How a Press Release Can Generate Traffic to Your Site

By Pam D Jones

What types of resources or tools are you using to drive traffic to your online business? What type of audience frequent your website - i.e. are they your right target audience for your business? When these visitors arrive at your website, do you know exactly what they're looking for? How can you increase your site's traffic?

Press releases are an awesome marketing tool for businesses of all sizes. If used effectively, it can generate traffic to your website, target the right audience, and inform them what they can expect from your site prior to visiting.

All you need to do is know how to present the information readers are looking for in a way that interests them and makes them want to share your press releases with others.

What is a Press Release?

A press or news release is a marketing tool that's frequently used by both new and established companies. It's a powerful resource in helping customers spread the word about their services and products; thus, creating their brand with industry insiders and consumers.

Given that most websites rely on web traffic in order to create revenue, having a well-written news release can be like a magnet for a business. If created in an effective manner, your site will not only receive repeat customers, but also new readers on a frequent basis.

Without frequent traffic, a website won't thrive; making it impossible to compete with its online competitors. In other words, frequent traffic is a definite must in order to have online success.

How Does a News Release Work?

Being that a press release is an announcement, it's most effective when it's distributed frequently, keeping the company's target audience current on new (and newsworthy) announcements. Furthermore, a press release can help companies reach a wider audience when distributed frequently.

Granted, most companies have blogs to keep their customers up-to-date on their events. However, a news release differs because it links back to your website (a great link building strategy) and again, provides the opportunity to expand your audience - thanks to news release distribution services such PR Web.

Conclusion

Having a website is important these days. It's hard for a business to actually be found and more so, successful without having an online presence.

With this being the new reality of business, take the value of this importance and direct people to your site with a customized, well-written news release. It's highly essential that you do.

This article represents Pamela's knowledge as a press release writer. To hire her to write your next press release, visithttp://www.discountpressreleases.com.

7 Reasons Your PR Will Be Ignored

By John Rockley

I keep seeing over-optimistic blogs talking about the guaranteed ways to get your story covered by the conventional media.

It worries me; even if you follow these guides there are still things that will get in your way.

So why isn't your story featured? These are my top 7 reasons.

1) It's Too Commercial.

No one likes a 'puff' dressed up as a story. In the UK the dominant force in mass market news broadcasting is the BBC. They are a non commercial organisation and every journalist / producer / manager there has been bollocked for writing a 'puff' by accident. They are not going to do it again.

You may think that makes the commercial broadcasters and news media an easy target. No. No they really aren't. The commercial media (if it doesn't charge the users) survives by selling advertising. So why are they going to offer your commercial 'story' space when they would much prefer to charge you for the advertising instead?

2) It's Irrelevant...

... to the audience. Why would you approach an organisation that targets the over 50's with the latest trends in snowboarding?

... to the time scale. If it happened 3 days / weeks / months ago it's no longer news.

... to anyone outside your industry. Target trade press by all means but don't promise to get mass media coverage for the story about new ways to reinforce concrete.

... to anyone other than you. So many self produced press releases smell of "we're really excited about this, but we don't know how to make you excited". If you can't excite me then I'm not going to use it.

3) It's Dull.

Have you just sent information and forgotten to add a story? (see above)

4) It's political.

The BBC will not take stories with a strong political bias unless they can source someone from the other side; that issue kills stories, though it is getting better.

The commercial sector will not ally themselves to a political standpoint that differs from theirs. It's not just the feedback from the audience but also who sits on the board, who owns the organisation, who is married to the editor and who their friends are... For example, the Sun newspaper doesn't like the BBC unless the programme has been made by a Murdoch owned production company (see Masterchef). It's unlikely that you'll know any of this, your story will just be ignored.

5) They don't like you.

Not the organisation but the journalist.

You've repeatedly called at the wrong time, you send emails with big attachments that crash their computers, you call the 'Pacific Ocean' the 'Specific Ocean', you never sound engaged with what you're doing, you push for too much coverage, you have unrealistic expectations, you don't know the producers name, you're attempting to be funny, you're not funny at all, you have stupid shoes, you drink mineral water with a twist, you have black rimmed 'marketing' spectacles, you don't understand that we are the powerful ones, you let us down last time, you promise things that you can't deliver, and (in the words of @dabberdave)

"you said "look at this attachment which has all the details in it" rather than copy and pasting the text of the it into the body of the email; that way when the journo is skimming through the hundreds in the inbox they don't have to waste time trying to open the thing. It will probably go straight in the waste bin"

Or, you are just very unlikeable... The story could be great, and we may pick it up from another source, but we won't give you the satisfaction.

6) Someone else got it right.

There's always something else to cover. Always.

7) They're lazy.

They might also be a lazy journo who can't see that with some creativity they could make a half decent package out of it.

We all want to deal with the media in an effective way, but not everyone will show you how to build relationships with Journalists that matter.

http://www.jdoubler.co.uk has the experience the contacts and the knowledge to help you get more from the media.