 WebProWorld Marketing Forum |
Evil & Confusion From Microsoft?
Michael sees a lot of confusion and mixed messages coming out of Redmond lately. Particularly with IE and Longhorn, but also concerning DRM and Xbox.
Does cold calling still work?
Yes, if you're careful of the fine line between being a welcomed addition to a customer's day, or an intrusion.
Daisy Duke Needs a Blogger
While a lot of the blogosphere debates the nature of marketing, public relations and blogging - particularly the PR bloggers...
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Increase Traffic To Your Blog From Search Engines - The Top 5 Tips
Your favorite thing about having a blog may soon be this - they naturally attract search engine traffic. Blogs already have optimized site architecture.
Y!Q on my blog...
I've just updated the template for my individual post pages to include Y!Q, which I wrote about on the Yahoo Search blog. Adding Y!Q to your site is easy.
Panel discussion: Blogging and journalism
Highlight points from the panel - pictured, left to right: Dan Forbush, Tom Foremski, Jeremy Wright, Heath Row - moderated by Dan Forbush. The panel addressed the impact of blogs on their work, their general view on the value of blogs as a communication channel, and how best to promote their blogs.
Podcast Movie Reviews
A clever idea - movie reviews that are delivered via podcast ... Reel Reviews Syndicated On DVD Talk Radio. We are excited to announce that Reel Reviews - Films Worth Watching is now made available to listeners on DVD Talk Radio. DVD Talk is the largest DVD review and news site on the internet.
500 Years Of Blogging History...
You think you're an early adopter because you're using blogs to be heard? Forget it. Martin Luther, Thomas Paine, George Orwell were all way ahead of you. Thomas Paine was basically a blogger - in 1776. Martin Luther's version of blogs totally ticked off the Holy Roman Emperor, who issued the Edict of Worms banning Luther's writings.
Blogs Make Perfect Aids To Learning
BBC News: Blogs are increasingly being used by academics and students. Until a few months ago, the attention paid to web logs, or blogs, focused mainly on politics and the media business.
Top 100 RSS feeds
Blogging service Radio Userland has a very useful list of the top 100 most subscribed-to RSS feeds.
Pitch Blogs with Caution
Blogs. To pitch or not to pitch? Well, it depends on your definition of pitch. I've received a ton of irrelevant pitches since starting Strategic Public Relations more than two years ago. Just yesterday, someone posted a press release as a comment to one of my posts. Can you say DELETE?!
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03.31.05
Secrets To Writing Powerful Press Releases
 By Ted Kushner
Using press releases for marketing purposes has become increasingly popular lately.
There has been an increase of firms springing up online offering optimized press release services for individuals or firms wanting to get the word out about their web sites, newsletters, products or services.
Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if constructed properly. Learning to write a powerful optimized press release can often drive tons of targeted traffic to your web site.
The real secret behind writing any effective press release is to plan your release out carefully before publishing it.
A poorly constructed or planned press release is just a waste of your time and resources. You want to target the message of your press release for the purpose it was meant for.
So, the first thing you must do before writing your press release is to figure out just what do you want to accomplish with it?
-- Do you want to create some brand awareness for your site or products?
-- Do you want to add additional subscribers to your newsletter or ezine?
-- Or are you trying to promote a new product or service you have developed or are marketing?
Once you've decided what the most compelling reason is for your press release, you can then get down to the business of writing it.
The first thing you may want to do is sketch out a rough draft of your press release to see how it flows. Does it provide the needed information to get the word out and has it been properly formatted?
Most press releases have a certain format that they follow. If you're unsure of how to format your press release correctly you can view a sample press release template here at http://www.prweb.com/pressreleasetips.php#template .
The number one most important aspect of your press release is your headline.
Get it wrong and you will limit the effectiveness of your release.
Your headline is what the search engines are going to pick up on first. So make sure you use it advantageously. List any key points here, using your keywords or a catchy headline so that it will grab your reader's attention.
Again planning is essential. If promoting a new site include the URL in the headline. If promoting a product or service then include some keywords in the headline.
Some press release services use a summary box. I normally write a catchy one-paragraph recap of my press release using some of my targeted keywords.
Without being spammy, I will normally optimize my press release by using some of my targeted keywords in the first and last paragraph. I will also include some of them throughout the release for a keyword exposure of approximately 2-3% saturation.
Tip: if you're promoting a web site, I will normally mention my URL around three times within the release for the maximum benefit.
One of the first questions I had when I first started writing press releases was what was considered a great release? What did it consist of and how was it constructed?
Being curious, I emailed my contact at http://www.prweb.com/ and asked them if they could show me a few press releases that they considered as excellent examples.
These releases have received their editorial scores of 5 on their scale of 1 to 5; with five being the highest.
They sent me three of them for review and you can see each one of them here:
http://prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb136748.htm
http://prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb149213.htm
http://prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb203448.htm
Study each one of these against the press release template to see what is required for an effective release.
Note: to get additional exposure for your press release via www.emediawire.com you have to have an editorial score of 4 or higher. So it is to your benefit to write the best release you can the first time around.
Once you have studied the examples and want to try submitting you own press release you need to know which ones are the most popular ones being used.
Here are some of the press release services I have used and found to be effective:
http://prweb.com/
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/index.html
http://www.webwire.com/default.asp
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
With most of press release services you can submit your press release for free or via paid inclusion. Paying for inclusion gives you the benefit of faster indexing into the search engine news services and natural search engine result pages.
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Normally your release will be picked up by Google news within a few hours after its release. From there it will normally show up in the natural search results within a few days or a week.
I have used both of these services in the past but have found that paying them at least the minimum amount allows me to view my stats online. It also allows me to choose different categories for my press release to be displayed in, giving my release a chance for wider coverage.
So using press releases can and is a very effective marketing tool that you can use for promoting your web site or affiliate products if done correctly.
By using press releases, I have been able to create a steady flow of targeted visitors to my web site and affiliate programs while generating dozens of back links to my web site.
Even though the effects of each individual press release may be short lived, they still have provided me with both free and inexpensive ways for getting hundreds of new visitors to my site and quite a few top ten positions in Google for my targeted keywords.
So get to it and write a few press releases your self and see what they can do for you!
About the Author:
Ted Kushner of AffiliateRevenueSources.com can show you the powerful benefits of writing press releases for promoting any product, service or affiliate program. Learn how you too can get multiple top ten positions in Google using press releases at:
http://www.affiliaterevenuesources.com/powerful-press-releases.htm |
