Internet Press Releases for Exposure and Traffic

Dyanna Culp

Press Releases are another weapon in the webmaster marketing arsenal. Online press releases can announce your new business, or services, to both the online and traditional print media. They also serve to boost engine rank as you increase website inbound links from reputable news sites.

Media editors and journalists are the primary target audience of a press release.  These people write for news websites, newspapers, newsletters, magazines, radio, television, and trade publications. Press releases inform the journalists of the world that you’re available for interviews and ready for some press. If you’re lucky they may even decide to use your release as the basis for a feature story. Being featured in an article (whether online or in print) provides you with free exposure and increased credibility with your target audience.  

A good press release answers the "W" questions.  Which means: who, what, where, when and why. You provide all relevant information about your company, event, product, service, and contact information. If the release reads like an ad, rewrite it to sound more informational and less promotional. The release should be written for distribution over the web, through email and traditional print. Be certain to search engine optimize through use of target keywords in the press release text.

A carefully written press release serves multiple purposes:

• Press releases attract attention from journalists looking for a good story.
• They can get you into a variety of both online and print publications.  
• Online press releases often rank high in the search engines where they can attract visitors to sites.
• Press releases with live website hyperlinks increase your inbound links and if written with search engine optimization in mind, can boost your engine ranking for critical keywords.

A case study of successful website press releases. Hotornot.com lets visitors rank whether people’s photographs are “Hot or Not” and offers contact with those ranked as hot. Designed by roommates James Hong and Jim Young, the site went live in October 2000. A well written press release landed mention of the site in CNet, Newsweek, the New York Times, People, Time, USA Today, ZDNet, Wired and hundreds of other online media sites and print publications. Within six weeks the new site was attracting more than 3 million page views daily.

Piggybacking: Take advantage of current headlines by alerting the press to your connection with an existing “hot” news story. If you have expertise on the subject or can offer another angle on the topic covered- then you can piggyback the hot story for free press coverage.

Utilize Standard Form for Written Press Releases

• Online and email press releases are typically shorter than traditional print formats. Typically they are 500 words or less arranged into four or five, short concise paragraphs.
• Write in the 3^rd person and do not directly address the reader.
• The first line should read: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- all in caps. Followed by the date. This informs journalists that the news is authorized for immediate publication.
• The body of the release should never be all in caps.
• Write in an active, not passive voice.
• Use real examples to demonstrate the uses and benefits of your products or services.
• Headlines should be ten words or less and entice the reader to go further.
• The brief one paragraph summary should include your company name, product or service, and a short company history. Some news formats will only publish the headline, summary and then link to the full press release.
• At the bottom of the release, list the website url, phone number, and an address as contact information.
• Always end the document with the characters -30- or ### which are recognized style conventions that tell journalists they’ve reached the end of the press release.
• Remember, grammar and style errors negate your credibility.

A Sample Press Release Template

Submitting online press releases

After you’ve crafted the press release there are a number of websites, both free and paid, for launching distribution.

1. PR Web http://www.prweb.com PR Web offers 4 methods of distribution: through email, syndicated news feeds, their website and search engine submissions. Basic submission to the PR website is free and will be picked up by some news wires, but the other three distribution methods require “donations” at very reasonable low costs.

Use of PR Web requires setting up a free account. Login at the tab “Submit Release” When submitting a release you can select from 3 languages: English, Spanish or Chinese. You submit a headline, summary, body (all with character limits), search engine target keywords, industry targets, Press release Geographic locations, Target Countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, Optional Press data: website url, email, company name, contact phone.

* PR Web Site
The website receives millions of page views per month. All press releases are posted indefinitely. Press releases are only removed if you personally delete them from the system or if the release does not meet their editorial guidelines.

* PR Web Email Distribution
PR Web’s email database contains over 100,000 media contacts, newsrooms, industry analysts, and freelance writers who receive daily emails of press releases that match their filter criteria.

* PR Web Syndicated News Feed
Press release headlines are available to other web sites through their XML/RSS news feed (http://www.prweb.com/rss.php). RSS specification limits their feed to 15 headlines a day, therefore companies are given priority that upgrade by making a financial contribution to support PR Web.

* PR Web Search Engine Submissions
For maximum distribution, each press release distributed through our service is optimized for search engines indexing. Search engines regularly spider our site and index our press releases.

Submitting press releases to PR Web is free, but upgrades through “contributions” allow you access to statistics and a higher level of distribution. Six account levels are available costing from $10 to $80. Free distribution includes: PR Web™ Distribution, Search Engine Optimized, RSS/XML Feed (limited availability for releases without a contribution).

$10 Level: Statistics (Quick Stats), Improved Placement, Next Day Distribution, Additional Industry Targets, Keyword Searchable at PR Web and "Related News" inclusion.

$20 Level all benefits above plus File Attachments (images, documents and multimedia files), Participation in the "Sponsored Press Releases" Rotation and eMediawire distribution.

$30 Level all benefits above plus: paid inclusion programs inject your press release directly into major search engines without having to wait the requisite 4-6 week crawl cycle.

$40 Level all benefits above plus: you can attach images (jpg, gif) that will be distributed with your press release. At the $30 level they will provide a link to these images.

$60 Level all benefits above plus: Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your press release, Free NewsCrafters consultation, Participation in the "Featured Press Releases" rotation and Discounted Translations.

$80 Level all benefits above plus: Guaranteed Yahoo News Inclusion. With this option your entire release is included in Yahoo’s News press release collection. This distribution also feeds other search engine news services.

2. Purchase a complete media directory in print or on CD at Gebbie Press http://www.gebbieinc.com - Radio and TV Stations, Daily and Weekly Newspapers, Trade and Consumer Magazines, Black and Hispanic Media, Fax, URL and email addresses where available, In print, on disk or mailing labels.

3. Reach over 6000 editors and journalists for under $100 with Idea Site’s Click Press Direct  http://www.ideasiteforbusiness.com/clickpressfree.cfm - Press release access to over 1800 of the country's top newspapers and magazines. You click the link of the publication you want to contact. A blank email message form addressed to the editor pops up on your screen. Complete the email SUBJECT heading, paste your press release information into the body of the email message and send it off.

4. GAP Enterprises, Ltd. offers automated Press releases http://www.automatedpr.com Prices range from $50 to $1200 depending upon the number of releases and the distribution level. They send press releases to over 7,600 publication contacts in 37 countries. You identify the industry, and write the press release. Or, they'll write it for you.

5. Internet News Bureau - Sends out email press releases to 1200 online media outlets. http://www.internetnewsbureau.com  $275 for Primary Press Release Distribution (for the 1st media list, all additional media lists are $80 each). They offer discounts for nonprofits and 1^st time PR Agency or reseller purchases.

• Press Releases are posted to the INB website.

• Your Press Release is emailed directly to journalists.

•  In addition to Journalists, your Press Release is included in the Internet News Bureau Newsletter which reaches 6,000+ business professionals

• Releases are distributed by Internet News Bureau (a Jupitermedia Corporation site)

6. Market Wire, must be VERY expensive because no prices are provided on the website http://www.marketwire.com - Supplies the likes of the NY Times and Washington Post. They offer broad distribution of your company's press releases and material news, integration into editorial systems at leading newspapers and broadcast outlets, as well as direct delivery to major disclosure points, websites and online databases.

7. TechWire is a direct line to European IT industry publications. http://www.computermagazines.com –Provides distribution of localized and translated versions of press releases to editors of nearly key computer industry publications throughout Europe. In contrast to the major wire services, editors also receive hard copy releases. They claim that for the cost of a single ad insertion....or less.....you can a powerful message of your technology and products saturate Europe for an entire year.

8. Use URL wire to announce a new website, web event, or a major site content upgrade or change. http://www.urlwire.com  - on their 9^th year, URL Wire is a private news service for announcing the best new sites online. Clients include little guys and big names such as everyone from Amazon.com to ZDNet. They offer 4,000+ online media contacts and have over 125,000 online readers.

9. State Press Associations & Newspapers http://www.gebbieinc.com/presasns.htm The site offers direct links to state and regional press associations and newspapers.

10. Click2NewSites Free submission http://www.click2newsites.com/press.asp

11. Post your press releases on your own web site.

With a little time and effort one can achieve a large amount of free press exposure for a website. That exposure can radically increase by spending a miniscule amount of money to achieve wider distribution. If you offer a hot news item, the story could be picked up by the large national online and print news publications. All the while you are also building inbound links for increased traffic and boosted engine ranking.