5 Strategies for Optimizing Online Press Releases

I would like to outline 5 key strategies for optimizing your Online Press Releases to maximize site exposure, one way back links and natural search listings for your targeted keywords.

1. Targeted Keyword Research and Selection
Before even beginning the draft of your Online Press Release, it is imperative to conduct some thorough keyword research for your targeted audience and subject matter through such tools as wordtracker.com and keyworddiscovery.com. It is ideal to choose targeted keywords that have the greatest degree of volume with the fewest competitors that will also make the most sense in the context of your Press Release. Again, it is important to effectively link relevant and newsworthy content with good SEO practices.

I would recommend narrowing your keyword selection to approximately two to three words for your Press Release with a primary keyword and a couple secondary words. You will lose SEO potency by trying to incorporate too many keywords into one 500-800 word Press Release.

2. Strategic Keyword Placement in the Press Release
It is essential to include your main keyword(s) in the title of the Press Release as well as in the first or second paragraphs of the body. I would recommend optimizing the first 250 words of your press release and then include the keywords in strategic and relevant spots throughout the remainder of the body.

It is also recommended to maintain a keyword density of approximately 5% for the main keyword and 2% for secondary keywords. (Keyword Density refers to the percentage of words on a web page that match a specified set of keywords) I must emphasize here though that while it is important to be aware of your keyword density, it should not come at the expense of relevant and high quality content. That will ultimately defeat the purpose and desired result of your Press Release campaign.

3. The Effective Use of Anchor Text
Creating Anchor Text (keyword-rich links) with your targeted keyword(s) will provide valuable optimization and relevant back-links to your respective landing page.

4. Relevant and Optimized Website Content
The use of targeted keywords in your Press Release will only have real value if you also include those same words with reasonable keyword density on your landing page. Make sure to include the keywords in the H1 Header Tag as well as strategically placed in the first 250 words or so of the landing page.

5. Tagging Strategies
Finally I have experienced great value in incorporating Technorati Keyword Tags as well as popular Social Bookmark tags such as Del.icio.us and Digg at the end of the Press Release. Those visitors that like the Press Release and choose to click on a technorati tag or a social bookmark tag provide high quality trackbacks or back links that will ultimately enhance your site's link popularity.

In summary, I believe an optimized Press Release using some of the above strategies can be an excellent marketing channel with a good viral effect and great SEO potential long-term. I would highly recommend making the small investment through popular PR distribution sites such as Prweb.com, Prleap.com and Pr.com in order to maximize the potential for yielding top keyword listings, high quality back links and great long-term exposure for your business.

I should note that while the optimization of your Press Release is paramount, it is essential to provide a newsworthy and journalistic feel to the release as well. Great content combined with skillful optimization will yield the best results for your PR campaigns. If you don't have the writing skills in-house, you can easily outsource your Press Release writing projects through such service marketplaces as ESalesGuru.com

About The Author-- Craig Cannings is the owner and managing director of ESalesGuru.com, a innovative marketplace connecting ebusinesses with niche Internet Marketing Specialists and Firms worldwide. Visit us at: http://www.esalesguru.com.

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