by Diego Norte
To stand any chance of succeeding with an online business,
you are going to have to drive targeted traffic to your
website. Even then, success is not guaranteed! However, the
good news for Internet marketers who are working on a
shoestring budget is that some of the most effective
publicity methods are either quite cheap or completely free.
One cheap and effective method is to write a press release
on a regular basis. You will be missing out on a great
opportunity to get your website noticed if you do not do
this.
It is also a good way to bring your website to the attention
of an established journalist who may just decide to run a
feature on it.
Let's look at some of the benefits and techniques involved.
One big benefit is that when you write a press release and
publish it, it will be picked up by various news wire
services over the internet so your website will get a lot of
links from high ranking websites. Other website owners may
then pick up your article and publish it on their sites,
generating yet more links to your site.
The result of all these extra links will be a higher page
rank for your site. As your site gets promoted on the search
engines it will begin to get a lot more traffic.
Once you have discovered how easy it is to issue a press
release you will want to make it a regular part of your
website publicity effort. Issuing regular press releases is
one of the best things you can do to get yourself branded as
an expert in your particular field.
However, the benefits I have mentioned will only accrue to
your website if your press releases are effective. Sadly
many press releases sink like a stone. Bear in mind that
news wire services receive hundreds of press released every
day so they can afford to be selective. To make sure yours
gets picked up and published you will need to follow some
simple steps.
Place your name, company and contact details in the top left
corner where the editor can see it easily.
Next, concentrate on writing a strong opening that paints a
vivid picture of the problem that your product or service
will solve. Then, explain how you provide the solution. This
is where you mention your website URL. Actually, you might
want to repeat the name of your website or your product two
or three times to impress it upon the reader's memory.
Write to your target market from their own perspective and
use the language they tend to use so that you can connect
with them. The aim is to grab the reader's attention, but
bear in mind that the first reader you need to convince is
the editor! He is in a hurry, so make it easy for him by
keeping the paragraphs and sentences short, make use of
white space and don't use more than a few hundred words.
Another tip is to include a good photo if at all possible. A
picture-led story is much more likely to be picked up and
published. Even better, a story accompanied by a good photo
will most likely be more prominently displayed.
Finally, seek to develop a good working relationship with
the editors you submit to as this will yield good dividends
over time.
It is not difficult to learn how to write a press release
and get it published. It is a cheap and effective way to
generate maximum targeted publicity for your website and get
yourself branded as an expert in your field.
Traffic? How do we get traffic? Learn how in my Search
Engine Optimization training guide:
http://shannonlueck.com/
