Press releases offer an excellent vehicle to introduce your business, a new product or service, spark interest in a new website or newly redesigned website, or inform readers about changes in your staffing, services and hours. Press releases provide basic written information about a news item, and often include quotes from a representative of the releasing organization.
Press Releases Offer Significant Benefits
Press releases allow your business to take advantage of both immediate and long-term benefits. Your business gets the immediate benefit of providing the valuable news and information contained in the press release, but once the press release is indexed into the major search engines, you stake a claim on highly placed search engine results. A well-written press release that is optimized for search engines can produce highly ranked search engine results for your business years after the release has been issued. These results increase the chances that search engine referrals will drive additional traffic to your business.
Press Releases and Distribution Options
Press releases can be distributed through free distribution channels or through “premium placement” services for a fee. Most press release distribution service (free and premium) can provide access to both national and international news organizations.
The primary advantage of free press release distribution is the price! Your organization can issue releases at no additional cost, gain access to widely viewed distribution channels and scoop up valuable search engine rankings. Free distribution can lead to long-lasting exposure in search engine results, as well as allow your release to reach major print and web-based news organizations. In most cases, your release must conform to the distribution service’s editorial guidelines. These guidelines can limit the length, subject matter and frequency of your free press release distributions.
Free services do not provide statistics on the number of places in which your release appeared or links to organizations that published it. Typically, they are also ad-supported. Your press release may appear with ads for related or unrelated products, services or businesses. Generally, the ads do not compete directly with your business, and they are not considered potentially offensive or controversial. While you could think of these ads as being potentially competitive, keep in mind that another business is paying for the distribution of your press release.
If you operate on a tight budget, free distribution is ideal. These services often have more liberal word limits than premium placement services do. If you are attempting to reach a specific publication or set of publications, you can also submit your release directly to them at no cost. There’s never any guarantee that the publication will pick up your news item, but you can assure yourself that your item reached your target destination.
In my next post, I’ll discuss the benefits and challenges of premium press release distribution. Grantstreet Creative offers a full line of services designed to promote and market small- and medium-sized businesses. if you would like more information about press releases and how you can use them to support your business effectively, please contact our Creative Director, Dave Ramsell or give Dave a call at (330) 243-0651 to set up a consultation.
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