11 Tips for the Perfect Online Press Release

When launching a brand new site I always like to submit an optimised Press Release via PRweb, I’ve found that it helps get some authority to the domain much quicker & also starts spreading the word. The same can also be said for a viral marketing campaign, in general though I’ve found the success rate for viral articles on Affiliate Websites to be fairly hit & miss.

A typical Press Release at PRWeb will set you back about $169 if you leave out all the fancy SEO features. Which are really a member of the PRWeb team picking your categories & tags for you, except the SEO Anchor text links which I’ll go into later on. I always go for the more expensive $249 option for that option alone.

Here’s my top 11 tips for a successful Press Release on PRWeb:

Choose the Right Time

Submitting your Press Release at 5pm on a Friday night isn’t going to get you as much exposure as submitting it on Monday Morning. Think about Timezones too, who is your target market. For example if I’m sending a Press Release for the Australian & US Market I’ll typically send it on Tuesday so the US Market gets it on Monday Morning.

Optimise the Headline

Having a boring headline will do nothing for your exposure & clickthroughs. This is where good copywriting comes into play. If you run an Adwords Campaign you’ll have a good idea of what kind of headlines work well in your industry. If not then I recommend Glyphius, this is a piece of software that algorithmically scores ad copy based on past trends then spits out a score. The higher the score, the more appealing your Headline is. I’ve had great success with this.

Don’t claim to “be the best” if you can’t back it up

At lot of Copywriters will try to make statements like “We’re the leading company” or “We’re the best.” Don’t make statements like this unless you can reason Why you’re the best, use the opporunity to really sell the website or company here.

Don’t use Conatives like We, You, I or They

Using Cognatives not only makes the release sound less professional but it takes away Keyword ranking potential. For example:

Giving away a Free Pen that they can use

should turn into

Giving away a Free Pen that professional writers can use

Give an overview of why your site is unique

A Press Release is the perfect opportunity for you to sell your website, if your site offers something unique that others don’t then play on this in the Press Release. This will give journalists & bloggers something to write about & potentially attract much more attention than normal.

Use Quotations

PRWeb has a nice Quotation feature that will take a paragraph from your Press Release & Emphasise it. Use your most compelling message in this space & really make it work for you.

Add a Picture or Media Files

You’re allowed up to 3MB of Pictures & other media files. Pictures will also display beside your Press Release in the natural listings. Again, use this opportunity to add some media & get your money’s worth.

Include Anchor Text links in the Press Release to Deep Pages

A Press Release is one of the best ways to get a brand new website indexed in the search engines & also give it some authority. Since Google trusts new websites less, sending out a press release will instantly give you site some Credibility (and some links). For example I recently just sent out a Press Release for one of our new Bike Trading websites & used these three keywords:

1. Bikes for Sale
2. Bike Accessories
3. Cheap Bikes

Surely enough we’re already starting to rank for these terms within a week of Soft Launching the website. So use those Anchor test links to your advantage. I see too many press releases that just include the url of the website (i.e. www.earnersblog.com). This will achieve nothing. This option is only available in the $249 option on PRWeb.

Select all your Categories & Tags

You have the ability to select a certain number of Categories & Tags. Choose the Maximum possible. If you run out of ones within your industry then choose the most popular Categories. Choose tags that appear on the main page, these get the most amount of exposure.

Include the right Contact Details

If you have an inhouse SEO or even a Media Company sending your Press Releases quite often the sign up users details will get added to the Press Release. This obviously isn’t good when you’ve got potential clients contacting you. Make sure you have the right details in that space.

Socially Bookmark the Press Release

Once the Press Releases is live, start bookmarking it & sharing it. If it’s of value then more people will see it, that means more people will see your company or website. Don’t just let the Press Release do its thing, give it a nice push in the right direction.