PRWeb put up a blog post discussing the impact the Panda Update has had its traffic. Here’s the graph they provide, indicating that traffic has gone up over the course of time since Panda was first announced.

The company says:

The methodology that Google uses to algorithmically determine whether a site is “low-value” or not, is a matter of some debate however Google has been forthcoming in explaining that it involved their “standard evaluation system,” where they “send out documents to outside testers,” review the feedback and then determine how to algorithmically simulate the experience of quality evaluation.

It should be further noted that in addition to our editorial guidelines, we are also constantly iterating our site and the manner in which we syndicate content to ensure ongoing compliance with the evolving standards that Google and other search engines maintain.  This combination of editorial oversight and technological iteration has helped us significantly increase our traffic in the “year of the Panda” while some notable high volume content sites have been hurt.

I guess the question is: what has PRWeb done right that the others haven’t. Any takers?

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You can put out press releases and just sit there and hope your stories get picked up and/or read by customers, but it helps if you optimize them for those who are most likely to be interested.

Nida Haque, Marketing Manager of PRWeb spoke with WebProNews recently about press release optimization. "Do your keyword research," she says. "Don’t use words that are just on your website. Do the searching before it and see what people are searching for."

"Be a little creative," she adds. "See what’s happening in the season." She cites Black Friday as an example. A lot of people are searching for Black Friday deals ahead of Thanksgiving, which presents opportunities to take advantage of that from within press releases, because press releases can be pretty powerful for search. 

Lisa Buyer, CEO of The Buyer Group told us, "It used to be with public relations that we were reaching out to the journalists with a press release and trying to get the journalist to do the story, and now with the optimization and the online opportunities with press releases we can actually reach our targets direct by optimizing our press releases and releasing them on the search engines, and then using social media to even get more exposure." 

She also shared some thoughts on the added value press releases can get from Twitter. "You can use Twitter…as part of your PR program, as part of your news feed, so Twitter is like basically…we all know it’s 140 characters so it’s like putting out little nuggets of news via Twitter, so if you take your press release and kind of chop it up into four or five different sound bytes, and then put those out…over the Twitter news feed each day…" 

Of course press releases aren’t just about search and social media traffic. You want press. You want journalists and bloggers to pick up stories and really get them spread around. Well there are ways to get them to pay attention more. First, obviously, you need an interesting product or announcement, but it also helps if you give the blogger/journlist something else to latch onto. A lot of details help, but so do visuals. 

"48% are more attracted to video news releases or image news releases than just your standard kind of text-only news releases, so that will definitely help a lot," says Haque, who notes that using multimedia in press releases also increases the time spent on page by an average of 30 seconds when it comes to customers viewing the release themselves. 

Lee Odden of TopRank marketing had some good advice on getting releases in front of journalists in another interview with WebProNews earlier this year. He says to look at what it is you can do as a marketer to make it easier for the journalist to do their job. Optimize your content for what a journalist is looking for. 

"A small business called Leatherup.com, which sells peripheral gear for motorcycle riders issued a news release on November 6, 2008, titled, ‘LeatherUp.com 2008 Sales Explode to over $20 Million,’" the representative tells WebProNews. "This year alone, this release has received more than 11,000 unique page views excluding advertising (I can see that Leatherup.com used this release as a landing page for some Doubleclick ads which boosted the total unique views to more than 20,000, so have excluded them)."

"Once I had the 11,000 number, with the exclusion, I looked at the entrance sources," he says. Among the top ten, these include (all numbers are unique views):

Google:  2,832
Direct:  1,551
AOL: 696
search.rr.com 247

"Moreover, peak views included December 11, 2009 – more than a year after the release was published," he continues. "The flat periods before April 7, 2009 are due to the fact that we had not yet implemented Google Analytics at that time, and the flat period in June 2009, is when PRWeb.com migrated over to a new Web site – the point being these search results could well be higher."

There are a number of reasons that press releases can be great for search. They’re great for spreading word to the media (journalists/bloggers), they can contain links, when used with credible news wire services, they are often looked upon with some authority, and as discussed above, their shelf-life can be significant.

Related Articles:

> Search Engine and Social Traffic from Press Releases

> Press Releases New SEO Back Door to Top Rankings

> Getting the Media to Cover Your Business

"Search engine rankings are arguably the most important small business marketing tool available today because it drives Web traffic — and potential prospects — to a small business’ Web site," a PRWeb spokesperson tells WebProNews. "However, because improving search rankings is desirable, achieving results can be both challenging and highly competitive."

PRWeb shared a case study with us, involving a firm that typically sees a boost in search engine rankings and a 50% spike in web traffic after they issue a release. In fact, for one release in particular, the firm saw a spike of 400% on two different Web sites, and the firm doesn’t believe they were from the same users. They also incorporate social media tools like Twitter to extend the "shelf life" of press releases, and say that drives additional traffic.

"If you want a release to rank highly in search engines you have to use key words and link those to your Web site," says Peter Figueredo, CEO of NETexponent, the subject of the case study.  "In addition, you need to put them in the release a few of times, for example in the headline, the sub-headline and again in the body. This is different from a traditional news release with a catchy headline where you may not have your key words included." 

"When we included a link to our press releases on Twitter and other social media networks, we saw these both expanded the scope of distribution and the extended the longevity of the announcement," adds Figueredo.  "With other news releases we saw an initial spike in Web site traffic on the first two days and then it dropped off.  With these features we’ve seen increases in traffic up to five days after the news release was issued."

Some have suggested that Twitter could actually replace the press release. I wouldn’t go that far, but it provides a complimentary service for announcing news quickly. The press release just has much broader potential. That hasn’t stopped at least one company from offering a service that provides one line "Twitter-style" press releases.

When we think of press releases, we often think of distribution, which is a huge part of it definitely. But when using a newswire service like PRWeb, BusinessWire, PRNewswire, etc., don’t forget about your own website as well. Earlier this year I discussed how some companies’ own press centers are holding back some marketing opportunities for them.

Your site should have a section for press releases, and that should be up to date with the latest release when it goes out. You’d be surprised at how often these go without being updated even when a press release has been spotted elsewhere. It is also a good idea to link to any company blogs, Twitter accounts, or any other place where company announcements are made.

Another thing I notice is that many company press pages also do not have RSS feeds set up. Some offer different kinds of press alerts, but otherwise, they are relying on people to frequently check back to see what is happening. Google does this well. They announce a lot of their news via their wide range of blogs (which is a great strategy in itself), and while their press release section doesn’t get nearly as many updates, they offer a feed so that users know when it has been updated. They also provide links to other press-related resources where their latest info can be obtained.

The bottom line is that press releases inform interested parties of what is going on with your business. Despite their name, they’re not just about the press anymore. The web has made them available to anyone. Social media is an extension of this, and opens up the opportunity for sharing. Search engine rankings of course bring releases right to searchers. Make your releases good.

Do you get good boosts in traffic from press releases? Tell us about it.

Yes, some industries are less effective and they have fallen in importance, but SEO press releases can still be a very cost-effective strategy to getting search engine rankings.

I’ve long recommended PRLeap (and Clickpress) as an SEO press release distribution option for small businesses. It’s ideal for small budgets or for times you don’t need or want a lot of extra features. You just want a link.

If you hope to capture both traditional and online media, along with more reporting and multimedia features, I’ve gone with PRWeb’s service. Just make sure it’s well-written because if the editorial score isn’t a 4 or 5 most journalists won’t see your release. To filter out the noise you can exclude lower quality releases. They also offer more social media features.

I’ve never used PR Leap’s free service because it didn’t allow anchored text in the press release, but no matter now. Starting January 1, 2008, PR Leap won’t offer a free option.

PRLeap is now adding social media features as a primary focus. As of yesterday, their top offering will be $149 and the most first tier is $49. The $149 release allows you to attach up to five multimedia features – such as video, a PDF file, your logo, or a podcast. Up until now they’ve only allowed text. Replacing the free version is now their basic release with no images or frills. However, they submit your news to Ask.com News and Google News. They don’t mention anchored text but I assume that now comes standard. Social bookmarking links to Digg, Delicious, Reddit, and Stumble are at the end of each release, but not a way to leave comments.

I became a convert to SEO press releases over a year ago. I asked my boss if I could experiment with optimized press releases. I simply took the press release written by our PR firm and SEOed it. The release became one of the top 5 sites sending traffic to our web site for several months. Then another one I sent out got a #5 ranking for a niche keyword just two days after it was released.

Some say SEO press releases have fallen in importance, however I’ve still seen results, especially when combined with social networking and blogging (example: Avant Link – a niche affiliate network). I’d be curious if anyone reading this has feedback on how it’s working for them.

Comments

Tag:

::Don’t like the format – it’s about open media, new media so have it free flowing. The beginning started with a ‘hold your questions’ type admonition, which is not the way it shoulda been.::

PR people do need to reach out to the bloggers in their space – a unanimous decision – because bloggers are looking for various and different stories than traditional journalists. And, some can be more interested and be more passionate about the subject rather than the trade journalist.

If a blogger follows journalistic standards, then you can deal with them the same way. But, it’s about knowing the people, the relationships. Treat them with respect – it’s a golden rule.

There are distinctions on bloggers – from professionals to semi-pros to amateurs. And, it’s a difference in outreach also. There’s IM versus email versus Facebook walls versus Twitter versus commenting on blogs (I view that as comment SPAM, though).

About sharing the stories, the good, bad and the indifferent. Cross-pollinating the stories, to the point of online and offline engagement.

Should there be a new PR person, or can the traditional PR people learn. Do there need to be specialized teams, or can the traditional teams need to be trained.

PR is everyone at the company’s responsibility – if you are an employee, you are in PR for the company whenever you are engaged in the public. There is a team for media relations, but we all have responsibilities in the public perception of the company.

Rachel Luxemburg also wrote on the panel.

Comments

Tag:

What options are available to an organization to help promote their hottest news items? I have come up with a few but if anyone can suggest others please let me know.

- SMO/Social Bookmarking: Using services such as Digg, Reddit, Netscape, Del.icio.us and Furl to distribute your news item to millions of users very quickly. It is important to understand who your audience is because services like Digg are very tech focused. Making your title and summary as enticing as possible can help generate more interest.

- Google News: If your site is constantly up to date with its industry’s news you should consider applying to become a Google News Source (news-feedback@google.com). Otherwise launching searches on Google News related to your topic and compiling a list of sites to submit to is another way to end up on Google News.

- PRWeb: After a $40-200 contribution you can submit your news item to PRWeb which will eventually get your content posted on Google News. PRWeb also emails your news items to hundreds of affiliate partners. PRWeb comes with a small stats package to help you track the effectiveness of your content.

- EzineArticles: This is free service which allows content to be submitted to dozens of categories; EzineAriticles has developed quite the content network. EzineArticles allows 10 free submissions and if your content is really great you can potentially be granted “Platinum Status” (unlimited submissions).

Other Services to consider:

- Squidoo
- PRleap
- Promotion World

Comments

Bookmark WebProNews:

Manoj has been working in the search engine marketing industry since 2002. He started out as a software developer but now provides in-depth web site analysis using web analytics.

http://www.enquiro.com

Manoj is also the author of Web Analytics World. Web Analytics is an essential component in developing a successful
online campaign. Help convert visitors into customers by understanding
them.

Yesterday for the second time ever, I personally used PRWeb’s Podcast service that’s available when you select a $200 or higher option for press release distribution. As with the first time, I was totally impressed.

The process is pretty simple. You order a press release to be distributed and pick the $200 level. As you go through the process of enabling or activating the various options for the release, you’ll have the option of scheduling a PRWeb Podcast. Pick a date and time that works for you and you’ll get an email with the phone number and access code.

When you call, a member of PRWeb’s staff will give you a rundown of how the interview will happen and then ask you questions about the topic of your release. The great thing about this service is that no matter how many “ummms”, “ahhhs” and rambling that you do, the PRWeb staff that edits the interview audio file can make you sound great.

We distributed a press release this morning on the upcoming Pubcon conference and here is the result of my podcast interview with “Mr. Charisma” Mario, from PRWeb. Mario made it effortless and the editing team took care of the rest. The podcast is embedded as a link in the press release page hosted with PRWeb. It’s also available on the PRWeb Podcast web site.
You can use the audio file anyway you like. After the press release is distributed, you can use the audio file in your pitching efforts to the media and/or link to it from your web site. It’s also great content for the social media press release format.

The best part is, this option comes at no additional charge for the $200 distribution fee. That’s a no brainer in my book.

Comments

Tag:

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

Lee Odden is President and Founder of
TopRank Online Marketing, specializing in organic SEO, blog
marketing and online public relations. He’s been cited as a search
marketing expert by publications including U.S. News & World Report and
The Economist and has implemented successful search marketing programs
with top BtoB companies of all sizes. Odden shares his marketing
expertise at Online Marketing Blog offering
daily news, interviews and best practices.

SEO – $80

This is the distribution level that has set the standard for search engine optimized press release distribution for the last five years. In order to provide a difference for our $80 users, we’re making some clear changes we believe will provide beneficial differences between SEO and the next level.

• To reduce noise, we’re creating a dedicated page for our $80 product. Less competition on the page means more visibility.
• We’re also streamlining the submission process for this level, reducing the time it takes to upload your press release on PRWeb.

SEO with Social Media – $120

This package incorporates all of the SEO features from the “SEO” distribution, plus all of PRWeb’s social media features including our patent pending TrackBacks/PingBacks and PR Tag Clouds. Other features available at this level include Technorati tagging, “Quotables,” and social bookmarking. (If you haven’t taken advantage of these new features, I encourage you to turn them on. Your press releases’ performance improvement can be significant). Also look for your release in Pheedo’s RSS and Blog network. First-page positioning on PRWeb is guaranteed the day of your release.

Advanced Online Visibility – $200

This distribution option gives you access to all of the enhanced SEO and social media functionality, coupled with new tools including our exclusive eBook creation utility and our newly enhanced statistics. We have spent the last year re-thinking and re-vamping the way we measure online visibility. Our Advanced Online Visibility program gives you incisive leadership in your media campaigns, the broadest toolset and the very best positioning on PRWeb.com.

I hope to talk to David McInnis about more details including revised press release statistics later today

Comments

Tag:

Add to Del.icio.us | Yahoo! My Web | Furl

TopRank Online Marketing, specializing in organic SEO, blog
marketing and online public relations. He’s been cited as a search
marketing expert by publications including U.S. News & World Report and
The Economist and has implemented successful search marketing programs
with top BtoB companies of all sizes. Odden shares his marketing
expertise at Online Marketing Blog offering
daily news, interviews and best practices.

“Vocus will create and host for Business Wire a co-branded version of the PRWeb direct-to-consumer and SEO service. Business Wire members may disseminate press releases so they will be indexed by major search engines, distributed to thousands of news sites, including Google News and Yahoo News, and delivered through more than 20,000 RSS feeds that collectively reach tens of millions of consumers and thousands of journalists daily.”

This partnership will give Business Wire a leg up over other wire services looking into the optimized press release space. It will also give Business Wire clients the opportunity to take advantage of the new media press release features pioneered by PRWeb.
I agree David, this is big news. Congratulations!

Comments

Bookmark WebProNews:

Lee Odden is President and Founder of
TopRank Online Marketing, specializing in organic SEO, blog
marketing and online public relations. He’s been cited as a search
marketing expert by publications including U.S. News & World Report and
The Economist and has implemented successful search marketing programs
with top BtoB companies of all sizes. Odden shares his marketing
expertise at Online Marketing Blog offering
daily news, interviews and best practices.