Last week, as part of a Public Relations (PR) strategy to announce the new book I co-authored, Wildly Profitable Marketing for the Pet Industry, I submitted a pet-business press release to a few distribution services. It worked out very well, with Google picking it up right away. Plus we received some exciting comments from people in the pet industry — even some folks we had never met.
I thought it might be fun to share exactly what I did… so you can do this too!
1. Write your release, making sure it’s newsworthy for your pet or veterinary audience as well as pet-industry magazine editors and bloggers.
Make sure your news is news! If you’re announcing a new product or service, a contest result, an awesome client case-study, a charitable contribution you support, an upcoming event, or anything that your pet-industry audience will want to know about, it’s news.
If you’re not sure how to write the release… how to format it in the best way… you’ll find some great examples and tips on PR distributions sites such as PRWeb.com or PRNewswire.com. Or you can hire a professional copywriter to help you.
2. Edit your release to weave in SEO (search-engine optimization) keywords.
This one is critical, and you want to follow the rules so your press release is an ethical, high-quality effort (no keyword-stuffing). Let me explain.
Let’s say people use the phrase, “dog singing lessons” to find your website because that’s what you offer. You’ll want to use that phrase in a few power positions in your press release, but don’t overdo it.
Here are 5 acceptable places to use your top keywords:
- Your headline: For example, “New videos offer dog singing lessons in the comfort of your own home”
- In the body of the release, but only once or twice. (HINT: It’s great if your product name or service uses the keyphrase. For example, “Dog Singing Lessons – The Video Series.”
- In a link or two, such as, “Visit our website to see our videos for dog singing lessons (This is not a real link. I’m just indicating how a link should look.) Some PR distribution sites limit the number of links, and some free PR services don’t allow links at all. Check it out on a case-by-case basis.
- In your tags: Most distribution sites allow you to add tags (keywords) in the submission form. Be sure to use your top, most relevant keywords first because you may be limited to just 5 or fewer tags.
- In your photo caption or photo tag — if a photo is allowed. Again, some free PR sites allow photos and many do not. For those that do, you’ll have an opportunity to name the photo and possibly provide a description and tags.
3. Distribute your release through various online services.
Last week, I decided to use no-cost PR distribution services only, just to see how far I could get without spending any money. I ended up publishing my releases on PR.com, PRlog.com, 24-7pressrelease.com, and PitchEngine.com. Each of these services has a different process for setting up an account and submitting your release, but it’s just a matter of completing their forms and following their prompts. Easy!
These services have different posting timeframes. Some post your release instantly; others take a day or two. This is fine as long as you’ve given yourself plenty of time before a dated notice, such as a special event .
Please note that the paid PR distribution services are well worth the investment and it’s likely that I’ll follow up with them shortly. In particular, PetPR.com is an exceptional pet product news distribution resource, so be sure to give it a try.
These are just a few tips to optimize your next press release and get it out there without having to jump through major hoops.
Please let me know about your experiences with pet-industry PR. Thanks!
Until next time,
Here’s to a prosperous pet website!
Pam Foster
PetCopywriter.com