If you work or run a business that has really started to take off, then writing press releases will soon become a big part of your public output. They are a great way to drastically increase the amount of traffic your website is getting, and because press releases are considered an official document, it also helps improve the authority of your site on search engine results.
Having said that, at no point should press releases be considered the most important part of your output. If you rely on it a little too much, then you could find your site actually losing traffic instead of attracting more. This is because your site has press releases on items that are not considered to be very newsworthy, thus forcing search engines to lower you in result rankings. Here we will take a look at what your press release needs to have in order to attract healthy online traffic, and the techniques you can use to give even the most basic release a bit of a boost.
Make Sure Your Release Is Newsworthy
The most important thing to remember about press releases is that they have to be about something that people will find interesting. If you are releasing a huge amount of releases every week, then you are obviously trying to cover too many bases. This means that people will be less inclined to read something that is clearly about a subject most people would not be interested in. You should always write releases only when it feels appropriate, and that generally is when you have a big announcement to make.
If you want to announce the arrival of a new product you are about to release, that is certainly something that you should be writing a press release about. If you have some new statistics about your business, for example, that you have made a record profit in the last quarter, then that is something that certainly deserves a press release. Generally, businesses should only release one or two press releases a month, regardless of their size. If you can try and keep it down to once a month, then that is even better. People who are accessing your site then will know that you only make releases when you have an important announcement to make that either affects customers or the business itself.
Keep Track Of Backlinks
The great thing about press releases is that they are able to generate a lot of backlinks. If what you have announced is newsworthy, then a news outlet may decide to write an article about what you’ve announced. If that’s the case, then chances are the news outlet will provide a link to your press release as the source. Being a source is a superb way of improving traffic, as people will turn to you as a reliable source of information.
If you are referencing any information in your press release, including things that feature on your own site, then make sure to reference them. Having links in your press release can’t hurt its ranking, but having too many can be. Sometimes search engines can rank you lower if you have too many links and it looks like you are trying to force them into your copy. Make sure that you only have a few links and that your release is newsworthy. Then you will get plenty of backlinks and your ranking will improve drastically.
Don’t Neglect Other Content
Even though press releases can attract a lot of traffic, this doesn’t mean that you should give up on the rest of your content. In fact, it is more important to keep posting new content when you are posting press releases once a month. If your content is informative and is able to provide everything that a visitor to the site will need, then there is more chance that they will decide to stick around and read some more of your content. They might even start following you on social media or visit your website regularly.
This is also very helpful when it comes to things like backlinks. If you are able to provide a lot of helpful and informative content throughout the month, then you could be able to link it to your press releases. This means that you will be able to use your previous content that has had a large number of hits in order to help improve the ranking of your press release. Not only that, but search engines like Google will be more likely to rank your press releases higher if they know that you are regularly providing good content.
The important thing to remember is that press releases should always be a small part of your overall output. If you are able to post once a month then that should be plenty in order to improve traffic and keep people updated with newsworthy topics. It is very valuable but is still something that should take up a very small part of your time. The rest of the content that you write should be considered more important, as that is what ultimately drives your traffic forward and gives your site more authority. As long as you make press releases a normal aspect of your content output, then it will have a very good effect on your traffic, and will also help you turn site visitors into potential leads.
