Get High Quality Backlinks With Press Releases
Many webmasters and online business owners simply look at press releases as a means for getting quick backlinks to their websites. As a PR professional, this is a major pet peeve that I speak openly about. The problem isn't that SEO has no place in PR; it does. The problem is that SEO doesn't replace public relations or the primary goals of various PR tools.
Many look for the immediate benefit, rather than understanding how press releases actually work, and how (when used properly) they can bring high quality, permanent backlinks from authority sites. Here, I'll do my best to explain the process, help you properly write a press release, distribute it effectively, and help you build quality relevant backlinks in the process.
Where Do Webmasters Go Wrong?
A Poor Return on Investment
Most webmasters are online to make money, not lose it. That's why they worry about SEO to drive traffic to their sites in the first place. But press releases have a very real cost involved through either:1. Paying for a professionally written release and paid distribution.
2. Costing money through the time spent doing it themselves, where they could have been directly making money with other efforts.
When the only concern is the immediate backlinks from the press release distribution site(s) and/or news search sites (Google News, Yahoo! News, etc.), better backlink opportunities are often overlooked. So how does that translate into a poor ROI?
Simple: For the same (or similar) amount of money or effort, the site owner could have received longer-lasting, higher quality backlinks from authority sites. No matter how much traffic or how many low quality, irrelevant links they received, they could have gotten much better results without much added time or money. If you could have gotten better results without added effort, then your ROI wasn't maximized anywhere close to its full potential, and is therefore "poor" in comparison.
Press Release Tips for Quality Link Building
A Better Way to Build Backlinks with Press Releases
Now that we know we can not only get a better ROI for the time and/or money spent on press release writing and distribution, but that we can get better backlinks, let's discuss how.
Here are a few key points to keep in mind when writing and distributing press releases, if you want to attract high quality incoming links from authority sites.
Here are a few key points to keep in mind when writing and distributing press releases, if you want to attract high quality incoming links from authority sites.
- Write for members of the media (journalists), and not for your end reader (people you want to convert to regular site visitors). Why? Because journalists will ignore you if you don't give them what they want and expect, and getting picked up by even one large media outlet in your niche can get you more targeted traffic than a Google or Yahoo! News inclusion ever will.
- Have something truly newsworthy to say. Don't litter the Web with garbage press releases, just so you can pick up a few quick backlinks. What too many people do is that they write an "article," format it to look like a press release when it isn't one, and then distribute it online. Invest that time and energy into actually doing something newsworthy, that's worth publicizing, and that's worth a journalist's attention.
- Forget about being "cute." Don't try to come up with cute and clever titles for your press release. You only have a few seconds to catch a journalist's attention. If the essence of your news isn't obvious to them early on, you'll lose them. Anything that a journalist has to "decipher" won't get read. This also applies to quotes. Don't include quotes just because you think it "spices up" the release. If something can be said without having it in a quote, then lose the quote! Reserve them for information that needs to be quoted, or that needs the extra credibility backing it of being associated with a high-ranking or well-known individual... and never include a testimonial in a press release, no matter how good it sounds.
- Make "nice" with the media. As I said before, give them what they want! Give them the who, what, when, where, and why up front. Give them full contact information to reach you with followup questions (a lot of webmasters try to get away with fake phone numbers - if you want coverage, include it. If you don't, don't waste time with press releases). Archive past press releases on your website, so they can look at the news progression of your site or company (and include a full press room if possible). If there are specific publications or outlets that you want to target, then look for the appropriate beat writer or editor, and contact them personally with your press release and/or pitch. Don't just assume they'll happen across your release online. Don't just build media "contacts"; build media "relationships."
Improve Your Press Release Writing
How to Write Powerful Press Releases
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Writing Effective News Releases...: How to Get Free Publicity for Yourself, Your Business, or Your Organization
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The Power of the Press Release: Tips, Techniques and Templates
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More Online PR and Press Release Writing Help
- Online PR Lens
- This is my Online Public Relations lens.
- Free Press Release Template for Online Distribution
- Here's a free press release template I created, which is tailored to releases that you plan to distribute online.
- How to Write a Press Release
- Instructions for filling out each section of the press release template above.
So Where Do the Backlinks Come in?
Now you're probably thinking, "Why the heck should I care about what this crazy chick says? I still don't see how this is going to get me backlinks!" Well, here's the basic process, and potential trickledown effect:1. You do something truly newsworthy, and write (or have someone else write) a high quality press release.
2. You submit it to newswires (such as www.AP.org) and to appropriate journalists and editors at niche publications that would have an interest in your news.
3. If you really had quality news, the release was well-written, and you got it in front of the right people, you'll get top-level media coverage. Media coverage shouldn't just be a reprint/post of your press release; it should be a custom story. If you get picked up by an online outlet in particular (or top quality blogs in the niche), you'll often get a live link (and if the site was worth independently targetting, it was likely a highly-ranked site). Most large outlets archive their content, meaning you'll likely receive a permanent link. If it's a news-based site, you'll also increase your chances of being picked up by the news search sites that you might have previously paid for inclusion with, through press release distribution sites.
4. Other smaller sites, outlets, or blogs pick up on the story after seeing it in a large media outlet or popular blog (they can also be your ticket into social media sites such as high Digg rankings as well). Many of these sites will also provide a direct link to your site, and will often archive their pages, leading to more permanent links. The key here is that, as opposed to distribution sites and news search sites, these links will generally be far more "relevant" - therefore doing more for your SEO efforts than simply padding your incoming link count.
5. The trickle down effect continues to much smaller sites and blogs, getting mentioned in forum posts of niche communities, etc.
That's just assuming one major pickup, in one large and relevant online publication. If you target more effectively, and build quality relationships with journalists (no quicker way to get on their "ignore" list than repeatedly posting "bad," time-wasting press releases), you can expand that trickledown effect of not only relevant backlinks, but also highly targeted traffic.
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