Today, it's not enough to put a press release out over a wire service and/or disseminate it by email to your or your client's media list. Now, you need to take specific actions to maximize the chances that the press release will get "seen" by the search engines so it will gain more widespread visibility on the Web.

If you don't know how to do that, Business Wire, one of the major wire service organizations, recently shared some tips on the subject. This article lists some of their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics that will help you.

1. Before you begin to write a press release, ask yourself: "What keywords do customers use to find your company (or client's company) and your (or your client's) competitors?" Research has found that those conducting web searches use more than one word, and typically an average of 3.3 words, in their searches. So, think of individual words, as well as phrases, that answer this question.



2. Write your press release around your (or your client's) specific keywords. Be sure to position your keywords at the top of your release, as the search engines focus on this area the most. Remember also that not everyone will read through the entire release, so it's important to put your most critical keywords at the top. But watch that you don't overdo the use of keywords, because some search engines will block your release as spam!



3. Use XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language - a markup language combining text and extra information about the text) to embed hyperlinks behind your keywords or "anchor text," so readers can easily click through to a specific page on your or your client's corporate website, or to other web sources with useful information related to your press release. You might want to include a URL in parenthesis after these phrases, however, because some websites will not include the hyperlink.



4. Use bolding, bullets, underlining, superscripts and italics to bring further attention to your press release. (These features are now retained in press releases transmitted by Business Wire.)



5. When distributing your press release, use multimedia - logos, photos, charts, screen grabs, and videos - to help your release stand out from the pack.



6. Include tags (keyword descriptions to identify images or text as a category or topic) to link to social media like blogs, message boards, podcasts, etc. or to blog search engine Technorati, at the end of your press release.

Visit the Business Wire site
(http://www.businesswire.com) to learn about how they can help you optimize your press release for SEO. They also offer an Enhanced Online News (EON) service via a PR Web platform, which optimizes your release for search engines, social media, and bloggers, and which will extend the online presence of your release.

Use SEO! You may be surprised just how many more people are going to see your press release.

Shock PR is pleased to welcome the following new client.

Sleep HealthCenters is a network of specialized sleep medicine centers and the largest provider of such services in New England with ten sites, and one in New York.

Longwood Software announced the addition of a new Director of Customer Care, Charles Parker Smith, Jr.
http://www.longwoodsw.com

Shunra Software announced its best year ever in 2006, with record sales that grew its customer base to over 1,700 and industry recognition and awards including Frost & Sullivan's 2006 Award for Growth Strategy Leadership and a ranking on the 2006 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA list. The company also brought on a new president and CEO, Thomas Charlton. http://www.shunra.com

Sleep HealthCenters announced the opening of a new sleep diagnostics lab at its clinic in Brighton, Massachusetts. They have also opened a new clinic in Medford, Ma.
http://www.sleephealth.com

Keep tuned to this space to learn about some exciting changes that we’ll be making at Shock PR International to ease the process of joining our unique PR franchise organization. If you've been thinking about going out on your own, but want to be affiliated with an established agency, have access to proven PR methods and materials, as well as mentoring, you'll want to watch out for our news on these changes!

The change to Daylight Savings Time in the U.S. this year is on March 11 - two weeks earlier than in previous years. For this reason, many older models of computers may need to be manually re-set to the correct time. If you do business with companies outside the U.S., make sure you coordinate times for activities such as conference calls and press release distributions to reflect the new U.S. time after the changeover to DST.

Please make a note of our new address and phone numbers: Shock PR, Inc. P.O. Box 3174 Bourne, MA 02532 T: 508-743-9993 F: 508-743-9566

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