WebProNews

Nowadays, with everyone and their grandmothers creating websites, it can be difficult for any one online business to gain attention.

While some website owners have followed the trend toward search engine optimization and better equipped their websites to gain much needed traffic, many still haven't realized the full potential search marketing offers in branding their websites through the use of optimized press releases and blogs.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is probably one of the best ways to bring traffic to a website. But what about establishing that website's presence within its respective industry? Or, re-establishing that website's presence after it has been the recipient of bad press? An optimized press release, distributed through online newswires such as eMediawire allows a website to do both, quickly. While full SEO can take a while to garner attention and traffic, an optimized press relea se can be disseminated immediately and can put a company's name in front of thousands of customers and journalists actively searching for information found in that press release.

Major news search engines such as Yahoo News, which has a unique audience of almost 25 million readers, and Google News, with 7 million, are proof that people are actively searching for news online. And these news search engines work in very much the same way their parent search engines do in that they offer the opportunity for press releases to be optimized. And if you can optimize a press release, why not add it to the paid search listings, as well, and cover your bases in the two dominant methods of search?

In addition to search engines, blogs are also a good way to brand a website. With some studies showing that nearly 40% of top search listings come from consumer-generated media such as blogs, it would only seem smart for a website to create a blog with its own optimized content and allow customers to get involved, thereby building both the popularity and the quantity and quality of keyword relevant content on the website.

SEO should not be abandoned for optimized press releases and blogs by any means. But the latter two should serve as compliments to the first in not only getting traf fic to the website, but getting positive attention for the site as well, which in the long run can lead to even more traffic.

Chris Winfield is the President and Co-founder of 10e20. He has written for various organizations in the past and frequently speaks with the media.