How SEO Can Dramatically Improve your PR Strategy - PR Newswire Webinar 8/12/08

Five Steps for Optimizing your press releases and Online MediaRoom August 12, 2008 A PR Newswire Webinar

Moderator: Dee Rambeau
An award-winning writer and producer, Dee has produced over 200 hours of documentary and sports television for cable and broadcast. Additionally he has scripted and produced more than 50 corporate videos for branding, marketing or internal communications. In this role, he has constant contact with agencies representing the sponsoring companies. Rambeau began his career in the brokerage business with industry pioneer Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1980 after receiving a BBA in Marketing and Finance from SMU in Dallas.
Dee Rambeau is the co-founder and Managing Partner of The Fuel Team. He has over 25 years of experience in marketing, promotions, television and communications. As a freelance executive producer prior to starting his current company in 2001, Dee executed many marketing and promotional campaigns from concept through completion. His work includes vertical sponsorship and television programs for Anheuser Busch, Jose Cuervo, Ralston Purina, The Jeep Division of Chrysler Plymouth, Ford, Paul Mitchell Systems and Vail Resorts. Dee was also the Director of Sales for extension11, a web development agency in San Francisco specializing in online solutions for PR and communications companies.
In his current role with The Fuel Team, Rambeau is a recognized national authority on the topic of online media relations and effective online communications with many published whitepapers on the topic. Rambeau has spoken at PRSA, IABC, IAOC, BMA and other National events and various Chapter events around the country on topics related to online communications .

As Director of Marketing for UBM LLC’s Global Sales and Marketing group, Jon is responsible for marketing programs designed to provide UBM’s largest customers with access to the marketing resources across UBM’s divisions worldwide.
Jon joined the Global Sales and Marketing team in March of 2008 with over 20 years experience in marketing, communications, product/project management, e-marketing and Web 2.0, and with a solid track record in developing strategies, positioning brands and directing campaigns for technology and publishing companies. As a “geek” marketer, Jon bridges the technology/marketing divide to identify, develop and evangelize digital and collaborative solutions for UBM, for the Global Sales and Marketing group, and for UBM customers.
Prior to joining UBM LLC in October 2005, Jon worked for 9 years in the prepress and desktop publishing business of Linotype-Hell and Heidelberg, and, before that, in the newspaper publishing business with DuPont and Crosfield/Hastech. He also launched his own web design and development business after leaving Heidelberg.
Jon has a BS in Printing Technology and Management, with a minor in Computer Science, from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.
Panelist: Jon Guerringue

Panelist: Michael Pranikoff
Michael Pranikoff is the Director of Emerging Media at PR Newswire. In this role Michael focuses on educating both PR Newswire members and employees on emerging media.
Michael is the creator of PR Newswire successful “PR In A Web 2.0 World” seminar series and has spoken to audiences around the world on this subject.
Michael is frequent moderator and speaker at public relations events in the and outside of the United States.
Michael has been with PR Newswire for 10 years and previously worked for MacNeil / Lehrer Productions the producers of The NewsHour with Jim lehrer.
Michael is a graduate of Syracuse University and lives in Washington DC. You can follow Michael at http://del.icio.us/michaelpranikoff or on Twitter @mpranikoff

Search Behavior: How do you do it?
Finding the content that you want as a searcher
Analyze your own habits…do you search short or long?
What is the typical length of phrase that you search for?
Do you always use the same search engine?
Do you EVER click on paid links or do you prefer organic?
Do you save, bookmark, share, Digg, etc.
Do you print pages or forward via email?
How “deep” will you go on results pages?
are you often frustrated or “fooled” by search results?
Dee Rambeau

Media and Customers behave just like you!
Think about your company/organization with your own search habits in your mind
Are you making you and your company easy to find?
Are you helping or hurting yourself be more “findable?”
Who do you believe is most responsible for effective SEO within your organization? Marketing? PR? The IT guys?
Which department puts out the most content?
Dee Rambeau

Public Relations and Content
Press Releases represent the best opportunity to refresh content on your company website…period!
Most frequent content to be posted to your site
Search engines LOVE fresh content
Content should be better “optimized” so that it supports your organization at every level
You can control it only as far as your website…once it is an html document or page it can be used, spread around, “mashed” so you MUST make sure you control it from an internal optimization standpoint
Dee Rambeau

Basic Optimization of Content for Search
Content is King
You must care for the content within your website if you care for your customers and those other audiences like the media
The “keys” to content are:
Accuracy and frequency of posts
Relevancy to the other content in your site
Relevancy to the message of the company
Relevancy to the searcher
Proper archiving and categorizing by type or time
Opportunities to “subscribe” to the content
Dee Rambeau

5 steps to PR Optimization
Do your keyword research or “find” the research within your own organization
Write your news releases to include and support that research…ALWAYS. Don’t write a release without having that research in front of you
Distribute your news over a wire service
Have a MediaRoom or location in your website that allows you to post that release and generate an indexable page
Have a subscription RSS Feed of your news
Dee Rambeau

Step 1: Keywords/Phrases
Do the research or “find” the research within your org
Google News, WordTracker, other tools
Get better at Keyword analysis, “used cars” vs. “certified pre-owned vehicles”
Don’t support your company name…users already know it
Again…think like a searcher…what would YOU be looking for to find YOU?
Don’t conflict yourself within your own keyword list
Remember the “long tail” with longer phrases
Dee Rambeau

2: Incorporate Keywords into News Releases
Writing has to evolve in order to enhance SEO
Good writing still holds true…BUT
less formal…more conversational
Highlight benefits and features
Get permission and/or subscription
Proof and validation
Action…call and promise
don’t overdo it…be selective
Title Tags, Headlines, H2 Summary, First paragraph
Dee Rambeau

3: Distribute via a wire service
Heightened online visibility
Multiple internet locations for your news releases
Premium for being found as part of your own website
Increased longevity. Find results longer at more sites
Tracking, tracking, tracking
The ONLY downside to using a wire service is that your release ends up on mulitple search resuts, You have to make sure you’re always pointing back to your main website or online mediaroom and supporting your own website’s domain
Dee Rambeau

4: post releases to your mediaroom
If you use a mediaroom product from one of the wire services, this will happen automatically for you
if you have your own Media site or a decent web CMS, you should post the release immediately
DO NOT post PDFs…they are not able to be indexed
DO post in html so that the release itself has its own page within the system that can be indexed
Make sure that the site tools allow you to further optimize pages, titles, URLs, etc. (more in Jon’s presentation)
Dee Rambeau

5: Include an RSS feed in site
RSS acts like a turbocharger for SEO
Search engines love RSS Feeds that are frequently updated
Have an RSS Feed or Feeds (Categories) that update automatically when a news release is posted
Not only can your audiences subscribe to it, but you can do things like putting that headline onto your website’s home page, intranet, other news sites
This all can happen automatically
Dee Rambeau

PR Newswire’s MediaRoom
Clear market leader with hundreds of clients
Public companies, private firms, agencies, government bodies, universities, non-profits
Easy to demonstrate, easy to subscribe to
Integrates easily with other PRN products
IF you’re a PR Newswire client, there are no other solutions that will work for you
Examples and Case Studies at www.mediaroom.com
Dee Rambeau

In the beginning… Prior to June 06, basically had a frame into PRN site. Jon Guerringue

In the beginning… Prior to June 06, basically had a frame into PRN site. Most search results came from PRN site. Jon Guerringue

Timeline for improvements
Archive back to 1997 • Most search results still pointed to PRN site • All page titles were “News Releases”
Year not clearly displayed
June 06 Move to MediaRoom Jon Guerringue

Timeline for improvements
Able to tag sections and individual pages with unique Title tag • May-July: started experimenting with tagging release titles with headline and date
June 06 Move to MediaRoom March 07 First Enhancements Jon Guerringue

Timeline for improvements June 06 Move to MediaRoom
All new releases and full archive titles tagged with headline and date • Google Custom Search launched June 07
RSS feed (latest story only) on CMP.com home August 07
March 07 First Enhancements October 07 Auto Tagging Jon Guerringue

MediaRoom development team moved date to end of title tag to give search engines more unique, relevant text to index
March 07 First Enhancements October 07 Auto Tagging January 08 Move Date Jon Guerringue

CMP.com became UBMtechnology.com
cmp.mediaroom.com became ubmtechology.mediaroom.com
Main site gets RSS feed from MediaRoom— five most recent stories across four divisions
Two division sites pick up their division RSS feeds
March 07 First Enhancements October 07 Auto Tagging January 08 Move Date June 08 RSS, Design Jon Guerringue

New MediaRoom Jon Guerringue

New News Release Jon Guerringue

New Home with RSS Jon Guerringue

Results for “UBM News” Jon Guerringue

Results for “CMP News” Jon Guerringue

Getting CMP in Search Results This site replaces the content previously found on CMP.com. On February 29, 2008, CMP Media LLC (also referred to as CMP Technology) became United Business Media LLC. At that time, four technology divisions were also established… Jon Guerringue

RSS Feed on TechWeb Jon Guerringue

RSS Feed on TechInsights Jon Guerringue

Sample Search Results Today Jon Guerringue

Integrated Custom Search Results Jon Guerringue

Same Search but in Google Jon Guerringue

MediaRoom Traffic Since Launch Jon Guerringue

Front-End Optimization: Write better news releases using researched keywords, not jargon or technical terms.
Back-End Optimization: Work with an optimization partner that can establish a search-engine friendly environment for your news release.
How Do You Optimize a News Release? SEO & The News Release Michael Pranikoff

Front End Optimization
Use well researched keywords or phrases that you know are being used in searches.
Use your keywords/ phrases in your Headline and Subheadline (if you use one)
Keyword Density
Use links in your release....but not just to your homepage.
Multimedia Content – like photos and video add HUGE value to your release!
SEO & The News Release Michael Pranikoff

Over 50% of searches performed use 2 or 3 words SEO & The News Release Michael Pranikoff

SEO & The News Release Michael Pranikoff
Keyword Density: The number of times a word or phrase appears in a block of text. Optimal keyword density is between 1.5% - 3.5%. Text with a keyword density greater than 4% will be identified by search engines as spam.
Optimal Keyword Density =
1.5% - 3.5% per 250 words
OR
3 – 4 times for a 400 word release

Copy and Paste Release Here SEO & The News Release Michael Pranikoff Place keywords or phrases here to check for proper word density for search engine optimization of a release.

Social Media Optimization Michael Pranikoff

Increase linkability
Make tagging and bookmarking easy
Reward Inbound Links
Help your content travel
Encourage the mashup

Participate
Know how to Target your audience
Be Real
Strategize and Execute with your Goals in mind

Digital Asset Optimization Michael Pranikoff

Contact Information
Dee Rambeau, Product Specialist [email_address]
Jon Guerringue, UBM Technology Marketing Director
[email_address]
Michael Pranikoff, Director of Emerging Technology
[email_address]

How SEO Can Dramatically Improve your PR Strategy - PR Newswire Webinar 8/12/08

by Michael Pranikoff on Aug 12, 2008

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How SEO Can Dramatically Improve your PR Strategy - PR Newswire Webinar 8/12/08 — Presentation Transcript

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