Whether you’re highlighting an event, promotion, new product or charitable donation, online press releases are the vehicle to getting your message in front of the public eye.

Online press releases can help to:

1. Boost your rankings in search engine results. Your website is more likely to show up in the first page of search results if you have authority news sources linking to your website through your online press releases.
2. Establish your brand. The more involved your brand becomes in the community, the more people will recognize you. Press releases position you as the expert and a thought leader who deserves attention.
3. Take up more real estate in the SERPs. By having additional content about your brand floating around on the Internet, your brand will show up more often in the SERPs (search engine results pages), giving your brand more recognition and your website more authority.
4. Provide you with more content ideas. By issuing online press releases, your internal news becomes external. This gives you the chance to repurpose PR topics in the form of blog posts, social media updates or email newsletters.

All of these things translate into opportunities to direct more quality traffic to your website.

View your online press releases as a complementary element of your search marketing strategy. Optimize your online press releases for a well-rounded, thorough approach that will produce greater results.

A few pieces of advice will help you to optimize online press releases so that your brand will get noticed:

• Remember to link. Always provide links to your website, Facebook page, or another URL that makes sense for what you’re trying to do. You can’t assume people will read about you and want to search for you – make it easy. Write out the URL in full at the end of your press releases.
• Include keywords. The title, tags and content throughout the article (especially the first paragraph) should contain the keywords and phrases you wish to be found for.
• Make the information available in other locations. The topic of your press release should be available elsewhere on your website, or as part of your online presence. Think: blog, video channel, photo galleries, Facebook and twitter conversations.
• Create news-worthy and link-worthy content. Find out what’s going on in your local and social communities. Make your PR topics timely, relevant, exciting, interesting, emotional and valuable. You have to find a way to make people want and need to distribute and read your press releases. Why do they need to know about your brand’s initiatives? What’s in it for them? It’s not about you, it’s about what you’re doing for the benefit of others.

Online public relations marketing should be a part of your company’s overall search marketing strategy. As a matter of fact, your entire Internet marketing strategy rides on the fact that an integrated approach works best.

Learn more about our public relations marketing services and how online press releases can help your company find more success online.

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