Press Releases

Press releases are a link-building and traffic generating tool that are very much ignored by the majority of webmasters. However these people are missing out on potentially hundreds of one-way backlinks to their site, and of course the extra traffic that press releases generate.

Press releases are basically short articles that you can distribute to the media, that contain newsworthy information relating to your site. It's vitally important that you have something newsworthy to say either about your site, for example a hot new product launch, or a hot topic related to the theme of your site. Don't just write a blatant ad for your site and submit it to a press release company, otherwise it will quickly be disregarded and you will have wasted your money. Also don't flood the press release agency that you use with lots of submissions. One occasional top quality newsworthy release is enough.

Written correctly, they can be used to generate a lot of publicity, and subsequently sales, for your site. To be effective the press release should have a compelling headline, and short concise content that is relevant, interesting and captivating to the reader. Include your main point(s) in your headline and opening paragraph, and expand on these points in subsequent paragraphs. The content must also be written in a journalistic way, ie look as if it's been written by a reporter, and should not contain any hype. 

There are many different press release agencies that you can use, both online and offline, many of which are free. However if you want true global distribution online, and therefore the potential of many one-way backlinks and a good flow of traffic, then I recommend PRWeb, one of the largest and most reputable agencies on the internet.