By Rodolfo Zanchin
The press release is still one of the main dissemination methods used by the press relations, and it is through the press release that the big media outlets can get information about a company, its products, events, among other things. To attract the attention of journalists and also of netizens, some specific techniques are required.
Check out some tips to optimize your release, making it more objective and improving its ranking in search engines like Google or Bing:
1- Planning: It is essential to search for data, images, graphics and the audience of the subject that you will address. It is not enough to write a simple text, you have to consider the strategy you will adopt and the final result you want to achieve.
2- Content: Choose relevant and exclusive subjects related to the activities of the company. Texts that report only the daily work of the company are not generally read by journalists, who look for updated information and good content for their readers. Besides that, these press releases, even if published, are likely to have a high bounce rate, which affect their ranking in searches.
3- Title: The title is the primary part of a press release, it is through the title that you need to win the journalist in question. Do not forget that they receive several releases every day, so create a flashy title that arouses the journalist’s interest immediately.
4- Objectivity: Make a good selection of mailing journalists you want to send the material. Be brief and go straight to the main subject, also include statistical data and official statements as this will increase the awareness of the press release.
5- Key words/tags: Use keywords for your text to be easily found, make sure to insert in the end tags related to the text, as this technique will increase the visibility of your press release, increasing its chance of appearing among the first links in a search engine. It is also worth checking the Google tool called Adwords, through it you can identify which keywords surfers are looking for on a particular subject. Including them in your text to facilitate the search will increase the amount of hits. Visit Google Adwords here.
6- Description of the Company: Remember to put a short description of your company, also known as boilerplate, include all contacts and be available for any calls.
7- Review: Review your text paying attention to errors, and if possible, ask someone else to do the same, making sure that there are no grammatical, conceptual or factual mistakes.
8- Doubts: Be sure that the information is clear and accurate. The person who will read the release does not always know enough about it. Be prepared to clarify doubts and answer questions.
9- Quality vs. Quantity: It is better when your press release is published in only one website with many accesses instead of being published in many blogs and small websites. The major search sites sighted positively when your text
10- Consecutive press releases: Wait a while before sending another press release, two per month is a very reasonable number. Consecutive releases bother journalists and may end up straight in the spam box or trash.
* Rodolfo Zanchin is a PR account manager at Race Comunicação
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