Optimized (Online) Press Releases

Webinar: February 24, 2009

Presenters:Doug Hay, CEO Expansion Plus

Molly Campanella, Senior Account Manager, Marketwire, Inc.

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The Challenge of the Living Web

The Internet is a living, breathing, ever changing, constantly improving communications network.

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3 Types of Press Releases

1.Traditional media2.Internet focused3.Social media release

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Press Releases Online

News Engines

Search Engines

Journalists

Buyers

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• In real estate it is location, location, location

• For the Internet it is content, content, content

• Web sites, blogs, content in RSS feeds, and online press releases are all content

Tremendous Opportunity

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There are different styles of writing for:

• Blogs – informal• Online press releases –

written like a news story• Web pages – Educational

and sales at the same time• Articles – written to

educate not sell

Different Styles

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• You need to create content with key words.

• This is called “optimizing”

• E.g. Optimized press release

Prospects Are Online Actively Searching

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SEO

• Short for search engine optimization.

• The process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine.

- Webopedia

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Successful SEO

• The site itself must be optimized– Key word research and strategy– Write new content for web pages using key words– Design, programming, tags, etc per the strategy

and key words

• Link building with new editorial content (press releases, articles) which Google places heavy emphasis on.

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Google Rankings

Even the Google engineers acknowledge that tweaking your tags and on-page elements are not as important as having good content and a reputation in your community (think links).

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Google Universal

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RSS (really simple syndication)

• RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts.

• Users of RSS content use software programs called "feed readers" or "feed aggregators".

- Wikipedia

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RSS & SEO

• Each syndicated press release or article would have one or more links to selected pages on your web site

• RSS content is vital for SEO as the syndication builds back links

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Write For The End User

• Write with a passion and excitement.

• Know the product or service and write compelling content.

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New Communication Channels

• You are the source of the content.

• There are often no journalists or editors to rewrite or edit your material

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Do Your Homework

• Before you start writing, research what is the current news.

• Create an alert for ongoing assignments.

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PR 101 Still Applies

• Use the tools you know from traditional PR.

• Readers love controversy, big names, etc.

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Make Your Press Release Newsworthy

• To get the attention of reporters or editors you have to send them a press release that reads like a news story.

• If you write a thinly disguised product announcement or worse, an advertisement, your press release will end up in the trash basket.

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Keywords• You need to choose one main keyword or phrase and one or two minor keywords or phrases

• Write the release with these words in mind.

• Focus on the main keyword or phrase.

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Headlines

• Your main phrase should go in the headline.

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Links

Add a link to the website page you want to send the traffic to at the end of the first paragraph and again at the end of the release.

Links In Press Release

Select Web Pages

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Overview

• Have a story to tell• Format the press release

properly• Keep your press release

short• Syndicate your press

release online using RSS • Use a wire service with

Internet capabilities

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Social Media 2.0

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Social Media ExampleEmbedded Video, Social Media

Bookmarking, Live Search tracking, and embedded

hyperlinks – all for the web 2.0 community

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Trackbacks to measure blog postings, embedded

comments that the client can moderate, and keyword

searches

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External links, interactive thumbnail image of the

client’s website of choice, and Custom Technorati search tags

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Sharing Options

Share or bookmark this release on over 50 different

social media websites including Facebook, Digg, Del.icio.us, and SlashDot

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Search Stats

Reader gets 1-click access to all search results for the

release headline on Google, Yahoo!, MSN Live, Digg.com

and Technorati… Instant search stats.

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Options Email to a friend or print this release

1-click access to other releases by this company issued over Marketwire

Search engine, blog post and social bookmark-friendly “permalink” URL

Trackback URL

Keyword cloud, created automatically, that links to all other client releases containing

these keywords. Easy navigation and improved SEO.

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Multimedia- Add unlimited multimedia- Videos:

- Powered by YouTube.- Link to your own video channel or distribute to YouTube,

Google Video and Yahoo! Video using Marketwire channel

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- Images:

- Distributed to Marketwire’s PhotoBucket channel, allows for easy, social media sharing:

Multimedia

Specially formatted for use with emails,

blogs, instant messaging,

websites, forums and bulletin boards – content presented

in URLs, image codes, and HTML

code for individual user preference

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– The Social Media Release format puts the power of distribution and content repurposing into the hands of the social media community via sharing and bookmarking…it can become a viral PR mechanism!

Distribution

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Twitter½ Million Users

iTunes 70 Million Users

Facebook50 Million Users

Photobucket 38 Million Users

Top Blog Sites 24 Million Users

YouTube13 Million Users Second Life

9.5 Million Users

Google Video8 Million Users

Flickr 1.5 Million Users

Expanded Reach… Over 200 Million Users!

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Traditional Press Release

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Social Media Press Release

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PRESS RELEASE

BLOG

MYSPACE PAGE

FACEBOOK PAGE

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Resources Expansion Plus Inc

www.expansionplus.com

Press Release DistributionMarketwire, Inc.www.marketwire.com

RSS ServicePRESSfeedwww.press-feed.com

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Contact Details

Doug Hay, CEO, Expansion Plus626-793-4911dough@expansionplus.com

Molly Campanella, Senior Account Manager Marketwire, Inc.310-765-3225mcampanella@marketwire.com

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Social Media Webinar Series• Looking to create a social media marketing strategy

that will measurably boost your organization’s ROI? • An intensive 4-part webinar series starting in March.• Learn how to build your complete, actionable social

media marketing strategy.• Watch your email for details.

Learn More About the

Social Media Roadmap Webinar Series.http://www.marketwire.com/SMStrategy

Copyright Notice

All materials contained in these materials are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Expansion Plus Inc.

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