How To Generate Back Links And Traffic Through Press Releases

Press releases are great for getting numerous back links and traffic to your website fast. It’s a technique I have used numerous times to great effect – yet not many people in the internet marketing world are doing it!

I learned this technique from Lisa Parmley, one of my adsense mentors. But, like I earlier said, it’s a greatly underutilized way of getting traffic.

What is a Press Release?

Wikipedia says “a press release, news release, media release, press statement or video release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something ostensibly newsworthy.

Typically, they are mailed, faxed, or e-mailed to assignment editors and journalists at newspapers, magazines, radio stations, online media, television stations or television networks.”

When you read the Dailies, the briefs section usually contains press releases. They basically inform the general public about new undertakings. Like a drinks manufacturing company introducing a unique bottle design, a party to be held for the less-privileged by a Philanthropist, etc.

They used to be published on traditional media like Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, etc.

With the advent of the Internet, online press releases were born. This article is about how to generate back links and traffic through press releases.

When they’re published in the traditional media, press releases are basically to inform and drive traffic; when they’re published online, they inform, drive traffic and generate back links.

What are Back links?

A back link is any link back to your website from another website. For instance, if a guest post I wrote is published on another website, they’ll link back to my website from their own.

The information is usually at the end of the article and it could read like:

“This article was written by Iyabo Oyawale. You can get her free eBook on making a monthly income from the Amazon Affiliate Program @ www.askiyabooyawale.com.”

If you click the name of my website, it leads you straight to my blog. That is what we call a back link.

Search engines like Google respect back links. They rank websites according to the quality of back links they’ve got. If you want free search engine traffic to your website, you better pay more than a passing interest in generating back links.

This is the simple way I can explain this concept. If I was in a class teaching. And, to demonstrate a point, I get up to stand in front of the class and all my students stand behind me, one after the other, people who witness the spectacle are going to call me the class leader as the others are all standing behind me.

It’s the same way online. Search engines see the people standing behind me as other websites providing back links. They see me (or my website) as the automatic leader in that niche. The rationale is: “if all these people can link to you, it means you’ve got something to offer in this niche. And if anyone comes to Google to search for information available on your website, we’ll bring your website first in the search results.”

If you’re wondering what makes a website show first in the search results, you have an answer now.

This explains why website owners build links to their website. It’s just to benefit from free search engine traffic. Press release submission is one of the good ways to build links.

Where Can I Get Examples of Press Releases?

This website contains examples of press releases that can help you understand better. You can also learn how to write an effective press release here.

How to Do Press Releases Right

Ensure to pick a good keyword for your press release, using the keyword research method described in this post, and make sure that your press release is actually NEWSWORTHY – which in my opinion is the most important thing.

Ask yourself why somebody would be interested in your press release. If it’s all about your product or your company then chances are that people won’t be.

The advice offered here can help you get onto the first page of Google News with ease, but first, let’s look at the benefits of getting onto Google News:

– A press release on Google News will send you a lot of traffic, and there is also the potential that a journalist could pick up your news story and help you spread it internet wide.

– Your press release will be indexed all over the place. This is not only Google, but Yahoo, Ask and a whole selection of other search engine bots.

– Google News has a Page Rank of 9, so you’ll get great link juice from submitting your press release to them. There are also lots of websites that syndicate Google News, so the potential for great back links and traffic is huge.

To get the best results from your press release bear the following in mind:

– Make sure your story is interesting and newsworthy

If you want your press release to spread around the internet then make sure your story is something people will be interested in – don’t make it a blatant advertising ploy.

– Include the key information in the opening paragraph

If you don’t grab the readers attention in the opening paragraph then the chances are they won’t bother reading any further. Include as much information about the story – who, what, when, where, why – in the opening paragraph.

– Only use one keyword per press release

This will mean that your press release is focused and targeted to a specific keyword that people will type in to search and find out about you. If you want to target a number of keywords, then write one press release for each keyword.

– Your keyword must appear in the title

This rule must always be followed as it is a vital part of SEO. If your keyword does not appear in the title then it will be difficult for people to find your release.

When your keyword appears in the title, it stands a good chance of getting ranked on other search engines as well.

– Put your keyword in the first and last paragraphs

This is another SEO tip, as search engines put a lot of weight on a keyword if it’s mentioned in the extract, introduction and last paragraph. Also try to make sure that there is a keyword density of about 3 to 5%. You can use the free software found at http://www.dupefreepro.com to check your density.

– Always have a call to action in your press release

Make sure that you have a call to action in your press release, as this is part of the dual purpose of a press release – to get back links and just as importantly visitors.

The following are some press release submission sites which should get you indexed fast and onto Google News within 24 hours:

http://prlog.org

http://free-press-release.com

http://www.prfire.co.uk

http://www.fgnpr.com

http://www.pitchengine.com

There are Paid and Free Press Releases

Let me honestly say you get value for your press release when you make a paid submission. But, if you’re on a budget, you can still make do with free press release submissions. I’ve used free press release submissions and they worked well. But, over time, I realised I could have gotten more value from them if they had been paid submissions.

Want to have a comprehensive list of free press release websites? Just search Google for them. Also search Google for paid press release websites.

After your search, draft your press release and submit individually to each of the websites you discovered. I’ve always submitted individually. There is a software that helps to automatically submit to a group of websites but I’ve got no experience with it. I can’t say anything about it.

If you want to know about the software, please search Google for it. After all, Google is your friend on the Internet.

The traffic tutorial series continues. Please stay tuned. And tell your friends about it.

Source - http://askiyabooyawale.com/2015/12/traffic-through-press-releases/