Press Release: Why SEO Experts Should Not Use Press Releases

Summary:
Learn why your SEO company should not pay hundreds of dollars to PR companies.



Article Body:
Rumor has it that press releases are the next big thing in the SEO business, and many companies are spending top dollars trying to write the next big press release announcing the next big balloon breaking technology. But is this really the next big thing?

By definition, a Press Release is a kind of news item released by the company on whom the news is being reported. As such, you will have to compete with all the other press releases and hope that your will get picked up.

Why Will Your Press Release Be Trashed?
1) Unless you are writing a press release about Microsoft, Adobe, Sony or one of the other mega-companies, or at least about a company that is relatively well known, forget about it. Journalists and news editors receive thousands of press releases a day and there is no way that they will waste more than a quick glance. So why should you pay a company seven to eight hundred dollars for them sending your press release to thousands of editors and journalists when they are going to junk it anyway?

2) Unless you are announcing a truly revolutionary product or technology (which I assume you are not since you are only interested in using the professionally paid and written press release to boost your search engine rankings), whatever you make up or announce such as some new free deal or new portal offering something unique, your chances of being picked up are very slim. Yes, the PR companies will tell you that they have vast experience in writing Press Releases that will make yours stand out and get picked up but this is not accurate. The only way your PR is going to get picked up is if it truly is something out of the ordinary or something that no one has ever thought off.

3) Unless you plan to spend millions of dollars and then just by sheer volume your site will go ahead in the search engines, this is not a good option. Why? If you send a large number of press releases then these will be placed on the different PR companies websites main page. Since most of these home pages have a very high page rank, your site will get a boost. The question is whether this boost is worth the large amount of money you will put into the PR companies pocket. No it is not. Use that money to buy (though I do not recommend this) links from high-ranked websites and you will pay less and receive more benefit.

4) Any press release, even if it has been accepted, will remain on the different pages for just a short time, making the time and effort and even more so the amount of money you paid fruitless.

Conclusion:
A press release is useful if you wish to contact the press and maybe get some free publicity, but it is of no use if you wish to use it as a tool in order to advance your website in the search engines.

Internet Marketing Do You Believe

Do you believe in the product you’re selling? Do you?

In face to face marketing it is imperative to be so completely sold on the product you are ‘direct marketing’ that you can explain what the product is best used for and you can explain how you use the product.

When interfacing with online customers you actually have the same opportunity through Internet marketing. In this case you can provide personal information and unique uses for the product through knowledge-based articles.

I suppose it is possible to sell a product online for which you may not have a great interest. However, the truth is when you are committed to a product and believe in its ability to assist your customers you will find Internet marketing much easier.

There are plenty of entrepreneurs who will latch onto whatever they view as the next ‘hot’ item and then switch product when the next trend strikes. The game of hopscotch may have been fun in elementary school, but it does very little to help you in long-term Internet marketing of your site and product lines.

One of the best ways to get on board in the sale of a product for your online store is to research the product first. This is typically followed by a purchase of the product for testing. In the testing phase you should be convinced that the product has a high standard of quality, return on investment and will have a price that will make for a happy customer.

Far too often business owners will purchase a product in bulk for sale only to discover that the product does not meet customer expectations. This often leaves the online business owner lamenting the fact that they did not take the time to personally evaluate the product before determining their willingness to sell the product.

Some companies will provide a sample of the product for business owners to try, but even if this is not available the product should be acquired prior to opening the line through your ecommerce site.

If you can go into the search for a product line the same way you would shop for a similar product for yourself in a brick and mortar store you may find that you are more apt to select a product that is in keeping with your own high standards and personal taste. Remember less expensive may not translate to a better selling product. If you can explain in a content rich site why the product is superior from a personal standpoint you are likely to discover your prospective customers might just agree with you.

Book Review Guerrilla Marketing For Free

Sure, advertising is easy if you’re Pepsi or Apple, but what if you don’t have millions of dollars to throw at TV and print ads? Any business owner out there looking to cut their marketing budget should look no further than Guerrilla Marketing for FREE – Dozens of No-Cost Tactics to Promote Your Business and Energize Your Profits by Jay Conrad Levinson.

We’ve all heard examples of businesses that spend nothing on marketing and yet never seem to be lacking in customers (Krispy Kreme Doughnuts comes to mind), but how do they do it? On the first page of the book Levinson lets you know that it is possible to grow a business without spending a dollar on marketing, but that it takes a lot of energy and time. Each of the simple tactics the book discusses (there are 100) are deceptively simple and, according to Levinson, have proven track records.

All that you need to get started is a telephone, a computer, a printer, business cards, and access to the internet. After that you will not spend another dollar. Techniques range from the relatively obvious, such as “write a marketing plan” and “have a website”, to not-so-obvious things such as “establish a referral program” and “get involved in your community.”

Many of the tactics involve giving to receive. In addition to doing volunteer work in your community, Levinson suggests joining local networking groups, giving away your product for free to non-profit organizations and schools, and doing free presentations on your area of expertise to local organizations. Levinson’s tactics will not just help improve your bottom line, they’ll help you become a more altruistic entrepreneur.

If there’s one downside to the book, it’s that some of the techniques involving computers are outdated. For example, Levinson suggests advertising on free online classified sites. That may have worked years ago, but these days those sites are covered in spam and I doubt that any business would gain anything from listing on them. The book was written in 2003, so most of the techniques are still pretty valuable, but there’s just a few that stand out as infeasible in 2006.

When reading Guerrilla Marketing for FREE by Jay Conrad Levinson, I found myself constantly putting it down and jotting down ideas that could help supercharge my business. Levinson truly invokes your creative juices. And the best part is that all of the techniques cost you NOTHING. This is a no-brainer purchase for all entrepreneurs and small business owners.