Mistake #1:
Tempted to cut corners with a Spammy Press Release
Sadly, when marketers see something powerful they seem to work to ruin it.
Press Releases are no exception.
Let me put this in context.
The world-acknowledged leader in distributing Press Releases charges US $389 for a premium package comparable to the one I use, and that’s simply to DISTRIBUTE it — to get it “out there” where it might be picked up by other News Sites.
A good Press Release copy writer can charge up to US $800. $250 – $500 is probably “the norm” if you want quality, written by someone who understand business as well as writing.
That’s just to write it.
But that’s not the whole of it.
There’s the keyword research and the topic and “angle” discussion before anything is written.
Then, the Press Release we’d prepare for you also needs an image; it has to be selected, sized, edited and optimized. Captioned.
You might also choose to have a video in the sidebar — a bonus we sometimes offer, sometimes charge for.
Or a “banner ad” in the sidebar — another bonus we sometimes offer as an incentive for a business owner to place an order within 24 hours of receiving our email informing him or her about Press Releases and our offer, although normaly I’d charge because it’s time-consuming. Simply designing the banner ad is something that an ad specialist could charge $100 for.
Both of these side-activities boost traffic and increase the odds of you getting new customers and more sales. But they take time to set-up correctly.
Then, the organization I work with compels me to submit the entire draft for a thorough manual edit. The editor comes back to me with graded, commented scores on SEVENTEEN separate factors of my submission and if my score isn’t good enough, he or she will NOT publish it.
Why?
Because 99% of Press Release Distributors handle CRAP. Marketers jumped on the bandwagon, and there are literally 1000’s of rubbishy Press Releases put online every day. The quality (authoritative, major) News outlets have to try to sort out the good from the bad. So they naturally gravitate to any Distributor who provides trustworthy, reliable material, consistently. And they naturally shun those who do not.
Well … they trust EVERYTHING that is published by the Press Release Distributor I choose.
Totally.
Because they know the title will meet high standards.
So will the grammar, the content, the structure, the links.
Everything.
A high quality Press Release is written in a certain “Voice.” It’s Universal, called “AP Style” and it includes guidelines for everything including the correct use of Abbreviations and appropriate use of punctuation!Realistically we don’t adhere too cloely to it these days — but the best writers DO model it, still. I do.
Even the image that my Distributor compels me to use for a Press Release has to be unique on the whole Internet. They literally run a comparative image search in Google and if that image exists anywhere already — FAIL. Edit, re-submit for human review again.
My Distributor earned that trust through standards like this.
They are not going to throw that trust away.
That’s why EVERYTHING they publish goes through the human editor, gets graded and scored, and has to meet high standards to be published.
That reputation is worth GOLD to them. It’s what allows them to charge very high fees for every Press Release because they can assure the Press Release customer that the most authoritative News Outlets WILL take a shot at their output and probably WILL pick it up. That’s how the customer gets scores of listings for multiple search terms on sites carrying high Authority so Google ranks them highly and some of that Authority is passed to your website.
By the way, I am “grandfathered” in to this Distributor at a lower price — I have been paying for a monthly “pack” of Press Releases for years, even while I was an idiot and didn’t take advantage. So while I still pay a lot, I pay a lot less than anyone joining today!
The MAXIMUM 6 – 10 businesses a month I work with, get the benefit of that lower price.
Contrast that with free Press Releases.
There is NO edit whatsoever.
No human ever sees them to edit or approve.
People with appalling English write them.
You can find people on the ‘Net who’ll write a Press Release for $5.
Any kind of Title goes — so they tend to be massively hype-y and sales-y.
No serious news site would carry them based on that one thing alone.
Then they are poorly written.
Awful grammar.
Poor spelling, typos.
No structure, ignoring the guidelines for voice, number of words, placement of links to external content, and so on.
Making claims that are outrageous.
Selling, promoting.
Scamming and spamming.
That describes probably 99% of Press Releases, handled by 99% of Press Release Distributors.
Now, don’t get me wrong.
Oddly enough, a well-written Press Release distributed through the spammy free distributors actually can serve a useful purpose. By being well-written, it doesn’t harm the reputation of the business for which it is published. And they DO get picked up by low end carriers and they do provide links to your website from inside the content and they can provide a boost. They don’t get well-ranked and they don’t carry much authority, but they CAN add some variability to the links to your web site and Google places some value on that.
But they are not on the same planet as a high quality Release distributed through a high quality Distribution company.
Mistake #2: Choosing the wrong keywords!
Unless your only purpose is to get lots of links back to your web site or your Youtube video, the people you want to see and read your Press Release are people truly interested in your business, your brand, your products or your services.
So it makes sense to do the research to make sure that you give Google and Bing good reasons to rank you high for those searches conducted by the right people.
There’s more to it, though. Some keywords are very high competition — meaning, it’s VERY difficult to get ranked on page 1 even for a few minutes because you are competing with the “Big Guns” who pay tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to Agencies to get them ranked high on Google.
Now, Press Releases are a “back door” to achieve this type of ranking — Google loves fresh news! — and even a short exposure can pay off in spades. But at the same time you want to be sure to be ranked for keywords that have less competition. You’ll be seen by fewer people but you’ll be on Page 1 for a lot more News sites and you’ll stay on Page 1 for a lot longer.
Mistake #3: A lousy Title!
The Title is a challenge. It cannot be hype-y or sales-y — it’s sort-of a headline but not really — but you do need it to catch the attention of someone in your target audience. There’s a type of headline called “Click Bait” — you’ve seen it used, no doubt — where the headline is so incredibly curiosity-compelling that you have no choice but to click and read what follows! Well, that will NOT qualify for a high quality Press Release. So you are always striving to inject curiosity while conforming to a standard of being Newsy, and accurate, and informative (and also, short) … which can also mean you’re on the edge of being dull.
Mistake #4: No desire to read
The Content doesn’t create a desire for a reader interested in the topic, to click on a link to learn more.
There is a balance to be attained! A good Press Release tells the “classic” who, what, why, when, where etc. story. But if that’s all it does, … it’s not enough. A reader can read it, get enough information, and move on. Sure, you have gained exposure … but often you want to gain a visitor, too. So it needs to meet the standards for a good News story but do it in such a way that readers are induced to click the link to find out more!
Mistake #5: No clear goal!
I could justifiably have made this Mistake #1 because it’s very common and it sets the scene for everything else.
What is the purpose?
One Press Release might have an entirely different strategic purpose than another.
Is it to gain publicity for your brand, or products or services so that when people see the name it’s familiar to them?
Is it to put your business in a very good posture via a feel-good story, so when people encounter your name they automatically have affinity for your business?
Is it to get a lot of links to your web site to boost it’s rankings in Google’s searches?
Is it to get people to visit your website … or your business … and buy something?
Is it to drive traffic to a “viral post” on your website, perhaps you are running a giveaway contest, where you sign-up a list of people to whom you can now promote your products via email?
I hope you can see the value — the necessity — of nailing this down, up front.
A summary of useful Press Release links:
The video is the best starting point.
So for the introduction to Press Releases, go here to Intro to Press Releases and see the next step.
But if you want to get the ball rolling, go here to get Details and Pricing and see the next step.
Why local businesses should be VERY interested in press releases.
What would my Press Release be about?
Why Press Releases are not quite Perfect
FAQ About Our Press release Service
After You Publish A Press Release
An advanced advertising tactic (This is really advanced — beyond most small business owner’s radar)