Press releases were originally used by public relations staff as a method of communicating with the media. However, with the growth of online news syndication websites, such as Google News or Yahoo News, and the typical internet user's reliance on RSS feeds and search engines, press releases can now be used by personal injury lawyers as a direct-to-prospect marketing tool.

By using a leading wire service such as Business Wire, Market Wire, PRNewsWire or PRWeb, your press releases will not only be sent to hundreds of relevant media outlets, but they can also be syndicated in order to boost your website's search engine positioning through incoming links.

As a personal injury lawyer wanting to implement internet marketing strategies to get ahead, you cannot ignore the power of the press release in today's world. However, unless you know how to create a press release that will grab people's attention, you will struggle to gain visibility.

Here are seven tips you can use right away to maximize your exposure:

1.Choose a Newsworthy Topic: Before writing your press release, make sure it has a purpose. If you simply want to announce you've opened a new website or a blog, it is not likely any of the major media outlets will care. However, if you focus on the unique solutions, services and resources that are now available to consumers needing a personal injury lawyer, you'll receive far more attention.

2.Start Strong: Your headline needs to compel people to read while using targeted keywords that will demand attention. Your headline, summary, and first paragraph should provide a full picture of your news event while the rest of the release will describe it in more detail.

3.Make it Easy to Read: The easier it is to understand your press release, the more likely bloggers and journalists will choose to run with it. Set your legal jargon to the side and discuss your news event with simplicity.

4.Give People a Reason to Visit Your Site: While your press release might be interesting, it won't always lead people to visit your site. However, by mentioning a special offer for free reports, white papers or information guides, you'll attract much more attention. Also, having links in your press release will improve your search engine positioning.

5.Distribute the Release: Not only should you use a major press release distribution service, but you should also compile a list of local media contacts that are likely to post news regarding personal injury law. This may include newspapers, magazines, blogs and more. You should also host the press release on your own site and submit it to social media websites such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit.

As with anything in law firm marketing, you need to track the results of your press releases to find out what worked best and how to improve it in the future. By measuring inbound links, the number of website visitors that came directly via the press release and the overall effect it had on your business, you'll quickly see that press releases can be a great benefit when marketing your personal injury law firm on the internet.