Link Building on a Budget Part 4: Press Release Tactics

by Jack Humphrey on Jun 11

Ah the lowly press release. One of the best kept [tag-tec]link building[/tag-tec] secrets on the web for links and traffic. It’s a wonder why more people don’t use [tag-tec]press releases[/tag-tec] regularly. Don’t get me wrong, hundreds of thousands of people do submit the occasional release, but most don’t do it right or take advantage of the linking and exposure they could get out of them.

And the big cardinal sin is not doing them regularly. If your business is truly a mover and a shaker in your niche, you should have plenty of things to talk about each month.

For instance, you update your product or service. Send a release. You hire new staff. Send a release. You launch a new product. Definitely, send a release!

There are a lot more reasons to alert news junkies, reporters, media outlets, and your possible customers to changes, updates, and significant progress in your business.

That is, if you have something worth talking about. This immediately eliminates a lot of business models I see flying around like Adsense sites, but I’ve even seen people syndicate press releases for those sites!

What Happens When You Do A Press Release?

At PRWeb.com, depending on the service you order, your release goes out on “the wire.” That’s just PR lingo for their network. Now, if you just do a free release or donate $10, don’t expect much. You ALWAYS get what you pay for.

The tactic we use with incredibly good results is the $250 search engine optimized press release at PRWeb. It goes out to their broadest network of sites including Yahoo and Google News and every site belonging to the Emedia Newswire network.

That’s great and it generates a lot of traffic depending on the topic. But what’s even greater is the amount of sheer linkage it generates for your sites. I’m talking thousands, not hundreds of links.

prweb.JPGWith PRWeb’s SEO release service, you get to link to your site or any page within your site every 100 words or so. Been wanting more recognition from search engines for the keyword “weight loss?” Link that in your press release and your best keyword is an anchor link that goes to hundreds and thousands of places all over the web.

Yeah, maybe you’ve heard this before. But have you done it? Did you doubt the power of it and blow it off? Big mistake.

People don’t submit online press releases for ego’s sake. They do it because it drives links, traffic, and better rankings. If it didn’t, why would there be so darn many repeat offenders at PRWeb who submit regular releases at $250+ a pop?

Last press release trick…

Once you have submitted your release, write about it on your blog and do a trackback to the PRWeb page your release is on. Then you get an immediate link back to your site from one of the bigger sites on the net.

Find other press releases related to your topic and do a post mentioning a few and trackback all of them to get more authority links with the stroke of some keys and the click of a button.

This stuff is so easy people think it doesn’t work. Well, it sure does. And guess what? PRWeb isn’t the only game in town!

Test it and then leverage your reach across all the major PR networks and watch your branding, traffic, links, and rankings soar!

More From The FTR Link Building Series:

  • http://trcoach.com Tom Spanton

    There is alot of great information here about LInk building and promoting your website.
    Thanks, Tom Spanton, Transition Coach

  • http://www.retiredandready.com CarolAnn

    Thank you so much for these great tips. But then, everything that you post is the same kind of great.
    Looking forward to seeing you in Vegas the end of this month.

  • http://personalhack.com Andrew

    Great article. I really like the idea of how many of the successful blogs are really involved and linked in with other blogs in the niche.

  • http://expertlistbuilding.com/listbuilding Alex Newell

    Thanks for these tips. We’re doing a product launch now so your points on press releases are very welcome.

  • http://www.rackaid.com/ jeffatrackaid

    Do you think you always need to use a paid release service? For smaller announcement, what about free release services and using your RSS syndication. I just don’t know if every release, e.g. minor client wins, needs the full court press.
    .-= jeffatrackaid´s last blog ..Web Hosting and Rotisseries:  You Can’t Set it and Forget It =-.

    • http://www.jackhumphrey.com/ Jack Humphrey

      Jeff – yeah for smaller releases I wouldn’t go paid every time. That’s not only expensive, it doesn’t get much media attention. Those guys are looking for real stories that will be interesting or topical enough to run on radio, tv, papers, or other sites. Smaller releases wouldn’t capture their fancy even if you paid for the ultimate syndication. Save the paid releases for big, relevant, topical news with a hook they can sink their teeth into and you’ll get your phone ringing more often.

  • http://onlineautoinsurancenetwork.com/ Joshua@Online Auto Insurance Network

    Thanks you for great tips Jack, unfortunately some of my tryout’s for linkbuilding or SEO is not so good in the end, too much time spent on it. Now i try to take advantage on self improvement, and let my blogs and sites grow naturally.
    .-= Joshua@Online Auto Insurance Network´s last blog ..Health Savings Accounts and Qualified Medical Expenses =-.

  • http://www.pr2go.com james@press release distribution service

    Great information, thanks a lot. I’ve just set up a car fair site for a car event I want to plan and hopefully develop into something regular and I honestly wasn’t going to bother with press releases but after reading through some of your thoughts I might give it a go. I want people to be excited about my site and the events so writing press releases may be the best way to do that.

  • http://online-insurance.us/ Justin

    Thanks for these tips. We’re doing a product launch now so your points on press releases are very welcome.
    .-= Justin´s last blog ..Summer Time Safety for Everyone =-.

  • http://www.bankaim.com/ Ben @ CD Rates

    Press Releases are a good avenue. The idea is make the links look natural and relevant. This actually does help. Press releases are good at this. Also remember links bring visitors to your website too. Not just PR.
    .-= Ben @ CD Rates´s last blog ..The Two Acocunt Simple Budget System =-.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TLBPSJG4ZBT67MBOWCKQ5LGMRQ Kevin Pieterson

    I use PRWeb for submitting press releases as part of our SEO services rather than PRNewswire. I want my PR releases to be read by web outlets than journalists and PRWeb is the perfect way to get at it. They are affordable too. They offer four packages namely, Standard Visibility aka the $80 level, Social Media Visibility aka the $140 level, SEO Visibility aka the $200 level and Media Visibility aka the $360 level. I have chosen the standard visibility and with this my release get listed on PRWeb network, in Google News and Yahoo News. A great SEO tip! Use them folks!

    • http://www.vocus.com Frank Strong

      Hi Kevin, thanks for piping in on the conversation. I’d love to talk to you about your use of PRWeb. Perhaps you may have a story that’s fit for a case study. If you’d like to explore this, feel free to hit me up at fstrong{at}vocus{dot}com. Cheers!

  • http://twitter.com/superaffiliatex newsuperaffiliate

    Thanks Jack I am currently testing this out, but only free submissions for now, will be sure to check out PRWeb though, Alex

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