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This is the third installment of our three-part series on building your traffic after your website launch. In case you missed it, you can go back and review Part 1 on using forums to boost your PageRank, and Part 2 on using e-mail to build traffic.

Why press releases?

When I was doing contract work for 4INFO, every time they did a press release or a reporter quoted them in a business journal, there was a huge jump in traffic to the site. A press release is not only a traffic builder in itself, but it allows for journalists and reporters to find your company and include you in their stories. When journalists need an expert to quote for an article, they turn to press releases to find one. If the topic of your business is hot, a quote by one journalist could lead to a domino effect. A few years ago, I was quoted on MSN.com in an article – and within a year, Google reported 94 other places I had been quoted on the same topic. That is considerable marketing for something that was free!

Writing a Press Release

I am not going to go into exact detail about a press release here, as you can find a few guides on writing them (including templates!) at the links below. In short detail, you create a catch heading, sum it all up in the top paragraph, support your announcement with some other details, tell people how to contact you or find more information, and then close by telling people about your company. It has been said that a press release represents an upside down triangle, with the big headline at the top and all the details trickling in below.

What should press releases be written about? Good topics are business launches, product launches, new partnerships, expansions, product teasers, and redesigns/repackages.. Some are better than others, but you can get an idea of the things people release by reading through the releases at PR NewsWire. While announcing your new ventures is great, you should limit your releases to no more than one or two per month. You don’t want to flood the market!

Press Release Sites

Once you have written your press releases, where do you submit them? Some of the larger press release houses can cost you $500-1,000 per release! To help out the little guys, I have found some smaller press release databases that still have a significant PageRank:

• 24-7 Press Release
  Cost: $299 per release with multi-release pricing available
  PageRank: 6
• PR.com
  Cost: Free to upload release but advanced profile options available for $199-499 per year
  PageRank: 6
• Free Press Release Center
  Cost: Free to upload release with $2.99 per release upgrade option
  PageRank: 6
• ClickPress
  Cost: Free to upload release with paid upgrade options available
  PageRank: 6
• PR Leap
  Cost: Free to upload release with paid upgrade options available
  PageRank: 6
• 1888 Press Release
  Cost: Free to upload release with paid upgrad options available
  PageRank: 5
• E-Comm Wire (for E-Commerce news)
  Cost: Free
  PageRank: 5
• PR Zoom
  Cost: Free to upload release with paid upgrade options available for $95-399
  PageRank: 5

Additional Resources

• From PR NewsWire: Writing Tips, Six Simple Steps for Turning Your Company into a Heavily Quoted Source, Components of a Press Release and Additional PR Tools
• From PRWeb:
  Tips, Guidelines and Templates for Writing an Effective Press Release
• The Publicity Hound features a free newsletter on using press releases from Joan Stewart. She also offers courses, free tutorials, and seminars on getting publicity for your business.
• From Publicity Insider: How to Write a Great Press Release: A Sample Press Release Template

I hope you have enjoyed our 3-part series on traffic building after a site launch. Questions? Please feel free to leave a comment below!