Writing the Headline How to be found AND be interesting
Title Google News indexes 65 characters, including spaces. Yahoo! News indexes 120 characters Keep it short and to the point = 7 or 8 words Be interesting and clickable Have your keywords in the right place
Example: Google News Program gives an educational assist to Merced County migrant students (69) How it looks in Google
Yahoo! News Tulsa's Dynamic Sports Development Owner Announces New Programs for Olympic, Professional, College and High School Athletes as Olympic Games in London UK This Summer 165 characters with spaces
Headline Example Ladybug Steam Cleaner Marketer Announces Goal to Help Eliminate Toxic Chemicals in Homes (88 characters)
Google News
Placing Keywords Close to the beginning of the headline Your brand is not always a keyword
News Release Headline Original headline: ABC Company and the Green Foundation Educate Parents on the Effects of Chemicals on Children (92 characters) Google published headline ABC Company and the Green Foundation Educate Parents on the Effects Optimized headline: Toxic Household Chemicals can be Harmful to Children (52 characters)
Subhead This is where you can add more information. This is the place to put your brand and company name. ABC Company and the Green Foundation Hold Seminars to Educate Parents on the Harmful Effects of Chemicals in Household Cleaning Products. (136) Google News = 150 characters Yahoo! News = 350 characters
Takeaways Keep the headline short - 7 or 8 words Google only indexes 65 characters in the headline You can use the subhead for more information The headline and the subhead are the Title and the Description people see in the news search engines make them enticing
Exercise Rewrite these 5 headlines Consolidated Credit Advises Latinos to Evaluate Personal Situation Before Purchasing Health Care TiVo to Acquire Leading Platform for Improving TV Advertising Effectiveness Based on Connecting Same TV Household Viewing Data and Purchase Data
Avaya and Carousel Keep Families Connected at World's Largest Ronald McDonald House in Chicago Three More Leading Medical Centres Join VentriPoint Multi-Centre Clinical Trial for Congenital Heart Disease Essex Fire Crews Set to Commence 24-Hour Strike Accuse Managers of Being Intransigent, Dictatorial and Hell-Bent on Confrontation by Forcing Through Dangerous Cuts
Writing the Release
Value of a Good Release "As news is posted faster, often with little enterprise reporting added, the official version of events is becoming more important. We found official press releases often appear word for word in first accounts of events, though often not noted as such." Pew Research Center for Excellence in Journalism
Keyword Placement for SEO Use the main key phrase in the first paragraph Recent research commissioned by Aloevera.com and conducted by ABC Laboratories has brought to light a new factor in dry skin
Bullet Points Journalists have asked for core news facts in easyto-read bullet points. New research shows that damage to the protective layer of the skin causes dry skin, aging and can contribute to eczema. Researchers and dermatologists to hold webinars for women with dry skin problems 8. 4 million people in the US suffer from dry skin - NHIS
Link to supporting information Place a link to your website where you have more information for the reader at the end of the first paragraph. Use a keyword or phrase as the anchor text for the link.
Anchor Text Recent research commissioned by Aloevera.com and conducted by ABC Laboratories has brought to light a new factor in dry skin: damage to the natural protective layer of the skin. AloeVera.com s researchers will be hosting a series of webinars with leading dermatologists to educate women with dry skin on how to preserve this all-important protective layer and treat dry, aging skin.
Call to Action When you ask for the action you get dramatically better results. Use the full URL link to the place where the action can be taken. Some sites might republish the press release without your anchor text (links embedded in words). If they do, the URL link will still be in the press release. Register here for the webinar series http://www.aloevera.com/research-webinars
Keyword Density Absolute maximum 2% of the word count Keep use of keywords natural (remember Panda) Use alternative words that are related and relevant Always use it again in the last paragraph
Quotes Add pre-approved quotes from relevant parties mentioned You can use quotes to repeat key phrases Offer custom quotes and interviews Suggest experts for interviews, if you have them Link to their bios
Boilerplate Use this for corporate messaging and positioning Write it so it has substance, not just marketing spin Use this area for anchor text links to the corporate site or newsroom
Contacts Still the biggest complaint from journalists no clear and easy to find PR contact information 26% of top 100 brands have no contact details in their newsroom and 45% have no contacts on their press releases Use a real person s email address Cell phone number Social links
Takeaways Give reporters what they need and want Create an interesting, good lead Use keyword or phrase in the first paragraph Max 2% keywords Link the keywords (anchor text) Keyword in last paragraph Use full URL with the call to action http://www.yourcompany.com Contacts
Exercise Rewrite your press release
SEO Images and Graphics Why you need to pimp your press release
Photos 80% of journalists want images Original photos Offer more than one Tell the story visually
Optimize Use your targeted keywords in the image file names and folder names Not img1234 Separate each word in keyword phrase with dashes, not underscores backsplash-wall-tiles.jpg Place the image near other relevant keywordrelated content
Descriptive ALT TXT ALT TXT = alternative text In case the image can t be displayed For those who have disabled images on their browsers For the visually impaired (like search engines robots ) It should describe what the image is about and get those visitors interested to see it Instead of using "Red Bicycle Helmet" as your ALT attribute, make it "This red bicycle helmet is from our 2013 collection
Title Tag Used when you link the image to another page Tip: You should always do that Relevant, short, catchy and concise Follow the rules for all title tags
Pinterest Titles Descriptions 500 character limit Use #hashtags Links improves your link profile
Social Tagging Facebook, Flickr allow you to tag photos Use the keywords you used in your titles, alt txt tags and descriptions. Link to targeted, relevant pages on your Web site.
Graphics Link-bait Targeted to your audience Well designed All Image SEO rules apply
Takeaways 1. Visual increase views with news content 2. Media outlets are looking for visuals 3. Use descriptive names for photos and videos 4. Always add alt. txt tags 5. Link the image to a page and use a title tag as well 6. Add tags and descriptions on sharing sites like Flickr and Pinterest 7. Place on a page surrounded by optimized text
Optimizing Video Getting seen on search and video sites
Videos are 53 times more likely to generate a first-page ranking than traditional SEO techniques. Forrester Research
Keyword Research
Keywords Incorporate relevant keywords into your videos Title Video description Category listing Keyword tags Subtitles or captions
Video URLS Be descriptive Use keywords http://www.yourcompany.com/video/organic-applecider-vinegar-benefits
Create engaging content Relevant Interesting Short No long hype/sales/brand intro Get to the good stuff fast Views count in the YouTube algorithm. They have to watch for 10 seconds to count as a view.
Link to the Video Post the video in Your Newsroom Put the full URL of the video as the first line of your video description in YouTube Share and encourage others to link to and embed the video
Transcribe the Video Pages with transcripts earned on average 16% more revenue than they did before transcripts. The uplift was related to an increase in traffic through long-tail keyword searches resulting from matches in the transcripts. Source: LiveClicker
Video Site Map You ll need help with this Create an XML video sitemap that tells the search engine exactly where your page is, and where your video is, along with some information about it. Submit your video sitemap through Google s Webmaster Tools. It helps Google crawl your page to verify that the video exists and index the video so it can be ranked in the search results.
Tools Check out Google Video Sitemaps SpeakerText offers a quick and reliable video transcription service Use OneLoad.com for mass-video uploading Check out http://video-sharereview.toptenreviews.com/
YouTube Analytics
Takeaways Use video it has great SEO value Use YouTube search suggestions Use the search filters Add keywords to title, description and tags Add a link in the description Add keywords in the URL of the video A view must be 10 seconds short and interesting Transcribe the video Create a video site map Distribute video to other sharing sites