Drafting Press Releasesthat Maximize SEONew ways to promote any business on the Internet using press releases created for search marketing.Brian Pasch, CEOPasch Consulting Group

Terms of UseThe contents of the document are not to be copied, mailed, transmitted via email or altered digitally for any purpose other than to facilitate this seminar. All seminar attendees have permission to print or keep an electronic copy of this presentation in downloadable PDF format for their personal use and reference. Anyone or company interested in reproducing any part of these materials must first contact the author for permission. The logos, screen shots and graphics used in this presentation are the property of the registered companies and permission to use those items must be obtained directly by the rights holder.Date of original publication: 6/15/2009. The screen shots presented in this webinar were taken before June 6, 2009. Changes made to individual websites after 6/6/2009 will not be reflected in this presentation.© Copyright 2009 – Pasch Consulting Group2

SEO Fundamentals Testing & Measuring : Determining the ROI of your online marketing How does Google, Yahoo and Bing Really Work Dow to Reverse Engineer search listingsEffective Marketing with Press Releases Good writing skills are critical for Internet marketing Traditional press releases writing falls short on the Internet Writer have to research what consumers type into the search engines Press Release Writing For the Internet Titles & Teasers Content & Links & Keywords Formatting Measuring the Effectiveness of PR Portals How to choose a PR publishing website? Determining the cost/benefit of PR fees. Are free PR websites effective? Tracking views and clicks on your press releases (Budurl) Press Release Marketing Strategies How to target your competitors How to supercharge your press releases How to leverage PR content on blogs3Seminar Outline

Fundamentals: SEO vs. SEMThis seminar will focus on the “green” area of a search results page4

Internet Marketing Opportunities5

Internet Press Releases6

Think like a CFOWithout measurement tools in place, your hard work will be not be appreciated and funding may be pulled.7

Put on Your SEO Hat8SEO Fundamentals

Unique Phone#Unique Web Phone NumbersWho’s CallingUnique Lead Form Subject TagsUnique Email Addresses In Press ReleaseOn Blog PostsInside Content WritingCreate Specific Landing PagesGoogle AnalyticsWebmaster ToolsProprietary TrackingExample: www.BudURL.comUnique Lead TagTesting & Measurement9

Unique Web Phone Numbers

Who’s Calling

Unique Lead Form Subject Tags

Unique Email Addresses

In Press Release

On Blog Posts

Inside Content Writing

Create Specific Landing Pages

Google Analytics

Webmaster Tools

Proprietary Tracking

Example: www.BudURL.com

How Do The Search Engines Really Work?Google SEO Starter GuideWhat Matters For Rankings?Domain NameDomain AgeSite & Page ArchitecturePage ContentLinks Pointing to WebsiteTraffic to WebsiteFrequency of new content being addedPress Release Websites win on many of these items.Testing & Measurement10

How Do The Search Engines Really Work?

Google SEO Starter Guide

What Matters For Rankings?

Domain Name

Domain Age

Site & Page Architecture

Page Content

Links Pointing to Website

Traffic to Website

Frequency of new content being added

Press Release Websites win on many of these items.

Reverse Engineering Search EnginesType in a Phrase you want to optimizeLook who is on page oneExamine:Page TitlesMeta DescriptionURLInbound LinksPageRank ScoreOnce you start de-coding the search engines you can become a powerful Internet press release writer. Google example: www.google.comTesting & Measurement11

Reverse Engineering Search Engines

Type in a Phrase you want to optimize

Look who is on page one

Examine:

Page Titles

Meta Description

URL

Inbound Links

PageRank Score

Once you start de-coding the search engines you can become a powerful Internet press release writer.

SEO Diagnostic– Page TitlesPlay Doctor with the Site CommandFormat: site:www.website.comExample: site:www.wow-toyota.com 12

13Quick Diagnostic:Duplicate Page TitlesDuplicate META descriptionsMETA descriptions could be stronger

Effective Marketing with Press Releases14

Google & Press Releases15Press releases and press release icons are getting a good amount of attention in Google SERP

Website Content - PR Challenges16Most web platforms don’t have a blogging module installed.Creating additional content pages often requires assistance from your platform vendorThe more content you add to your primary website, the wider your search visibility will be.However, all marketing budgets are being cut and good Internet trained writers are hard to find.New content is often the first thing on the chopping block and the LAST thing that should be cut from Internet Marketing.Professionals who can DEMONSTRATE that their writing skills drive traffic to a company website will be funded.

Press Releases to The Rescue17Press release solve the limited content capabilities of most websites.Where traditional press release fall short, Internet press release can provided instant feedback.Press releases can get on Google Page One in hours.Internet press releases give clients measurable results.Press Release costs are scalable to the NET effect you want to accomplish.Press Releases can stay in Google search results for a very long time.

How To Research Keywords18There are many free and paid tools on the market and for most people the free tools are fine.Google Yahoo and MSN all offer free tools for keyword research.Link to Google’s Keyword Research Toolhttps://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternalKeywords should be prioritized and a checklist created to mark where phrases have been targeted with press releases.

Press Release Writing for the Internet 19

Publicist Training 101 Internet Press Releases are different than traditional press releases. A special focus needs to be on Press Release Titles, Teasers and keyword targets. Don’t overstress on creating content, you can often repurpose information that has already been written. 300-500 words is an ideal target for press releases and always include links back to your website, and not just the home page! Develop your Press Release in Word with multiple Titles and Teasers. Good Press Releases = Traffic and Links20

Internet Press Releases are different than traditional press releases.

A special focus needs to be on Press Release Titles, Teasers and keyword targets.

Don’t overstress on creating content, you can often repurpose information that has already been written.

300-500 words is an ideal target for press releases and always include links back to your website, and not just the home page!

Develop your Press Release in Word with multiple Titles and Teasers.

Sample Working Document21 Create multiple version of your titles Create multiple teasers to go along with the titles Your body should open with your strongest keywords Include 1-2 live links in the body, if allowed, and hyperlink key phrase to go to a good landing page. Use this document to make it easier to post on multiple sites. keep track on where you posted with a note on the bottom of your worksheet.

Create multiple version of your titles

Create multiple teasers to go along with the titles

Your body should open with your strongest keywords

Include 1-2 live links in the body, if allowed, and hyperlink key phrase to go to a good landing page.

Use this document to make it easier to post on multiple sites.

keep track on where you posted with a note on the bottom of your worksheet.

Sample Press Release22

Sample Press Release23

Sample Press Release24

Example of Publicist Power25

26Measuring the Effectiveness of PR Portals

PR on a Modest Budget27* Some of these services are free and some have small fees associated with publishing a press release that can range from $1.00 - $25.00

PR Campaigns With a Large Budget28

budurl allows you to track how many people visit your web pages.Instead of recommending your normal web page (url) in a web post, you will recommend a budurl.You can measure which “posts” have the best net traffic patterns to your web pages.The advantage over Google Analytics is that you can tag each budurl with a comment to describe the post so its easy to see what is working.Analogy: Color coded tickets to an event can show who sold them.29

BudUrl ExampleFord Dealer ExampleFor example, if you write a press release announcing your car service specials, the page link you would normally post would be something like this:http://www.prestonford.com/coupons.asp?keywords=specialsIf you wanted to track visitors, you would replace this URL with a budurl that would look like this: http://budurl.com/forddealercouponsIf you click on both URL’s you will see that they take you to the same webpage. The trick is that you can now log into your budurl account and see how many people clicked on your link. Each budurl can have a description – CRS help. Application #1: This is also a great way to test interest in cars on CraigslistApplication #2: Test Outlook Email campaigns that are small and outside of your normal CRM based email blasts.30

Let’s Post a Press Releasewww.prlog.orgwww.free-press-release.comwww.webwire.com31

Repurpose Press ReleasesUse Free Blogging PlatformsContent Delivery PlatformsMerchant Circle Example Fast Company ExampleWordpress Example32

Press Release Marketing Strategies33

Internet Press Releases TopicsTalk About Your ReviewsTalk About New Promotions, Sales or Special EventsTalk About Industry Tradeshow ParticipationDetail Specific ProductsDetail New ServicesAnnounce new Clients Publish Opinions on NewsTry to piggy-back on things that are hot!34

What About Your Reviews?Popular Review Websites http://www.dealerrater.com http://www.insiderpages.comhttp://www.judysbook.com http://www.yelp.comhttp://www.merchantcircle.com http://local.yahoo.com http://www.citysearch.com http://www.superpages.comhttp://www.local.com35Have you setup an IRM process?

http://www.dealerrater.com

http://www.insiderpages.com

http://www.judysbook.com

http://www.yelp.com

http://www.merchantcircle.com

http://local.yahoo.com

http://www.citysearch.com

http://www.superpages.com

http://www.local.com

Wordpress software is free.It allows anyone to create content for the web with tools as easy as Microsoft Word.The costs can vary but you want to place the site on a good URL, which you may already own.Hosting will run < $100 a year.When setup properly, Google loves to index Wordpress blog pages.Leveraging PR on Wordpress Blogshttp://www.infinitig37nj.comVisibility for G37 cars36

Wordpress software is free.

It allows anyone to create content for the web with tools as easy as Microsoft Word.

The costs can vary but you want to place the site on a good URL, which you may already own.

Hosting will run < $100 a year.

When setup properly, Google loves to index Wordpress blog pages.

Press Releases Help Visibility37

38Google Search For:Montclair Volvo3/8/2009PCG Blog2 Press ReleasesDealer WebsiteMerchantCircleYellowbot

Google Search For:BMW Peabody3/8/2009Map with Web LinkCompany WebsiteSpoke DirectoryPCG Blog PostYelp DirectoryUsed Car MicrositePress ReleaseMerchant Circle39

Google Search For:Infiniti G37 Arizona3/8/2009Press ReleaseVox BlogDealer WebsitesPress ReleasePCG Blog40

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Link Building StrategiesAutomated Paid ServicesManual Paid ServicesActively engaging:Industry ForumsPress Releases **BloggingVideo/Photo GalleriesSelects sites that will give you the best ROI.Don’t build all your links to the home page.42

Free Internet LinksThe goal of using these free directories is to: Build quality inbound links Create visibility for top search phrases Leverage their content tools Leverage their review tools Push competitors off SERP’sAlways signup for the free basic listings. I don’t recommend paid listings on the “yellow” websites for car dealers; it may work some other businesses.Make sure all of these websites have correct information and live web links.43

Build quality inbound links

Create visibility for top search phrases

Leverage their content tools

Leverage their review tools

Push competitors off SERP’s

Play Detective with the LinkFormat: link:www.website.comExample: link:www.actontoyota.com44

45Yahoo Link Command The Yahoo link command works better for public sites than the Google link command.

Free Marketing ToolsBonus DiscussionCreate Sitemaps and RSS Feedshttp://www.sitemapdoc.comGet Snapshots of web pageshttp://www.shrinktheweb.comAutomated Pingshttp://www.pingler.comGoogle SEO Starter GuideDownload PDF Booklet 46

Post Webinar Questions47Brian Pasch, CEOPasch Consulting GroupPO Box 159Rumson, NJ 07760brian@paschconsulting.com732-450-8200 office732-672-2356 cellwww.paschconsulting.com