Press Releases have always been a great part of any marketing plan, however, they are also important when it comes to Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing.  Obviously, getting the word out about your company’s products and services is important, but its especially important to announce events, product launches, new hires, anniversaries, clients and partnerships, charitable and community events, investor information, and client success stories.  These are all great reasons for utilizing press releases.  If done correctly, these press releases can provide additional search engine listings, traffic, visibility, credibility, and of course links to your website.

When it comes to the press release, the content and messaging IS important, so make sure you have a plan when writing it.  Also, it is very important to write the release from in the third person.  It often helps to hire an agency that is familiar with the press release format and style (like us of course!).

Once you’ve put together your press release, the next step is to figure out your distribution level.  I always recommend using PR Web’s SEO Visibility Level or Media Visibility for a few reasons:

• Ability to Use Anchor Text: It’s important to be able to be able to use “Anchor Text” for Search Engine Optimization purposes. Although with any of these releases you get a link that will point to your website or blog, if you understand how to employ and optimize the release with “Anchor Text” then the positive SEO effects are going to be much greater in terms of bang for your buck. Since only the SEO Visibility and Media Visibility include the ability to use Anchor Text, that is where my recommendation lies.
• Distribution: The Media Visibility and SEO Visibility releases are syndicated through much larger networks than the lower level releases. This means that your release (if optimized correctly of course) has a greater chance of being picked up on high level pages like Google News or Yahoo News, and the Media Visibility gets traction through the Associated Press Networks and USA Today! From my experiences with the Media Visibility releases, they are worth every dollar in the long term scheme of things when trying to get exposure and boost your site’s SEO.

To sum it all up, when it comes to doing the press releases for your company, make sure you have a newsworthy subject to write about, plan your message, make sure that you pick a release level that you are comfortable with, and finally, use search engine optimization techniques to increase your long-term response!  Are they worth the investment?  Without a doubt!

If you are interested in having us help you with writing and optimizing a press release, give me a call at 877-673-7096 and I’ll be happy to walk you through it.

To learn more about Social Media Marketing, fill out the form on the right to watch our free video series or give me a call at 877-673-7096.
Thank You, and I encourage you to leave and comments or questions below. To learn more about the video series, Medical Professionals should click here and Entrepreneurs should click here.

Article by Matthew Arndt, President, Turbo Social Media

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