The purpose in writing a traditional press release is to get the word out regarding a new product or service your company is providing. It is also a great way to spread industry news and promote your business. These press releases are then submitted to newspapers and members of the media with the intention of being deemed newsworthy.
A press release for online use has the same purpose but rather than being submitted to the press, instead they are sent to relevant press release websites. These sites display your press release for the world to read and take interest in. As a result of this, any site, that finds your press release interesting or relevant may then link to it or even take a copy to display on their own website. These links are one of the key reasons for issuing offsite content including press releases.
Links, especially good quality links are one of the main factors a major search engine uses when determining the relevance and ranking of a website. Since ranking well is hugely important to boost awareness and profitability, then so too is the building of good links. Press releases provide one way links that the search engines see as being ‘natural' therefore deem them relevant.
Providing the press release is original, and relevant combined with the fact that is written by a will help ensure that a search engine will index it. Once indexed, the press release can be easily found on the search engines leading to them being much easier for a prospective reader to find.
One thing to remember is that even though it is incredibly important to have press releases that are well written and presented, for purposes it is of equal importance to have them correctly optimised. The best way of doing this is by writing the press release in such a way that specific keyword dense content can be used.
Keywords are words or phrases that have relevance to the chosen business or sector, and are frequently searched for terms by Internet users. Using them throughout a press release helps the search engine rate their importance and these keywords can be used as links back to the pages of a website that have relevance to the content.
A good online press release campaign can help to steer anyone who is searching for information on a particular product or service to a website linked to the content. In bringing the reader to the website, they are more likely to ‘convert' or buy/use the product or service on offer. This is due to the press release having introduced them to the subject and given them some interesting, informative content to read.
