5 Steps to Take Before You Distribute Your Press Release
Press releases are no doubt a cost-effective marketing tool. Like many different forms of content, a press release has the ability to accomplish unique goals. It can boost your credibility and authority, it can strengthen your brand, and it’s a good lead generation tool. However, before you hit “publish” and make your press release available for distribution, there are a few important steps to take.
#1 Hand it off to an Editor
Make sure the press release is not only free from any spelling and grammar errors, also have it checked for clarity. Are all your verbs active and in the right tense? Are your sentences as clear as possible? Are you using the best voice and language for your audience? Is your message clear or can your press release be improved? An editor will be able to make sure your press release is the best it can be.
#2 Check Your Links
Make sure all of the links embedded or included in your press release are functioning. There’s nothing worse than motivating someone to click through and then leading them to a broken link. They probably won’t click again and you’ve lost them. It’s also a good idea to create unique URLs for your press release so that you can readily track and measure click-through rates and other relevant analytics.
#3 SEO?
While a press release in and of itself won’t increase your SEO ranking, when other people reprint your press release it does add backlinks to your site, which does improve your ranking. Make sure that you’re using the best keywords for your audience and your goals.
#4 Optimize Your Images
Make sure that you are in fact including images and visuals in your press release and that they’re optimized. This includes checking that the load time for your images is quick and that each image is clear. It also means adding any relevant tags and descriptors to help search engines find the images. Often while a press release may not be picked up by the search engines, the images within the release can be.
#5 Choose the Right Distribution Service
Finally, make sure you’ve chosen a good distribution service. Look for a company that offers reports so you know how well your release is performing. Also look for a service that casts a wide net and reaches a large audience. They should also ideally provide useful social media functions so you can make sure your press release reaches the largest audience possible.
There’s a bit of work to be done between writing that press release and distributing it to your audience. Make sure you cross your t’s and dot your i’s. You’ll be glad you took the time to make your press releases perfect.
