Creating An Online Press Room & Extending The Life Of Your Press Release

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Companies post information on their Web sites that is accessible to qualified press people. This has become especially prevalent with brick and mortar companies as well as Internet companies. Many sites require registration and passwords, presumably to keep out the public or customers with complaints. This obviously limits accessibility as journalists click onto a Press Room to get fast information and do not like roadblocks. They’ll just move on to another company and another story. So think hard about making your Online Press Room accessible to everyone. Put in a contact number for people other than journalists. But keep your Press Room open to all.

Contact numbers are imperative. Always include contacts directly to your public relations staff so journalists can field their questions to the people trained to answer them. If you want to avoid phones ringing off the hook from callers who are not journalists, use e-mail addresses instead. Make it clear that certain numbers or addresses are for media only. Give alternate contacts for other business. That way, even if people pay no attention and your email boxes become stuffed, you can at least weed out the non-journalists and direct their answers to other staff.

After you distribute your press releases to the media, you should make it a point to post them on your Web site for easy, accessible information for journalists who need input to write a story. The information should be just as clear and upfront as it is in any good press release. Leave out the hype and the fluff. Stick to the facts, examples and solid information that someone would want to know about your service or product. If you were writing a story for a newspaper or magazine, what would you want to know to get a good story? What would the readers want to know? What’s important; what’s not?

You can get a lot of mileage out of your press releases. Not only are they missiles of information to be shot out to the press, they are informative articles to dress up your Web site. Make sure they’re not just window dressing. Remember to include relevant facts, performance history where appropriate, brief financial info and a lot of contact numbers for the many needs of journalists, potential customers and future shareholders. Use press releases to develop an Online Press Room that journalists will find fast, reliable and informative.

Overlooked by many PR professionals, the power of a press release can be extended beyond just media outlets with search engine positioning. Journalists and consumers use the search engines for research. Knowing this, the importance of your press release being found in the top search engines becomes apparent.

Getting your press release listed in the top search engines is not an easy task. An understanding of how the search engines work will be required. This understanding isn’t something that can be picked up in an evening’s reading. If you don’t have a Search Engine “Expert” on staff that can help you with optimization and submission, then PRW can possibly help you and offers such a service. We have included a link to further information at the end of this newsletter.

The two primary benefits of positioning your press release in the search engines are:

1. Your news will be available to journalists and consumers long after the initial release.
2. Extending the value of a press release that you already have makes good business sense.

In today’s business climate, it is very important for business to take advantage of proven tools that are cost effective. Press releases are a clear and traditional choice that builds business. Make your press releases readily available to your Web site visitors as well as search engines and create long-term value for your news.

Learn more about PRW’s search engine positioning for press releases.