“Tweet it!” “Pin it!” “Update your status!” “Blog about it!” This is the common advice you will get about promoting your new service, product, or event. But what about a good, old-fashioned press release? It may not sound too exciting…until you see the results.
Last month, we wrote a press release describing our new service, “Hire an Inbound Marketing Agency for a Day,” and sent it out to a few free press release websites. From the first half of the month to the second half, our organic search traffic increased by 33%, and our referral traffic increased by 39%. That’s a huge jump over the course of two weeks! This may not have been entirely because of the press release, but it definitely made a big impact.
How do press releases help?
First of all, it’s always good to push out new content, especially online. Your press releases should have at least one link back to your website, or a particular page on your website. This not only provides an incoming link from a reputable site (the press release website), but Google often picks up these 3rd party stories and ranks your website higher as a result.
As we saw from our press release, people who read the article are likely to click on the link that goes to the website, thus driving referral traffic.
Having content on the internet is like owning little bits of online “real estate.” The more real estate you own, the more brand exposure you’ll have online.
Tip: putting the company name in the title of a press release gives it an excellent chance of coming up on the first page of a Google search for that company name. Also, that press release may push negative search results onto another page. (Not that you would have any…)
And here’s a secret benefit not many people know about: there are thousands of Twitter accounts that will auto-post articles with certain keywords. If a press release’s title has the same keyword(s) that these Twitter accounts are looking for, then it’s possible to get hundreds (or more) tweets, without doing anything extra!
Where should I put my press release?
Of course, any new content should go on your website, first and foremost. From there, deciding where to put your press release becomes a matter of means and importance. There are plenty of free sites out there, many of which are perfectly reputable and adequate. However, if your company is opening a new branch or you are starting a new business altogether, it may be more beneficial to use paid sites. These sites give you added benefits such as promoting the press release on Google, Yahoo, and Bing, and some even push it out to other forms of media, such as newspapers, bloggers, broadcast newsrooms, news syndicators, and more. Pricing starts at about $30 (per release) and up.
Here are Sigma’s preferred press release sites (these are all free):
Last month, we sent our press release out to all of these sites. Some may be better for your industry than others, and I strongly recommend doing some research on your own. There are sites that are made for certain industries and won’t allow non-industry companies to post. These are great because they allow you to reach a more specific audience.
Are you regularly writing press releases already? Where do you post them? Let us know in the comments below.
And stay tuned next week because I’ll be diving in to the best practices of writing press releases and some tips you won’t want to miss out on.
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
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