LEARN THE SECRETS OF OPTIMIZED PRESS RELEASES

1. "Learn the Secrets of
Optimized Press Releases"
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Presenters:
Doug Hay, Expansion Plus/PRESSfeed
Melinda Van Patter, Marketwire

2. 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

3. Communicating in a Pre-Web 2.0 World
Companies controlled the message
Media acted as gatekeeper
Conversation was “top-down” and one way
Audiences waited for the story

4. Communicating in a Web 2.0 World
What does What kind of digital
EVERYONE ELSE think? camera should I buy?
Check out how What are you doing
COOL THIS IS! NOW?

5. Communicating in a Web 2.0 World
Conversation is multi-directional
Gatekeepers are gone
Audience is actively participating
Image courtesy of Brian Solis

6. 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

7. 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 releases
Source: MarketingSherpa

8. 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

9. Traditional Press Releases
Text-only news written
almost exclusively for
‘traditional’ media and other
stakeholders

10. Press Releases Online
News Engines
Search Engines
Journalists/Bloggers
Buyers

11. Optimized (SEO) Press Releases
Integrating key words, phrases
and embedded links to
optimize “findability” and rank
within search engines
Targets for SEO releases are
consumers, not media
REMEMBER!
You don’t need to be a
programmer to take advantage
of SEO – the technology is
SIMPLE!

12. Optimized (SEO) Press Releases
Integrating embedded
multimedia such as video
and photos –
ENGAGES
readers and buyers
TELLS A STORY

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 2. Find A News Item

17. 2. Find A News Item

18. 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

19. 4. Make A Search Term Grid
Create a grid of the search term, number of searches
and competitive pages in Google.

20. 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

21. 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
Photo credit: Ariel Soudak
the skin to the formation of dry
skin. (When you use keywords to
make the link it is called anchor
text)

22. 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.

23. 7. Write The Body Of The Release
• Check to see that you have not
used the keywords more than
2%
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.

24. 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.

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

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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

29. Potential Audience
iTunes Facebook Photobucket
70 Million Users 50 Million Users 38 Million Users
Top Blog Sites YouTube
24 Million Users Second Life
300+M videos viewed daily 13 Million Residents
Flickr Twitter
LinkedIn 1.5 Million Users
35 Million Users ½ Million Users

30. 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

31. Social Media Press Releases
Audio Headline Multimedia Elements
Summary
DIGG,Technorati, Search
Bulleted Engine Stats
News Facts
LinkedIn/Facebook
(Social Networking)
Multiple Quotes
Trackback and Friendly
Permalink
Social Bookmarking
Links Corporate RSS Feed
Resources
Social Media Newsroom
Intelligent Keyword
Navigation Moderated Comments
Technorati Navigation Corporate Web Site

32. 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.

33. 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

34. 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

35. Contact
Doug Hay, CEO, Expansion Plus
dough@expansionplus.com
626-793-4911
Melinda Van Patter, Client Relations Manager, Marketwire
mvanpatter@marketwire.com
416-941-5828

36. Resources
PR 2.0
http://www.marketwire.com/mkt/PR2.0/
Toolbar
http://www.press-feed.com/toolbar