We often get questions about press releases – customers looking for tips and best practices.  While there’s a wealth of press release tips^[1] on the PRWeb Learning Center, we also like to take a scan around the Web from time to time to see what other experts are saying.  Here’s what we found today:

1. “How to” content generates interest “Provide Helpful Information,” wrote Janet Meiners Thaeler (@onlineprbook^[2] and @newspapergrl^[3]) in this post titled, 7 Killer Online Press Release Tips^[4]. “This type of press release shares your knowledge and expertise. Examples: “How to Save your Press Release from the Garbage Can” “How to Pitch Journalists on Twitter,” or “Save Money by Doing your Own PR Online.” Add some quotes and my company name and I could even make this story into a press release.”

2.  Search engines require key word research
“Do some keyword research to see what keywords people are searching for to find products or services like yours. Make sure that the keywords that you choose have a decent search volume; at least a few thousand searches a month is a good target,” said Dana Willhoit (@Dana_Willhoit^[5]), in this post on her blog, The Press Release Site^[6].

3.  Don’t forget the obvious
“Actually USE the keywords!” wrote Jeff Glasson (@jeffglasson^[7]) of PerkettPR^[8] in a post called 5 SEO Tips for PR Professionals^[9].  The post is older, but the tip is timeless.  Jeff was summarizing lessons learned from an event he attended and his advice continued, “This step raised a chuckle when mentioned because it seems so obvious. You’d be surprised to learn how many people go through the process selecting keywords and then don’t use them or use them properly. Always be sure to include your keywords in the title of your release as well as in the lead paragraph.”

4.  Must rests on the headline
“Start with a killer headline. Make certain that its attention-grabbing, encouraging the reader to at least skim the story,” said Tony Goldstone (@tonyboney^[10]) in this post on the Daily SEO Tip.^[11] “Kick off with an introductory statement that summarises what the press release is about and provides further encouragement to read on.”