Launched in September 2002, Google News is still technically in "beta". However, it already deserves to be on your "A" list.According to Nielsen//NetRatings, Google News attracted 3.4 million unique users in July 2003. This ranked Google News in the top 20 current events and global news sites, in a comparable position to BBC News.
According to comScore's Media Metrix, which uses a different methodology, Google News had 2.24 million unique visitors in August 2003, making it the 17th most popular general news site, right behind LATimes.com. As Mark Glazer observed recently in the Online Journalism Review, "Not too shabby for an upstart in beta with essentially no editorial staff."
The fourth step is optimizing press releases to get high rankings on Google News for as long as possible. According to an iProspect survey, less than 19% of search engine users review more than three pages of results before selecting a listing. This puts a premium on getting a top 30 ranking. Google News gets 100,000 articles a day and includes them for 30 days. That creates an index of 3 million articles from the past month. The challenge is writing a press release that is one of the 30 most relevant articles out of the 3 million in the index for a specific search term or phrase.
To succeed, you need to do half a dozen things well. According to Marcia Yudkin, author of 11 books, this includes:Decide on a keyword phrase that ties in to the product or service you are promoting and that people actually search for. Place this phrase into your press release headline and repeat it around three times within the body of your press release.
Unless the proper name of your product or service is already well-known, emphasize its generic description rather than its name. Likewise, substitute keyword phrases for pronouns like "it" or "its" to increase their overall frequency in the release. Include a subhead, which in turn includes your keyword phrase, if your release goes on for more than three paragraphs.
Post your release at your own Web site on its own page, linked from your home page, in addition to submitting it to your favorite press release distribution service.The fifth and final step is tracking optimization's effects and measuring promotion's results. This requires learning to use Web analytics and other measuring tools.
According to a survey last year by the CMO Council, senior marketing executives find themselves in the position of having to justify resources based on very tangible metrics. The survey also found that, while press and analyst influence remain important, lead generation and sales are the new metrics of marketing performance. This represents both a challenge and an opportunity for PR people. Fortunately, there are a variety of tools for measuring success.
New versions of WebTrends, ClickTracks, Urchin and HitBox enable you to do more than analyze log files to see the actual terms people used to reach your Web site. They now enable you to "close the loop" by measuring sales conversions and return on investment (ROI).
These are the ways that senior marketing executives want to measure success and these are the kind of statistics that can re-launch careers in public relations.
In short, there are tremendous benefits to those who learn how to write a press release for Google News. The only risks involve convincing your clients or colleagues that sailing west is really a more rewarding route to the east.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
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