Press Releases Or Articles? Five Reasons For & Against
When a website owner is bitten by expensive Search Engine Optimisation agencies that don't deliver on their outrageous promises, their first port of call for do-it-yourself SEO is often article submission. However old-school marketers swear by a press release, and they speak a lingo all of their own when writing one.
Ends.
Wait, that's the wrong place to put that, but you can see what is meant about the lingo. So which is best for you? Article Marketing or Press Releases? Here are five reasons for or against. More details can be found on this articles versus press releases calculator article and don't forget to first know what content to create for your own website.
1. First things first... what's the cost?
If your wallet drives your SEO, then article submissions are your choice, as most of them are free. While there are some free press release sites, the majority of them are article sites calling themselves press release sites. If you can pay for press release distribution, then give it a try, but only after testing your success with free article submission to a quality article site first.
2. How specific can you be?
If you website content or anything you could write about it isn't specific enough, then make it a press release, because what's specific about them is their timeliness rather than their precise theme.
3. Are you creative or formal?
If you can write formally and factually without embellishments, then send a press release. You may just get the attention of a journalist who will do all your leg work for you.
If you could use your creativity to turn simple information into an interesting feature article, then market it as an article and it too could spread.
If your creativity is greater than that, then you might be able to turn the article into a compelling news story, which will serve as a press release and be good for article submissions at the same time.
4. But is it newsworthy?
If you can't imagine two blokes at a pub talking about your article, then it's not newsworthy and not a press release. If it is, however, pay to get it distributed, as good news (or bad news, if you know what I mean) promotes itself.
5. Are search engines out of the question?
If you have no chance of ranking in the search engines for a given search term (because of the size and/or age of the competition) then article sites might give you some referral traffic, and press release distribution done right could give you broad media coverage. Or if your specific service or product is too new or weird to be searched for with any great frequency, then press coverage is your only hope.
So would that really be SEO? Of course! By drumming up interest in your business you will receive searches for your brand or product name. And if your service isn't something people are Googling yet, they soon will when they read your press release!
Press Release and Articles have their place - find out which are right for you, where and when.
Online press releases and articles can end up in print. All forms are valuable for SEO, but you need to start with the best for you.