Online PR differs from public relations in an offline environment because it enables you to pull your target audience towards your product rather than pushing your product into their line of vision.

Managing any PR campaign requires an agency, some excellent copywriting skills and the assurance that the press release will be seen in the right places and by the right people. In the online arena the same applies except you can go one step further by preparing it with SEO principles in mind- namely ensuring your press release is keyword rich so your target audience is drawn to your content when searching upon these terms.

by Media Contacts

Having an online PR strategy means you can boost your SEO success by using press releases and other publicity methods like writing a blog to build your chances of appearing in natural listings for certain keywords and raise your profile as an authority on your subject.

Online PR also entails an element of reputation management by making sure you own your brand in the search listings and are poised to reply to any negative comments that may arise from other online forums.

Press releases

Some of the ways in which a well optimized press release benefits your website include:

• Publishing it on your site equates to fresh key-word rich content and the addition of useful, relevant information - both key aspects for search engine spiders
• Publishing on other sites generates quality inbound links. For example, if you can get your press release published on news and information sites, which are usually highly regarded by the search engines, you are effortlessly building up a network of quality sites that have one way links to your site - without needing to provide a reciprocal link.

Blogging

Blogs can be used to raise your profile as a useful, authoritative source of information by providing your target audience with insightful views and new perspectives through regularly updated content. By using the keyword research techniques reviewed in Chapter 1, you can identify what information your target audiences are looking for and make sure your blog responds to this need.

Blogs are naturally ‘search engine friendly’ in that they are made up of frequently refreshed content and are peppered with in-coming and out-going links to other relevant information. New search engines are emerging dedicated entirely to blogs which will only increase in prominence as the popularity of blogging continues to grow. Search engines like these are not only indexing blogs by looking at links but also who starts or leads the conversation in the blog- in other words ‘the authority’. Ensuring your blog gets found by major search engines and these more specialist ones comes back to the basic principles of SEO –keywords, content and link popularity. Once published, make sure you submit your blog to all the major blog search engines and RSS directories.

Blogs have received a great deal of hype to the point of backlash so it is important to stick to common sense and create a blog with good quality content that will encourage others to link to it and to keep coming back. A blog continually pushing products is less likely to gain a reputation for being a useful source of information than one which provides useful tips about the products, new developments, product reviews etc.

Other forms of user-generated content

It is not always appropriate to create a blog. Creating a new, regularly refreshed section of content for your site can work just as well. Using other forms of social media can also be effective such as creating an online community or a review section on your site where consumers can add comment and provide you with a regularly updated source of useful and relevant content.

Blogs and any other forms of user-generated content come with a word of warning. As any Search Engine Marketing professional will tell you, there is only a limited amount of control you as the ‘advertiser’ can hold over your brand. For example, you may find yourself in the unfortunate situation where derogatory remarks are being posted about your company or products. However, having a prominent blog or making sure you respond quickly to any bad publicity is far better than keeping quiet and hoping they will go away.