Press Release is defined as:
“A public relations announcement issued to the news media and other targeted publications for the purpose of letting the public know of company developments”. This definition is from entrepreneur.com
How is it different for Online Press Releases?
Online press releases are the exact same thing, except that you are posting the Press release to Press Release websites. The reasons for issuing Press releases are the same as in offline media. If you have some newsworthy event to share, you can send out the Press release. The press releases issued to news media and other publications, if selected, get published in newspapers and publications. In the case of online Press releases, the press releases get distributed to major news sites like Google News, Yahoo News, subscribers, websites, bloggers and journalists. A single press release therefore gets a lot of publicity and has the potential to attract a lot of relevant traffic. You can find good press release sources by searching on Google and Yahoo! News sites. Some of these press release distribution services collate press releases from several hundreds of organizations.
A searcher searching on any of the major search engine can come across your press release. These releases are archived and, every time someone searches, they will see it.
What part does SEO play in Online Press Releases?
SEO comes in to play because the release is being posted online. Once published, the search engines will register the pages. Following SEO best practices will ensure that your press release can be found by visitors and search engines alike. Following simple SEO techniques like having your primary keywords in the title and the body of the press release might help the press release rank for relevant keywords. Writing a press release and submitting a press release is one of the most important aspects of PR. In writing the press release one has to ensure that there is not too much hype in the write up. It just needs to be informative. You might consider downplaying the promotional stuff. One has to be careful about the language and grammar too. Some of the paid PR sites offer links to the company website from the press release. This is helpful because the company Web site gets anchor text link benefit.
Below are a few good press release sites that will accept your submissions:
Betanews.com
Newswiretoday.com
1888pressrelease.com
Prleap.com
Free-press-release.com
Clickpress.com/releases/index.shtm
Below is an online Press release submissions form from a PR site, betanews.com :
Below is a Press Release example from- www.free-press-release-center.info:
You might consider making Press release marketing a major part of the SEO strategy because not only does the company gain publicity from online sites, it has the potential to rank higher for relevant key terms and get a lot of relevant traffic.