Press releases have been part of promotion for business websites for nearly two decades now, and while the links coming from the PR websites are not as valued by search engines as they used to be (due to a bloating of the market and Google changing its algorithm), they still are a workable method of getting inbound links to your website. But the true value in press releases are not the inbound links they provide.
What’s good?
The power of a press release lies in its tremendous breadth and depth as a communication tool, not in the inbound link it provides. The press release allows the individual the ability (for a nominal fee) to reach out from his office, take his ‘message’ and deliver it to the entire world (or specific industries). Thus if his release is well-written, news worthy, and has been meticulously constructed with marketing technology it has the potential of garnering a tremendous amount of attention, effectively catapulting your message far and wide.
Two approaches
There are two approaches one can take to the press release. One is simply the SEO approach for the inbound links it will provide. In this case the quality and caliber of the release is irrelevant, resulting marketers making subpar releases which would be ignored by readers. There is nothing wrong with doing this, however one should be aware that such an action would be the equivalent of using a Ferrari as a nutcracker.
The other approach is a finely tuned and hand crafted press release, where the topic is of interest, the headings have been researched and surveyed, and the message of the company is represented en force. This approach takes considerably longer; requiring research and testing but the potential end result is well worth it. All it takes is one news company to feature your story to make it go viral, giving you terrific promotion.
Conclusion
We must start looking at press releases as not the solution to a few quick ‘n’ dirty inbound links, and recognize it for what it is, an extremely powerful communication tool to the world, which can end up in tremendous promotion pay offs.
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