Press releases are valuable Web site tool

Are you looking for better search engine visibility for your company? Want more traditional media attention?

An optimized press release can get you on the first page of Google News, Yahoo! News and other news sites across the Internet.

Journalists also use the Internet when researching a story, so your online press release can also bring traditional media coverage.

News search is one of the most important new trends on the Internet -- 73 percent of adults and 76 percent of teenagers are reading their news online today, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Here are just a few of the benefits of getting your press release posted online:

• Reach interested readers immediately -- your press release can be accessed by people doing keyword searches of your topic. If you write your press release with optimized keywords, your story can show up on the first page of several news sites.
• Increase valuable inbound links to your Web site -- your press release gets picked up by other news Web sites and reaches new audiences you may have never reached before. Each time your story gets picked up it creates a link back to your site. Google, Yahoo and other search engines use inbound links as part of their ranking formula.
• Increase traffic to your site -- a newsworthy online press release generates interest in your company and product or service. By including a link to your site in a press release, you'll increase the amount of click-through traffic to your site. Be sure the link to your site lands the visitor on a page relevant to the story.
• Increase the value of your brand -- publishing press releases online can increase the visibility of your company and help build brand value.

Online help available

There are many online sources for writing a good press release and how to optimize it for your keywords. A free online press release creator can be found at: www.ducttapemarketing.com/Instant-Press-Release.htm.

Take a close look at your business and find opportunities to get the word out about things you're doing, new products you're introducing, major upcoming events, and other newsworthy stories about your business. Put them into online press releases that people are searching for.

Jonny Buroker is an Internet Marketing Consultant with WSI - We Simplify the Internet, serving south central and southwest Wisconsin.