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Getting lucrative media coverage for the cost of a stamp or a phone call is a
process I described in my 1994 book, Six Steps to Free Publicity. Gradually I’ve
also learned numerous ways to get the word out online for no cost at all. But
nothing has made me as excited as the potential of a new online publicity method
I’ve been studying for the last several months. Search engines increasingly
charge for inclusion, and press release distribution networks charge hundreds of
dollars to distribute your news. But I’ve come up with a way to legitimately
let other people shoulder the time or effort for your news to show up in search
engines.
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The light bulb went off for me when I was searching for very specialized
software and came upon a press release for such a product posted at another
site, not that of the company producing the software. Of course that release led
me to the company's Web site, which was itself nowhere in the search engine
listings.
I therefore went looking for sites that welcome free posting of press
releases and found more than 100 of them. I posted my own press release at more
than 20 of them and now, two months later, a Yahoo search on the phrase
"free syndicated business content," which was the theme in the
headline and the body of my release, turns up three of these in the first 20
listings, including in position #1. If I type in "attract repeat business
visitors," which is an exact quote from the headline, eight of eight items
that come up are instances of the press release.
Search Engine Optimization and Free Press Release Distribution
Here’s how to profit from this strategy, in six steps.
1.
Decide on a keyword phrase
that ties in to the product or service you are promoting and that people
actually search for. You can research this conveniently at Wordtracker.com.
2.
Place this phrase into your press release headline
and repeat it around three times within the body of your press release.
3. Unless the proper name of your product or service is already well-known,
emphasize
its generic description
rather than its name. For instance, write “proposal writing software”
rather than “PropWritePro.”
4. Likewise,
substitute
keyword phrases
for pronouns like “it” or “its” to increase their overall frequency in
the release.
5.
Post your
completed press release
at sites that allow free posting, such as prweb.com, pressbox.co.uk and dozens
of others that turn up in searches on phrases like “free press release
submission.” 6. Wait a few weeks and check your standing in search engines for
the phrases in your release. Positionagent.com works well for this. Then repeat
the whole process for another message, another keyword phrase or another product
or service.
Assuming you’ve chosen your keyword phrases wisely, enjoy the increased
visibility and traffic that the free press release posting sites have worked
hard to obtain for you!
About the Author:
Marcia Yudkin is the
author of a new special report, PR For the Internet Age, as well as of Six Steps
to Free Publicity, Persuading on Paper and eight other books. For more
information, visit http://www.yudkin.com/printernet.htm
or contact marcia@yudkin.com .
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