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Balancing PR and SEO in Online Press Release Distribution

By Jennifer Mattern on December 28th, 2009   /   Press Release Writing   /   Leave a comment

Press releases have been around for over 100 years. While we might distribute them a little differently now given the advent of online press release distribution, the goal is still the same — get your news in the hands of interested people. While news dissemination is still the primary purpose of press releases, search engine optimization (SEO) also has a role to play with releases distributed online.

Which is more important though? Having something newsworthy to say or using press releases to build relevant backlinks to improve search engine rankings for your website? They both are. The key is striking a balance.

It’s All About the Audience

While SEO releases and non-SEO releases look and act similarly, they’re not quite the same. It’s okay to break some of the more traditional rules of press release writing when distributing online no matter what some of the “old school” PR reps might say. Why? Because the audience can be different.

When you write a press release, you’re not answering to anyone but your audience. In some cases that target audience might be major media outlets. If so, you might want to stick to the more traditional rules of press release writing and distribution like focusing on hard news and following AP style guidelines.

If, however, your target audience focuses on groups like bloggers and end consumers who are searching for news through news engines like Yahoo! News and Google News, those traditional rules not only don’t have to apply, but they can actually hurt your reach. For example, timely releases with softer angles (more in line with features than traditional news releases) can attract more interest, and some AP style rules are directly contrary to the way people actually search (and being found through those searches is vital).

Don’t Forget the Fundamentals

You can’t know when it’s okay to break the “rules” of press release writing and distribution unless you know what those rules are in the first place. So don’t neglect the traditional release. There’s a lot of merit to the way things have previously been done.

While you don’t always have to release hard news, having a newsworthy or timely story is still important. Without at least one of those elements you’re not really putting out a press release at all. You’re just taking part in article marketing. There’s nothing wrong with article marketing. It just isn’t designed to bring in the immediate influx of traffic, links, and coverage that online press release distribution is.

Another traditional rule is to write out full URLs for links. There’s nothing wrong with breaking that rule in part — by all means use anchor text links whenever the press release distribution site allows you to. After all, that’s a key of a well-optimized release for SEO purposes. However, you might want to consider those traditional full URLs as well. There’s always a chance the release will be picked up somewhere that won’t publish the anchor text links, and the full URL at least gives readers a copy / paste option to find further information.

Striking the Balance

How do you ultimately strike that balance between SEO releases and news value? You certainly don’t use SEO as an excuse to publish fluff and crap that no one has any interest in. As with anything your company publishes, make sure your press releases add value for the intended audience.

That should always be your primary concern. If you’re giving good information and you’re making it easily found in search engines, you’ll likely be forgiven the occasional slip from the rules. Remember, even if your primary intention is to use online press release distribution to improve search engine rankings, what you release also has the potential to affect your company’s image and credibility within your niche or industry. It’s when companies forget that fact that they start to put out releases bordering on spam. Don’t be one of them.

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Press Releases, News Releases, Media Releases, Web Releases – Huh?

By Jennifer Mattern on December 28th, 2009   /   Press Release Writing   /   Leave a comment

As a small business owner interested in press release writing and distribution, it’s quite possible that you’re going to come across a few different terms for the same thing:

  • press releases
  • news releases
  • media releases
  • Web releases

Why do we have so many different names for the same public relations writing tool? Unless you’re in the PR industry, it can seem downright confusing.

The Differences

“Press release” is the traditional term for the usually one-page document you’ll distribute to people or media outlets in your niche or industry to disseminate news or other timely information.

“News release” is a more general term many in the PR field like to use now because “press” implies print media. Now we distribute to broadcast and Web media and even social media outlets (not to mention directly to our end audiences online).

“Media release” is similar to “news release” — just another more general term sometimes used. These days I mostly see it used in reference to social media releases, but occasionally see it on its own.

“Web release” is specifically for releases distributed online.

My Preference

Personally, I still prefer the term “press release,” and it’s what we’ll predominantly use here at Public Relations Writing. But as a former PR professional, why would I choose to use a term many of my colleagues find antiquated? Because it just makes sense.

The association of the term “press release” with print media might occur with PR professionals, but my experience is that members of my target market (small business owners, independent professionals, and Web professionals) do not make that connection. Some PR pros assume that when clients use the word “press” they have all of these preconceived notions about not only what press releases do but apparently what PR is all about at well. My experience is quite the opposite, with very little understanding and a huge willingness to learn no matter what clients choose to call them (and it seems insulting to me for industry insiders to assume that clients would associate a single tool with the purpose of an entire profession — if that’s true, then PR folks simply aren’t doing their job).

On top of that, “press release” is the term they prefer to use, and it’s therefore the term I need to use if I want to reach them (advertising that I can write Web releases means nothing to many of them when they’re looking to hire a press release writer, so I stick to press release writing in ads and my own sites).

Not only does this apply to my own target market, but in general “press release” is still the preferred term outside of the PR industry — it’s the most searched for option when people are looking for information on release writing and distribution. Let’s look at Google’s global monthly search volume for each of the terms to show you what I mean (results generated from the Adwords Keyword Tool):

  • Press Release — 823,000 searches monthly
  • News Release — 90,500 searches monthly
  • Media Release — 40,5000 searches monthly
  • Web Release — 8100 searches monthly

Obviously people are looking for information on “press releases” far more than they’re searching for information using any of those other terms. You need to appeal to your audience, and my audience wants “press release” info.

Some might try to argue that it’s better to be a big fish in a smaller pond (get a bigger portion of the smaller search volume for the other terms than a smaller portion of the larger search volume for “press release”), but that would be shortsighted. That’s because we’re not solely talking about SEO here and placements / traffic for that one generic term. If you drill down the keyword research results even more you’ll find that even the frequently searched for long tail keyword phrases in this topic area revolve around the “press release” base. Therefore, you can still reach more people with the long tail / small pond method by sticking to press releases as opposed to changing your phrasing just to appeal to other PR types (which is never something I go out of my way to do).

You can use any of the terms here, nearly interchangeably, so don’t let them confuse you when you’re doing research on press release writing. Just know that here “press release” is the way to go.

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Types of Public Relations Writing for Your Small Business

By Jennifer Mattern on December 28th, 2009   /   Public Relations Writing   /   Leave a comment

Here at Pro Business Writer I’m all about helping small business owners learn how different types of business writing can benefit their businesses. With a public relations background, PR writing is of particular interest to me (and I’ll teach you the basics of public relations writing so you can complete some projects on your own). Before getting into specifics of how to tackle different public relations writing projects though, it’s important that you understand what PR writing is and what types of projects fall under that umbrella. To give you a rough idea, here are some of the types of PR writing we’ll talk about more in depth on this blog:

  • Press releases / news releases
  • White papers
  • Features
  • Pitch letters
  • Newsletters

Some of these projects will be easier to take on with a DIY approach than others, and the list certainly isn’t exhaustive (public relations writing can also include brochures, op-eds, fact sheets, backgrounders, PSAs, speeches, and more). These particular projects are some of the more common you might want to consider as a small business owner though, so that’s where our emphasis will be moving forward.

In our future post series, we’ll look at press releases — how they can benefit your small business, tips on press release writing, SEO press releases, a simple press release template to guide you, and advice on press release distribution on even tight budgets.

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