Online Reputation Management Tips: Proven Press Release Strategies

Online reputation management rises or falls by the number of good, high-quality backlinks your campaign is able to generate. The question, then, is where are the best sources of high-quality links? For a long time, the answer seemed pretty simple: press releases. For as long as there has been SEO, press releases have been used to build traffic and place powerful backlinks in strategic locations. It’s one of the most tried-and-true plays in the online reputation management playbook.

In recent months, though, there have arisen some questions about this strategy. These questions have arisen because of—you guessed it—the Panda and Penguin updates. Read on for more insight into these concerns—and some tips you can use to ensure that your press release strategy remains effective.

What’s the Problem?

For online reputation management professionals, the Panda and Penguin updates threw one major wrench into the press release strategy. Nowadays, links are not always good and helpful. They’re only good if they come from legitimate websites. Links from bad neighborhoods can ultimately do more harm than good. The problem with press releases is simply that, if you’re not careful, there’s no telling where your PRs could end up.

Online Reputation Management Strategies: Press Releases Done Right

That’s a concern that any online reputation management professional should be aware of. It should not, however, make you think that press releases no longer have value. Instead, simply keep these basic strategies in mind as you carry on with your PR approach.

• First, you can minimize the risk of bad links by sticking with reputable, high-end distribution services. Actual newswires are the best options here. Consider PRWeb, PRnewswire, MarketWatch, and BusinessWire. Something like PitchEngine, which combines social and PR distribution technologies, can also come in handy.
• In terms of content partners and sources, stick with sites that you know Google likes, and considers to be reputable.
• Remember what press releases have traditionally been for. The press release is designed to get a journalist’s attention, and to convince him or her that there is something newsworthy going on. Make sure you have a genuine story/news angle in your press releases, in order to get maximum exposure.
• Finally, remember your audience. As with web content, you’re going to get the best Google results if you write not for Google per se, but for the end user. Write something that people, especially journalists, will find interesting and compelling. Writing only with SEO in mind is going to be a waste of your time and money, as badly written press releases will gain little traction and little exposure.

In a lot of ways, online reputation management professionals can consider these news outlets in the same way that they consider search engines. Yes, you want to succeed within the parameters of those outlets. In a post-Penguin age, though, success in news outlets means writing engaging content that’s geared toward human readers. Keep this in mind as you work to refine your own approach to press releases.