keywords, and increased traffic to your web site.
However, there's much more to press release marketing than
simply whipping up an article and sending it out to the world.
You must take time to optimize your press release properly.
Press releases should be optimized in much the same way that
search engine optimization specialists optimize ordinary web
pages to achieve higher rankings. In doing so, you will receive
much higher visibility.
For example, one press release from MarketingExperiments.com
resulted in 2,200 visitors and 5 interview requests by
journalists. This is the power of a highly optimized press
release.
Listed below is an outline of how to create an optimized press
release for your own website and how to distribute it for
maximum exposure.
The first and most important element is to search for keywords
and phrases that are likely to deliver qualified leads to your
website. A good press release combines targeted keywords with
creative writing that makes for a compelling read.
To find these lucrative keyword phrases, begin brainstorming
what people would search for when looking for your products.
If your products or services are targeted to a particular
geographic area, you might want to include these locations in
your keyword phrases as well. It is best to target up to 3
keyword phrases.
Once you have done this, you can head on over to
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/ to do some
additional keyword research. Simply type in your list of
potential keyword phrases and this tool will give you a list of
related keywords and how many times they are searched for per
day. This information can aid you in choosing which keyword
phrases will bring your press release the highest amount of
exposure.
Now that you have chosen the best possible keywords, it's time
to integrate these targeted keyword phrases into your press
release. You should include your keywords in the headline, the
title, sub-headings and the first two paragraphs. Search engines
place much of their emphasis on the title and the beginning
paragraphs.
Your title should reflect your strongest keywords, not
the name of the company. Include local modifiers if possible.
Although it's often nice to see your company's name in print,
it's unlikely to bring you the exposure you deserve. Instead,
use targeted search phrases that are likely to be used by your
potential customers.
You should also optimize your press release by integrating
targeted links within the content. Many press release
distribution services and news wires now offer the option of
purchasing a hyperlink. You simply convert a keyword phrase
within the release into an active hyperlink. This will increase
search engine visibility for that keyword phrase and also drive
additional traffic back to your website.
Where to Send Your Press Release
There are a wide variety of places that will allow you to
syndicate your press release. However, there are only a select
few that you really need to focus on. Here are some distributors
that will help you get the exposure you deserve.
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.businesswire.com
http://www.internet.com
http://www.prnewswire.com
In addition to press releases, you can also get your content
into Google and Yahoo news directly. If you publish frequent
news and articles, your site may very well qualify as a news
source.
You can submit your site for inclusion to Google News at
http://www.google.com/support/news/bin/request.py . However,
keep in mind that Google is looking for sites with an editorial
review process and multiple contributors. If you are accepted,
Google Newsbot will hit your site very frequently and you will
receive an extra stream of quality traffic to your web site.
You can also suggest your news site be added to the Yahoo News
index. Simply go to
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/news/cgi_submitsource and fill
out the form.
Besides syndicating your press releases online, you should also
seek exposure offline. You do this by building a media list of
local newspapers, trade journals, magazines, web sites, radio
and television shows.
If you want media coverage, you must identify target
publications and their editorial calendars. Send journalists
and editors personal emails with pitches on your story.
You can begin building your own media list at
http://www.mediapost.com, http://www.afr.com, and
http://www.abyznewslinks.com.
I have one last tip on getting into Google News. To quickly
get your articles into the Google News search engine simply
perform a search on Google News for relevant keywords, take
note of the sites that are getting picked up and find out if
any of them allow you to submit articles or press releases.
If so, you have found a direct pathway to getting your content
into Google News.
One of these places can be found at
http://www.americanchronicle.com. Simply visit the site and
scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the
link that says "submit work". From there you can sign up to
be a contributor.
If accepted as a contributor, you will then be able to submit
articles along with your picture. Many of their articles are
syndicated on Google News and are available to the millions
of searchers who go to Google News each and every day.
Now that you know how to optimize your press releases and
articles for maximum exposure, I urge you to begin an aggressive
press campaign to increase exposure to your brand, gain quality
inbound links, and increase your website traffic.
================================================================
Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews
(http://www.sitepronews.com) and SEO-News
(http://www.seo-news.com) newsletters. You can contact Kim at:
kim @ seo-news.com
This article may be freely distributed without modification and
provided that the copyright notice and author information remain
intact.
================================================================
Copyright © 2006 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.
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