Spin to Get Google’s Attention

Writing a press release about the launch of a new product? If you follow standard protocol, you know all the little rules about writing a press release, i.e. one page, at least one quote, first sentence should provide a summary of the whole release, etc. But writing a press release for the web is a bit different. Most press release distribution sites aren’t scanned by journalists looking for a big story. The purpose of the press release distribution sites is really to get more content onto the web about your product and to improve your organic ranking when people do a google search.

For example, check out this press release on Pork. We came across it during one of our sweeps of Google News Alerts. At first, we couldn’t figure out why a press release on pork would have shown up in our inbox. But looking closer, the tags that Google picked up were all about consumer magazines and increased circulation. So think about it. Are your press releases being seen by the people you want to see them? If not, then perhaps you aren’t spinning it the right way. Here’s a handy little checklist for writing press releases for the web:

• Identify your target audience and write directly to them.

• Use keywords and keyword phrases that your target audience would use to  search for to find this product.

• Provide at least 2 or 3 links that go back to different pages on the website.

• Think outside the box.
Look at the press release on advertising the pork industry that we mentioned. Did they attract their target? Perhaps. We will never know. But it got a quick look from us. And we are betting that an editor or two got it in their Google News Alerts. What they do with it now is up to them.