Every business wants to get more links with less investment. In a flagging economy, capital is paramount, but spreading the word about your company is just as crucial. Now more than ever, you need an interactive marketing agency that can connect your business with people who are looking for what you offer. There are many ways to attempt this connection, from targeted media ads to targeted online marketing. But the Internet has given rise to other mediums as well, including search engine optimized press releases.

What is a search engine optimized press release? How could such a release help build links? Is there a way to distribute a release to publishers, or does the news escape notice unless a company has connections? This article will answer all these questions and more. We will examine optimized press releases from the ground up, beginning with the concept of news and ending with publication. After that, we'll look at potential benefits of optimized releases when created by a reputable interactive marketing agency.

The Optimized Press Release

An optimized press release that is part of an online marketing campaign begins by announcing a piece of newsworthy information about your company. This may be anything from a new staff appointment to your expert reaction to another piece of news that impacts your industry. It is very rare for a company to have nothing newsworthy to turn into a press release, and it is almost unheard of for an online marketing agency to be unable to find a nugget of news that can be used as the basis of an optimized press release.

Once the interactive marketing agency has found the topic of the release, the writing stage begins. During the writing process, integration of keywords is very important. One of the benefits of a search engine optimized press release is that it can appear in search engine results for your particular key word phrases. Using keywords in your title, summary and press release body makes your press release much easier to find. A second benefit is link value. Turning your keywords into anchor text also helps to improve your site's natural ranking for that keyword. A professional online marketing agency can research and recommend the best keywords for your particular business.

How An Interactive Marketing Agency Publishes Releases

Once the document has been written, your interactive marketing agency will publish your press release on various online press release distribution sites. Press release distribution sites chosen by your online marketing agency will ensure that your article is seen and that it also provides you with search engine value. The online marketing agency will include your company contact information with the release, making it easy for reporters and others to contact you with questions.

News outlets are not the only ones who will see your press release. The service also provides a direct link to interested consumers, as well as to analysts and bloggers.

Using optimized press releases as part of your overall marketing strategy can be very beneficial and cost-effective. However, it is important to work with a reputable interactive marketing agency to fully maximize the effectiveness of every release distributed.

Christine O'Kelly is an author for CloudBurst Consulting, a top interactive marketing agency that provides optimized press releases and other print and online marketing materials.

Tags: internet marketing, search engine optimization, online marketing, interactive marketing agency