Recent articles released by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firms have glossed over the fact that there is a back door utilizing news releases to gain an advantage in the search engines with key-phrases of value to your Web-based venture.
In this article we will empower the small business with the ability to gain this advantage without necessarily having to hire a third party SEO consultant to achieve the same advantage. Southwest airline used a similar strategy, but hired a third party firm to achieve the results. We are not opposed to hiring third parties, in fact, highly recommend a few of them. But, it does not stand to reason that every detail about the way to effectively achieve these results should not be provided to clever zero budget and small business marketing entrepreneurs. That’s what this article accomplishes.
OK, the tool is PRWeb.com and you will submit a news release that has your desired key-phrase in the title to gain a key-phrase advantage. Choose the phrase carefully. Use the key-phrase in the link in the contact information that you fill in at the end of the news release. IF you want to gain the key-phrase “Key-Phrase Generation” expand it slightly so that if you do not get ranked highly with the desired phrase you might gain the more expanded version and gain some exposure as a backup plan. You might use the title “Key-phrase Generation Pumps” or “Automated Key-Phrase Generation Pumps” to further key-phrase possibilities. The key for small companies is not necessarily generating a lot of traffic as it is generating highly qualified browsers, or worse case, highly skilled Web searchers.
There are many nuances of which you should be aware to get the most bang for your PR buck. A well-written news release is a no-brainer since PRWeb delivers the release to a larger network of people that includes eMediaWire. When you submit your release and log into the PRWeb system, you will see a word count. Once the editors at PRWeb read and edit your release they will post a word count. Next to the word count in parentheses you will find a number between one and five. This is your ranking according to the editors. If it is not at least a three you will lose a lot of exposure. The release will not run in eMediaWire, thus losing their foot traffic. You will also likely lose Google ranks as a result of losing the eMediaWire listing. Later in this article we post examples of key-phrases we own due to all the sites spoken of herein.
After you have at least a three out of five star news release you need to try to get listed in the top three releases for your publication date. Bidding, or as PRWeb calls it, contributing, at least $200 will give you the search engine reports that are very useful to keep you abreast of what key-phrases browser are actually using to locate the release.
As we already said a bid of $200 minimum is recommended, but don’t bid the whole $200 too far in advance. This gives other bidders a glimpse of what you are able, or willing, to do for a top three ranking. Top three will help ensure better Google rankings and more exposure through the PRWeb network, thus bringing more foot traffic. Bid $80 two days in advance of the news release date, then add to the contribution the evening prior to the release. If you are a small business entrepreneur, this gives you the ability to beat the nine to fivers. This is a fact that I am sure has not escaped most of the entrepreneurs reading this article.
You can achieve a better ranking for less money on the weekend. I try to run them on Sunday. This gives two advantages. The first is that most regular employees are not as productive late on Friday evening, if at all, even during the workday. Plus, even though it begins to run on Sunday, it is still distributed throughout the week. The last advantage is that when you post your last bid on Friday evening you can be relatively confident that you will not be overbid through the weekend. Holidays are also good for entrepreneurs to gain a leg up on the nine to five competitors.
When your release is submitted, go back log in and add industries by holding the Control’ (ctrl) key and clicking on ten industries to increase distribution. IF your release did not get a three of five ranking, resubmit it. For a release scheduled to run on Sunday you can change it until late in the evening Friday. Watch it carefully on Friday.
There is an input field in the PRWeb system where you enter desired key-phrases into the system while submitting your release. Choose as many key-phrase variations as possible to place into the PRWeb system. This has a high impact on traffic driven directly through the PRWeb system and some impact, not sure how much exactly, on search engine exposure.
Check-off list:
Thursday:
– Choose an expanded primary key-phrase for the title of the release.
– Choose a list of key-phrases that include primary phrase and some that are variations thereof.
– Draft a well-written release of about 300 to 500 words.
Friday:
– Submit the release in the morning bidding $80.
– When it is approved check on rating hoping for three out of five. The rating is in parentheses next to the word count. Re-write, and resubmit as necessary.
– Log into the system Add nine more industries to cover using the Control’ (ctrl) key.
– Check your rank in the evening. IF you are not ranked three or better then increase your bid, contribution in $20 increments to get to third place.
Sunday:
– Check your ranking. If first place is around $200 then bid $201 minimum. If $200 does not get you to at least third place then reschedule the release for next Sunday, or increase your bid as your budget allows. This is your call. In my opinion it is well worth a thousand or more dollars for a top spot, but as entrepreneurs we can’t always make that happen.
Hint: Don’t wait to do this. To the best of my knowledge this is the first in depth explanation about this newer form of SEO, so time is most assuredly of the essence.
Rob Thrasher is an internationally published author, reaching up to one
million readers each month. He is co-founder of XM Mail Server, at
http://www.xmmailserver.com, and founder of the New Millennium Minds
Blog. http://www.cybervillage.com/blog/
