Search Engine Optimization requires strategizing as well as optimizing for SEO firms seeking online visibility for their clients. Last month a client of our firm sought counsel on their web strategy for an already optimized site. We had tightened up their keywords, focused their content and appropriately titled each well crafted page.
The only thing lacking was a linking campaign and extra keyword focused content beyond their product-centered, but limited text. What more could we do for them?
The single line item NOT accepted from among a list of recommendations made was a link campaign, early in SEO sales process. We had discovered later in the beginning phase of optimization that the CEO believed a linking campaign meant begging industry web sites for a link. He had refused that concept without discussion due to a preconcieved notion of link-building as panhandling. Once discovered, the panhandling concern was easily overcome with a simple request made of the CEO.
May we have a copy of your press kit?
Press releases very often contain important industry buzz words, highly relevant, keyword-rich text and an ideal word count for optimized web page content. Press releases are tightly focused on single themes and can be easily plugged into themed sections. Ideal for SEO.
We had discovered that the client had a media kit that was widely distributed at trade shows. This kit offered press releases which trumpeted a stellar Fortune 500 client list. Curiously, the slickly printed, beautiful media kit listed an access URL for a password protected area of their web site where members of the press could download Word.doc and PDF files of this same press kit.
Essentially our client was hiding this content from the public due to concerns that the in-house PR staff would be inundated with emails and phone calls from NON-media types and-[gasp!]-customers abusing published contact information from press releases. Maybe, but they were also hiding valuable content, customer testimonials, and that stellar client list from everyone but very determined media professionals willing to request site access passwords to download hidden offline documents.
That press kit held the complete solution to our link popularity conundrum. By posting those documents online in HTML format and carefully structuring the page title and headline of each page, then linking those press releases to relevant sections of the company website, we dramatically improved search engine visibility for this client by putting it all in publicly accessible pages. The search engines indexed it all quickly while expanding the content and increasing site relevance.
Their Fortune 500 clients have now linked to a vendor that they had no reason to link to before because the releases were posted on those client sites with live links back to their site. Links from well respected and visible companies increases pagerank dramatically.
Press releases emphasizing business relationships with product-centered events featuring small businesses and larger corporations can focus on news hooks that will attract search engine visitors. Visitors that would not have otherwise known about the business relationship or products offered may suddenly find themselves customers.
Small companies doing business with larger corporations should widely distribute their press releases announcing marketing partnerships and sales to those companies. The big players will often find ways to make news with public relations involving smaller partners and will sometimes use those press releases on their own site for publicity.
With innovative PR professionals working in concert with small businesses, they may even get the corporate client to use their much greater resources to distribute those press releases through giant corporate distribution channels (far beyond the miniscule reach of small businesses). This will gain them press coverage and help establish their brand while linking them to the image of larger corporate clients in the mind of their customers.
A word to the wise though, make your press releases professional and concise with complete contact info and links to relevant data. Include short, single sentence “About Us” company information and DON’T FORGET A URL! That web address included at the foot of all releases is your key to link popularity. Link from your release to the corporate client site you reference in partner- ship announcements and choose headlines that contain keywords relevant to your site and your business.
For an excellent tutorial on creating an online press room and case studies on effective online PR strategies, visit the newsletter of PR Diva, BL Ochman at:
http://www.whatsnextonline.com/wno/newsletter28.html
Search Engine Optimization professionals recognize the value of online press rooms as exceptional opportunities to present highly relevant, keyword focused content that encourages linking from well known corporations while exposing that existing content to the search engines. If those press releases also gain media coverage for your business as intended, your linking campaign has struck gold.
This article first appeared in High Rankings Advisor 9-10-03
http://www.highrankings.com/advisor.htm
Mike Banks Valentine operates SEOptimism, Offering SEO training of
in-house content managers http://seoptimism.com/SEO_Staff_Training.htm
as well as the Small Business Ecommerce Tutorial at
http://WebSite101.com and blogs about SEO at http://RealitySEO.com
where this article appears with live links to SMO stories, buttons, blog posts and examples.
