Internet Marketing Blog » online press releases

Press Releases Should Entice

Susie — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:00:28 +0000

A lot of companies treat their press releases as yet another way to distribute their marketing message. The tone of the piece, the graphics and even the design all look much the same as any other piece of marketing material. This ignores the form of the online press release and completely misses out on the possibilities offered by online press releases.

Part of the advantage you should gain from using an online press release as part of your marketing plan is that you generate news. People tend to read press releases in much the same way as they read online articles. A well-written online press release will generate buzz about your business, event or product. A ham-handedly written press release will, on the other hand, be completely passed by.

Your company’s press releases need to be written much like a news story, and you can discuss this with our internet marketing experts at Click Consult. Although many people aren’t aware of it, news stories and marketing content aren’t really that much different. Both always have something to sell. Both try to entice the reader to perform an action or accept a message. News stories achieve this by creating excitement about the object of the news, and a press release should do this as well.

When it comes to press releases, the marketing message has to be sold though the news medium. Find the interesting angle to your story, and entice the reader in. Only by creating buzz will your press release achieve its goals.

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How Your Competitors’ Press Releases Help You

Susie — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:00:05 +0000

Not many businesses can thank their competitors for much help. If they ever do, it’s the ‘thanks for letting me win’ kind of thank-you. There are a few areas, however, in which your competitors provide you with valuable information for which you can be thankful.

Your competitors’ press releases can tell you a lot about your industry and about the workings of their web marketing plans. This information can come in very useful when you’re first thinking about online press releases for your business.

When looking at your competitors’ press releases, it’s a good idea to first of all note where they are placed. Do they tend to post them solely to their own site? Do they use press release sites? Do they post in forums or other communities? Once you’ve located them, analyse the sort of topics they focus on, and the language they use. Look at any comments they receive to gauge their success. Your competitors might not always provide a good example for your own marketing plan. Regardless, all of the market reaction you can gather can be used to help your plan.

If you’re approaching an internet marketing company to help with your online press release, they are likely to look at the press releases currently being issued in your industry. You can discuss your press release issues with our team at Click Consult. It’s always a good idea to check out your competitors for yourself as well, as they might give you an idea of what to plan.

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Traditional Versus Online Press Releases: The Difference

Susie — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 08:07:26 +0000

There are so many dud press releases out there on the net that it’s startling. There’s plenty of advice floating around on the subject of writing press releases, and it’s freely available, so what’s the problem? Why do people keep writing truly awful online press releases?

Part of the problem may be that some of these writers don’t read the advice that’s available before releasing their online press release. Another part of the problem is that there is a continued misunderstanding about what the difference is between an online press release and a traditional press release.

Traditional press releases and online press releases have a few things in common, but it’s important to grasp the differences as well. Here are a couple:

*Traditional press releases are limited to a page. Online press releases can be a universe. Although an online press release should be as brief as an offline one, it should contain links. Don’t forget them!

*Traditional press releases have a limited compass. Online press releases should go everywhere. In the traditional form, press releases were aimed straight at the press. Very few other people saw them. Online, however, your press release should have a broader audience. You should aim to interest the average reader as well as media sources, bloggers, and people in your industry. Talk to us at web marketing Click Consult about composing online press releases.

*Online press releases can explore the medium.

One last thing to remember with online PRs is that they don’t have to be limited to words. Consider exploring images and multimedia.

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What Your PR Should Achieve

Susie — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:59:26 +0000

There is a fair amount of pressure on the average online press release to perform. All the traditional, off-line form of press release had to do was attract attention from media outlets. Online, your press releases should be doing a whole lot more.

*Attracting blogger attention. When it comes to journalism in the online world, bloggers are almost as powerful as traditional media outlets. Attracting the attention of a prominent blogger in your industry can net you as much attention as getting a front-page story on a mainstream news site. For this reason, you should research the various blogs in your industry and tailor your press releases to meet their needs. Talk to our consultants at Click Consult about research for press releases.

*Acting as a news outlet. The internet has made news a little more democratic. A well-written online press release can now attract as much attention as getting a story in a major paper. Being able to control the news released about your company is one of the benefits of a really good online press release.

*Exciting internet users. If your press release manages to get into a good position in the search engines or on a press release site, you can attract direct internet attention. This in turn can attract users back to your site.

*Attracting media attention. An online press release should still have the media in its sights as an audience. Media attention is an achievable and worthwhile goal. Focussing on the press will also help you get the right tone for an online PR.

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Is Your PR ‘On Topic’?

Susie — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:05:55 +0000

A lot of companies are using their online press releases as a support for their website. This can be through the use of SEO within the press release, or simply through generating interest across the internet. There is one thing it is important to focus on if increasing website traffic is a goal. That thing is topic focus.

Topic focus is important for your website because the internet operates on information. With SEO, for example, an internet user types in a search term and the search engine spits out a list of relevant pages. If your SEO has made your page the most relevant, you will appear at the top of the list. With marketing through online press releases, an internet user is tantalised by the topic of your press release and clicks through to your site, hoping to find more information. People roam across the net because they are interested in particular topics.

When your press release has a different topic to your website, internet users are going to get annoyed. Instead of following a flow of information to its logical conclusion as they expected, they’ll find a stone blocking their path. They won’t hang around your website long enough to absorb your message.

It is important to make sure that your press release topic is relevant to something on your website. When discussing topics, think about the information on your pages and what is likely to fit best. You can discuss the crafting of press releases with our web marketing team at Click Consult.

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Use Press Releases To Generate Backlinks

Susie — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:02:26 +0000

Among the most effective ways to grow backlinks to your site is to use press releases. A press release is a statement that is issued to the media to announce an event or a development within your company. This can be in the form of a text-based submission or a voice or video recording, and is usually sent out to a selection of PR and media contacts in advance. The press release can be embargoed until a particular date and time, and then may be published in newspapers, periodicals, on websites or on radio or television broadcasts. The content of your press release should reflect not only the nature of what you want to publicise, but also the right keywords and phrases for search engine optimisation.

Using press releases will generate new material for your website and attract the attention of search engine spiders. At Click Consult, we provide online press releases, online PR consultation and expert copywriting. As your company moves forward and records milestones in development, wins awards or holds marketing or charity events, regular press releases can be issued. Including links to relevant pages on your site within the text instantly creates backlinks once that press release is uploaded to another website. Your press release is likely to attract attention from high-ranking sites that are relevant to your core business, and that will increase page rankings. The more publicity your site gains, the greater brand awareness and the potential for new business.

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Press Release TMI – Too Much Information

Susie — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:05:31 +0000

When you compose a press release, you’re dealing with a limited area. You can’t provide that much information. Offline, you’re working with one page of text, including your contact details, titles and enough spacing to make the press release readable. When you’re dealing with an online press release, you have one screen of room, possibly quite a bit less if you allow for room for menus and the like.

To put it plainly, there is very little room in an online press release. There will be a certain amount of information you absolutely need to get across. For many business owners, the temptation to squeeze just a little bit more information in will be a very strong one. It is a temptation that must be resisted.

Internet users are renowned for having a very limited attention span. This makes it sound like an internet user will wander off at the first distraction, which is not completely true. More to the point is the fact that information is so easily available on the net that an internet user feels it is a waste of their time to stick with anything pushing non-vital information. The average internet user will move on as soon as they feel they’re not getting something from your press release, and the likelihood of them doing so increases with every paragraph.

Don’t try to include too much information in your online press release. Talk to our web marketing team at Click Consult about the right format for effective press releases.

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The Limited Attention Span Of Internet Users

Susie — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:01:55 +0000

There are a lot of things to be done in the preparation of an online press release. The idea, the internet marketing angles, the writing itself and the distribution are all very important aspects that require time and patience. One of the things that can sometimes get left behind is the consideration of what a target audience needs for engagement.

In basic terms, if you don’t figure out what your target audience wants to read, they won’t read it. Not only this, but if you don’t figure out what your target audience wants to see, their eyes will slide right over your online press release without really seeing it. It’s all about learning internet user reading patterns.

Reading patterns is something that the marketing branch of search engine optimisation (SEO) has studied closely and something that the rest of the internet marketing disciplines could benefit from. Something you might occasionally read around SEO circles is that information needs to be presented easily and swiftly to be effective with search engine traffic. Experts in this field have performed in-depth studies of internet user behaviour on web pages and discovered that internet users scan pages and make a decision to read within moments of clicking through to a web page. You can discuss this element of web marketing with us at Click Consult.

What this means is that your online press release has to grab the reader within the first two or three seconds. Titles and opening paragraphs may be what wins them over.

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Know How To Fire Up Your Audience

Susie — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:09:14 +0000

If you’re like almost any business, you will occasionally want to provoke your target audience into action. In retail, this usually occurs during the sales season. In professional services areas, this might occur when the consultancy has just opened or when more clients are needed. In either case, the required knowledge is: what is going to be the best trigger for your specific audience?

When you want your online press release to prompt a specific outcome, it is essential that you figure out what your target audience’s trigger might be. What the trigger is will depend on your specific audience, and you can discuss audience research with us at Click Consult. The need to uncover essential desires and needs is one of the reasons to go to a specialist when preparing for your online press release.

When internet users, or indeed any consumer in any market, make a swift decision to purchase products or services, it’s because there’s something that has appealed to their spontaneous side. This is a very specific aspect of your audience, quite different from appealing to their practical side, and one that’s not particularly easy to reach.

If you want your press release to trigger immediate action, there needs to be a ‘buy this now’ element to your writing, if you are to be successful in web marketing. Simply telling your audience that they need to buy will not work. Keep in mind that markets are told this all the time. It’s important to think about how to convince your customers of the urgency of the matter.

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Don’t Cram Too Many Design Factors In

Susie — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:07:03 +0000

A press release, online or offline, is a limited medium. Certainly, online press releases have an advantage over their hard-copy cousins. With an online press release, you don’t have to stick to graphics and text; you can squeeze in some multimedia elements as well. When all is said and done, however, you are still left with essentially the same thing. Page or screen, all you have to work with is a limited area.

If you decide to go with the traditional forms of press release, namely sticking with a chunk of text that may or may not be accompanied by a photo, it can be tempting to jazz things up. When the press releases you’re competing with have access to so many impressive technologies, it can feel like a waste to send yours of in plain old Times New Roman. Many businesses feel that they would be more impressive if they added some personality and innovation to their design by using unique fonts and other components, but this can often only serve as an indication to the reader that the PR’s author is somewhat amateur.

This can be a mistake. Although the basic text format of the press release can seem a little plain, it’s also very easy to read. Add too many special effects and you risk making your press release look like it has been scribbled down as an afterthought. Worse still, you can make your press release harder to read.

Stick with the basics when it comes to press release design. Simplicity is elegant. Talk to us at internet marketing company Click Consult when you’re designing your online press release.

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