Optimizing Your Press Releases - Use Those Keywords!
(Page 3 of 4 )
I mentioned keywords in the previous section. I’d like to emphasize that you must use relevant keywords. By “relevant” I mean keywords that are both relevant to your press release, and being used by web surfers to find information related to your press release. Learn what words your target audience uses to think of your offering, and you’ll be able to put your press release right in front of their faces. Remember the point I made in the first section, that many people have keyword alerts set up to send content directly to their email inboxes. Research your keywords well, and your release will be right there.
Here’s another point to consider when choosing keywords, by the way: use a well-known brand name if you can. For instance, if your company is partnering with the company that owns that brand name, you’d be able to use the brand name then; you might even want to put the other company’s name in the press release before your own. That will help get you spotted.
Once you’ve settled on your keywords, where do you use them? I’ve already mentioned that you want to use your most relevant keywords in the headline of your press release. But of course, the headline is hardly the only place to use those important keywords.
Usually when you write a press release, your first paragraph summarizes the content. That’s a good place to put secondary keywords that support the theme of your release. Make sure you also put your company name in the first paragraph, of course, and include your company’s URL right after the name. Consider using the full version of your URL starting with http://, since some news-based content management systems will not turn it into a link otherwise.
Use keywords throughout the body of your press release. Don’t overdo it; they should flow naturally from the subject matter. For example, I’ve used the phrase “press release” multiple times in this article already, but if I’ve been doing my job, it doesn’t leap out at you enough to annoy or slow down your reading.
Most companies use a certain “boilerplate” paragraph at the end of a press release to describe themselves. That’s a good place to put any keywords that describe the company, the nature of your business, etc. Don’t go too crazy here; make sure there’s at least a simple statement that includes your company name and what it does (i.e. “Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software…”).
Next: Getting the Word Out >>
More Website Promotion Articles
More By Terri Wells
