There is limited competition for a good Press Release. There are many Free Press Release services and even the paid services are quite cheap. And best of all: Google Loves Press Releases and ranks them very high AND very quickly in their search engine results.
First, realize that you don t have to write a Pulitzer Prize winning Press Release. Showing up is way more important than having the best Press Release ever written. Second, understand that once you know the standard format for a Press Release most people consider them easier than writing an article.
We are going to give you simple instructions. We are going to give you a template to follow. By merely filling in the sections of the template you will be halfway done. We are going to give you some good examples. And we are going to give you our: Secret Press Release Formula to get those front page rankings to bring you that all important traffic.
First you check the 'Profitability' of a niche by searching in Google with your keyword phrase. You are looking to see if there are 2, 3 or more pay-per-click ads on the left hand side of the search engine results that are returned for that keyword phrase. If someone is paying money to run these ads then there must be money to be made.
Our example is a somewhat unusual niche: Infertility. Here is a screenshot of the actual Google search results page and you can see there are 7 Pay-Per-Click ads and you ll also notice NOT ONE SINGLE PRESS RELEASE! This is wide open right now.
There are two thing places for a Press Release to rank high and bring you traffic. The search engine Google itself. And News.Google.com which actually is easier to rank high and bring you traffic. Let s first look at ranking high on Google itself.
Search in Google for your keyword phrase in quotation marks such as: Infertility Now what you want are results less than 50,000. Ideally NO 'Direct Domain Name Matches' on the first page of results No Government or Educational Institution websites
You can see from the previous screenshot that right now we are at 34,300,000 results which is well above 50,000 so how do we narrow that down? We could switch to another niche or we could focus or keyword into a longer keyword phrase Let s try: "infertility treatments using acupuncture techniques
Trying to keep this as short as possible I jumped to a longer keyword phrase but also used one that will easily appear naturally in the writing of the actual Press Release. You see there are Pay-Per-Click Ads. But what really stands out is the: No results found for "infertility treatments using acupuncture techniques It s waiting for you
Again you'll want to check the competition on Google News. So you go to Google news which can be found here: https://news.google.com If you see 20-50 results for that keyword or keyword phrase then you are going to rank in the news easily. Let s go step by step with our keyword Infertility
We ll start with a single, very general keyword: infertility It s hard to see with the faint grey text being used but it is showing: 51,600 results That s too high so we will start to drill down as they say when it comes to working with keywords.
Next we want to start to narrow our niche and we ll use the keyword phrase: infertility treatment We now see: 1,940 results That s still too high so we will continue to drill down in our niche by adding to our keyword phrase.
Here is the result using the keyword phrase: infertility treatment acupuncture Now we have gotten all the way down to only: 418 results Close, but no cigar. We are looking for less than 50 results so we just take it another step further
Lets add one more word and use the keyword phrase: infertility treatment acupuncture methods Bingo! We are seeing: 15 results We now have the keyword phrase will use to target our Press Release for Google News.
Let s review the keyword progression we went through to find the keyword phrase with less than 50 results: 1 infertility 2 infertility treatment 3 infertility treatment acupuncture 4 infertility treatment acupuncture methods
Let s briefly review the first part of our Secret Press Release Formula: 1 Google Loves Press Releases 2 Check 'Profitability' by looking for PPC ads 3 Use both Google and Google News 4 Google competition check: less than 50,000 results 5 Google News competition check: less than 50 results
Before we take an in-depth look at a good Press Release here are the main points to keep in mind: 1 This is NEWS written in a professional tone. 2 This is NOT a sales letter or an article. 3 ALL facts mentioned MUST have 100% proof. 4 Minimum 300 words. 5 CHECK for spelling and grammatical errors.
The Header (Not the Headline): For an online Press Release the header will be this: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Yep! That s it. (I did mention that by simply filling in the sections of the template, or format, you will be halfway there to writing your Press Release.)
The Headline must balance between the Shock Value and Making An Announcement so for the Shock Value: The headline should reach out and grab them by the hair and shake their eyes out of their sockets... UNDERSTOOD?!?!?! Think of what are sometimes referred to as Supermarket Tabloids Yes, you are thinking correctly as most of you probably thought of The National Enquirer Outrageous headlines that honestly relate to the content of the Press Release are what you are looking for!
Here are a few examples you have seen or heard: Who Else Want To Look Like A Movie Star? Secrets That The Credit Card Companies Don t Want You to Know!
Now for the Headline Making An Announcement here are some actual examples: Service Delivery Management Software, Clear Computing Online, Available Now Do It In Person partners with Village Pourhouse to Launch the Passport Program Studica Launches UnityEducators.org - a Unity Educators User Group
This may seem confusing but the idea we want to get across is that you want to get as much attention as possible from your headline without going overboard. You want people to click on your Press Release to read it, but you also do not want Google to ignore it because it just seems too outrageous.
The last, but very IMPORTANT, point to remember when it comes to the headline for your Press Release is to always deliver on the Promise proclaimed in your headline. Don t do what might be called a Bait and Switch Example: 6 Foot Man Eating Chicken and the Press Release talks about a guy who is 6 feet tall eating a piece of chicken. You get the idea, right?
The Dateline: All your Press Releases must have a dateline. The dateline is usually placed either under the header and before the headline or at the beginning of the press release body, along with the city and state/country. Now here's the good news! Most Press Release Services have a place for you to just fill it in and if they don't here is how you would set this up:
The Dateline: This example is when there is a place in the submission form specifically for the dateline: Scottsdale, AZ (PR NAME) May 29, 2012
Some Press Release Services will have a Subtitle. Your goal here is to create a 'Teaser' by giving only half of a thought or idea, example: How Did 29 Year Old Mary Scott Of Boise, Idaho Get Car Insurance For Only $17.99 Per Month? Or you can begin to explain a 'Benefit' for them based on What s In It For Me but NOT give away all the information.
Actual Subtitle: Studica, Inc., the education source for software and technology products has launched UnityEducators.org, a Unity Educators User Group, designed to help bring game design & development to a classroom near you.
Do You Feel An Incredible Love For Game Design & Development? Want To Earn Your Living Designing Software For The Gaming Industry? Studica, Inc., has Launched UnityEducators.org To Bring Game Design Education To A Classroom Near You! Now... Notice the difference?
So here is our Subtitle summary You want them to HAVE to click on your Press Release to read the whole thing or else they will never even see the link to your website or your squeeze page. If you give away the whole ball of wax they have no incentive to click and read your Press Release. Bye, bye sale. Always Capitalize The First Letter Of Each Word In Your Subtitle. Make it short and sweet; two or three sentences at the most. TEASE THEM!
Now we get to the body, the main part, of the actual Press Release itself. The first paragraph is extremely important, it should contain the most important elements in your Press Release presented in a concise manner all designed to get them to read your entire Press Release! Get your keyword phrase in here as well.
After the first paragraph the next few paragraphs will expand on, go into more detail, what was stated in the first paragraph. You want to give them valuable information or another viewpoint that other people would not know or have thought of. Give away some quality facts,but be sure you can honestly back them up.
The next to last paragraph is also important. This is where you will explain the benefit, the What s In It For Me? to set up your Call To Action BUT!... You can NOT let it come across as a sales pitch. Google and other places will not pick up stories that are simply sales pitches, so avoid this or your Press Release will fail to reach your intended audience.
Included at the very end of the Press Release will be your contact info. Most services will have a separate place in their submission form so it is easy to fill in. The information you put in here is up to you and will depend on the type of business you have.
First off, make sure you put YOUR NAME here. You can put a link to your website but use the URL itself as in: www.mywebsite.com. Don t use any anchor text. If you are a local business you will probably want your full physical address and telephone number. You should also include an email address.
How you use your email address will depend again upon the type of business you have and how aggressive you want to be. You can set up an auto-responder so that each time someone tries to contact you, your email replies automatically directing them to your website. If you are a local business with a product or service, you might want to personally answer any questions they have to go more into selling them.
Since many of you may be selling products as an affiliate one of the more aggressive things you can do is to send them to a squeeze page where you can capture the email addresses of these people who are obviously interested in the types of products or services your Press Release informed them about. Without a squeeze page you will not be building up your own mailing list, but only adding to the list of the owner of the product you are selling as an affiliate.
The reason why this works so effectively is that we redirect them to the main offer page (Your affiliate link) as soon as they enter their email address. This allows you to win in two ways: 1 - You got their email address which you can use to follow up, build the relationship to sell later, or just hit them with another offer. 2 - AND you have showed them the offer that they really want to learn more about. (They have shown an interest by clicking the link inside the Press Release).
You see how the path to draw them in is being set up? Headline grabs their attention. Subtitle increases their interest. First paragraph whets their appetite further. Body gives more details but leave them wanting more. The last paragraph makes them bite. If you can, tease them a little more by stating one more thing without going into any actual details. They click on your link or your email address and then you set the hook.
Most Press Release services will have their own forms where you just have to fill in the blanks and everything will be done so don t stress much about the formatting of your contact details. You only need to focus on exactly what information you want to put there and where it will lead them to.
Let me restate the important parts of the Press Release format so you can better understand that balance of what you want as far as NEWS so your Press Release will get published and what you can do to create a SALE once it gets out there. I ll also throw in a few extra tips!
Think of yourself as a serious journalist and... ALWAYS WRITE IN THE 3RD PERSON! Make an announcement! An easy way to get started is to do your first press release announcing your new website or your latest post to your blog! Interview yourself. Seriously. You are both the reporter and the person being interviewed. This is another way to get started and to get used to writing Press Releases.
The most important details should be included in the opening paragraph of the press release. The remainder of the press release should contain more information about you and your business At the end you can include a call to action here, but do NOT let it come across as a sales pitch! Understand how you want to set up your contact information.
Quotes are great! Facts or statistics are also great as long as you can reference them and prove they are true. You can throw in a little history of you or your product or service that relates to the topic of your Press Release. Images are great as well, but you do not have to have them so don't let the lack of an image keep you from getting started.
Header - Easy Headline Grab Them Dateline Easy First Paragraph The Whole Point Of The Press Release Should Be Made Here Middle Paragraphs Expand On First Paragraph Last Paragraph Soft Sell / Tease Contact Info
Let s review again the simplicity of our Secret Press Release Formula: 1 Google Loves Press Releases 2 Check 'Profitability' by looking for PPC ads 3 Use both Google and Google News 4 Google competition check: less than 50,000 results 5 Google News competition check: less than 50 results
Here Are Some Final Thoughts For You To Consider: Don't Be Intimidated By The Phrase "Press Release" And Think You Have To Write Something That Would Be Put Out By A Major Corporation Like Microsoft! Following The Format And The Submission Forms Used By The Press Release Services Will Get Most Of The Work Done
Please Understand Two Very Important Things. Your Press Release Will Only Show For 2 To 4 Days, but you will be at the top of the first page! This Is Great for Exposure And Backlinks. Not All Of Your Press Releases Will Get Picked Up And Make The First Page, But So What?!? Reload And FIRE AGAIN!
With A Successful Press Release Showing Up For An Average Of 3 Days Think Volume Over Perfection! Instead Of One 700 Word Press Release The Same Amount Of Words Can Get You Two 350 Word Press Releases For The Same Amount Of Work!
Some Press Release services have an "About" section. This is about you or your company NOT about your product or service. If you do not have a company, don't let this throw you off. Just briefly, in a low key statement, talk about you and why you have this website or wrote this press release and it can be a as short as a single sentence!
Now let s look at one more thing and I have left this for last as we want you to get started churning out Press Releases first and foremost. To get to the top of Google with Press Releases on a more consistent basis you will need to do just 1 more extra thing build a few backlinks. They don t even have to be do-follow. It is just to show Google that your NEWS is getting noticed and is being read and passed around.
For doing this you need to social bookmark your news article once you get the URL of the Press Release that you posted. You can do this yourself or you can just go grab a gig at fiverr.com. At fiverr.com for $5 they will bookmark your URL with 2-3 anchor texts to many different sites. For $5 you can save yourself a lot of time!
Facebook can be of value as well. Once you social bookmark it, also share it on your Facebook walls and ask friends to like it and share it. You won t believe how valuable Google considers this with news articles.
Last Words. In The World Of Internet Marketing, It Is Better To Do Something Poorly Then Do Nothing At All. And You Get Better And Faster At Doing It The More You Do It. Get Started! Take Action!