After writing your press release, you can either pitch it directly to reporters or use a press release service to distribute it to relevant press and media outlets.
A distribution service can help you get your message across different channels and reach your target audience.
Whether you are new or already using newswire in your distribution, there are some things that you may not be aware of. It is a viable platform that can help build brand awareness and provide exposure.
Check out the things that newswires will not tell you, but you should know before making a decision:
Some newswires just publish your content on their sites.
You may be surprised to know that free newswires only publish your content on their sites for a certain time. They aren’t actually distributing it to other sites and media outlets that limit your exposure, brand awareness, and site traffic.
Some startups and small businesses commit the mistake of using free distribution to save on investment. What they aren’t aware of is that they are not getting the results they should get by considering only their savings.
Paid distribution platforms are not only publishing your content on their sites, but syndicating it to their network of journalists, influencers, and media outlets. When you use a service, you’re able to send it to sites and locations that are impossible for you to reach on your own.
Syndicating content provides you with a number of benefits:
- You widen your social media presence.
- You have access to a large audience.
- You generate quality leads.
- Building brand awareness.
- You have the tendency to get media opportunities.
If you’re serious about your goals, you need to choose a reputable newswire that really syndicates your content. Before booking, ask them for a sample of their distribution or check reviews about their platform.
It’s not the ultimate solution for your SEO requirements.
Do you want to improve your ranking? Using a press release service can help you improve your search rankings but don’t think that it’s going to make everything work for you.
Not all services have the feature to boost your ranking on the search engine result pages (SERPs). If it’s included in their features, you can have the peace of mind that your content will help you rank on the searches.
However, if you use a service that doesn’t prioritize this, you have to do the work. How can you do this?
Make sure that your release is keyword-targeted. Use relevant keywords or search terms that your target audience is using to find you.
Keep away from keyword stuffing because of ranking your site, you may end up being labeled as spam. Place it in the headline, subheading (optional), and the body of the release.
Don’t force it in the content. The key is to use it naturally in the sentence.
Secondly, write quality content. Stop talking about your business. Focus on the benefits that your audience could get.
It should resonate to them. A content that answers the queries of the audience is rewarded by the search engines by placing on top of the searches.
It improves your social media presence.
Are you aware that you can get more exposure to your brand with a press release site that offers social media integration? For instance, Newswire is a press release distribution site that provides an auto-post of your release on Facebook and Twitter if you’ll get a single distribution plan.
If you avail of the monthly or annual plan, it includes social media integration in its feature. It means that your content will get more exposure. It can also have the tendency to go viral if more people will read, like, and share it.
It’s one thing that you should check if you’re concerned about getting improved exposure, brand awareness, and site traffic. It can also help in generating leads.
It’s not going to solve your link-building issues.
In 2013, Google changed its algorithms to ensure that they only rank sites that follow the rules. In previous to that, many sites used releases as a link-building tactic.
Links used to be a goldmine for sites. They abused it by manipulating the links instead of earning backlinks the natural way.
Since then, Google altered its rules to ensure that they only provide the readers with valuable content. From then on, best press release distribution sites should include a “nofollow” attribute to each release it distributes. Those who are not going to follow it will get penalized.
Just in case that you’re not aware, you’re not going to build links when a distribution service distributes your release. To earn backlinks, you need to distribute quality content using quality newswires.
If other sites find your content relevant and useful for the readers, they are going to link to your site. Paid distribution sites help you earn links since they are connected to quality media sites that have high authority.
When these media sites link to your site, it will improve your authority. Keep in mind that the more credible your content is, the easier it is to gain links from quality sites.
Another trick is to add strong hyperlinks in your release. It enhances your credibility and provides you with more authority.
Add links to quotes or data to boost your SEO tactic. Use keyword anchor text in the hyperlink rather than the generic word. The anchor text must be relevant to the page you’re linking to.
Your distribution results will depend on the quality of your writing.
No matter how good your distribution is, if your release doesn’t appeal to the media, it will not give you good results. You gain high ranking on the search results when you write a newsworthy, relevant and effective release.
You attract media attention and gain possible media coverage or mention when they see that you are producing quality content. Even if you use the best press release platform in town, you’ll not get good results if you have a poorly-written release.
Quality newswires give importance to your multimedia assets.
These days, visual content gains more attention than a full-text release. People love visuals. It boosts their engagement with your brand.
Quality press release distribution sites know how including your multimedia assets like images, videos, and other visual elements in your content can improve your site. Choose a service that provides this feature.
Content with visuals has more reads, likes, and shares. This can improve your search ranking.
Get a distribution site that provides you tracking reports.
Knowing the result of your campaign can provide you a deeper insight into your distribution campaign. It measures the marketing efforts and successes.
Metrics like page views, click-through rates, open rates, site traffic, who picked up your story, headline impressions, engagement rates, and more tell what works, what’s not, what you need to improve, and what you need to avoid the mistakes.
When you know the outcome of your campaign, you can adjust your tactics easily. Keep in mind that you need to track and measure it over a long period of time. If you’re just going to measure it for one time, you’ll not know the trend.
When you have data to compare, you can easily make adjustments. Analytics can also provide you an idea of how well your brand is perceived by the audience.
If you have 30,000 site traffic in a month but you didn’t hit your sales quota, you may look into the factors that caused it. Do you think they trust your brand enough? Why not write topics that show your expertise in your industry and distribute it on a regular basis.
If you’re not reaching your business goal, you may adjust your expectations and goals. Do you think your audience thinks that you’re a credible brand or they trust your competitors more?
Most of the time, the results translate into a deeper meaning on how well your brand is perceived by the audience. Aside from the distribution service providing you with results, have your own tracking report.
There’s no guaranteed media coverage on using a distribution service.
This is true. However, if you write your release very well, there’s a higher tendency that it gets picked up by the media.
When you use a wire service, your news reaches relevant reporters, influencers, and media outlets. Those who subscribed to RSS feeds receive your story.
Most reporters use the distribution service to verify facts or for feature stories. In short, there is no guarantee that they will cover it.
However, one thing that you’ll get when you use the service is getting your story to the hands of the right media and customers. You’ll gain immediate exposure, builds brand awareness, credibility, and trust. And everything will follow.
There is a big difference when using a free and a paid distribution site. Paid sites provide more features and better benefits to the users. It’s the reason why it’s paid.
“You get what you pay for.” Don’t use a no-cost distribution site when making big announcements. Instead, use a paid site.
