Optimizing News Releases

By Heather C. Conover
Conover + Company Communications

We all know how important on-line marketing has become to growing our businesses. Strategically using the Internet provides new opportunities to create brand recognition for your organization, as well as generate new sales leads and customers. Since Internet search engines control the flow of information on the Web, understanding how to use them effectively is key to executing a successful on-line marketing campaign. In this article, we will explore how Internet search engines can help you turn your news release into a valuable marketing tool.

News releases are traditionally used to share timely news about your company. They are distributed with the goal of reaching your target audiences in order to motivate them to take a particular action, persuade them of a point of view, maintain your visibility, and/or enhance your credibility and reputation.

Until relatively recently, news releases needed to be written with only the end reader, listener, or viewer in mind. Today, however, they need to be written not only for people, but also for Internet search engines. Search engine optimization (SEO) enables people searching for information on a particular subject to find your “optimized” news release through key words or phrases. As a result news releases reach your target audience directly, drive traffic to your web site, and generate sales.

To optimize a news release identify a maximum of three keywords or phrases that people interested in finding information on your topic are likely to type into their search engine. Add these keywords – but not too often – to your news release in the header tag, throughout the release, and in the link back to your web site. According to Joe Zarrett, president of Verndale and an expert in web marketing, “Keyword stuffing is considered an unethical SEO practice and could have a negative consequence. Search engines will detect if particular words and phrases are used too often and won’t list you in the rankings.”

Optimized news releases should be posted on your web site, as well as sent out via a news release distribution service, to news sites, to publication web sites, and made available to blogs that are being picked up by news search engines. Potential customers and journalists searching your topic will find you on-line resulting in coverage in traditional and on-line media, higher web site rankings, increased visibility and web traffic, and qualified sales leads.

Fall 2006 -Volume 16, Number 4

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