Ensure that your title, header, and first paragraph include your targeted keywords.

The title of your press release needs to include your biggest keywords, and these keywords should be emphasized within the introductory paragraph of the release as well. The introduction can be normal paragraph length, but do make sure that you have a headline between the title and the introductory paragraph that sums up the piece in 100 characters or less. And don’t over-saturate your press release with your keywords, either. You lose valuable search engine points for that.

Utilize headers to their full potential.

Headers benefit you in two ways: one, it breaks up the content and makes your press release much easier to read, and two, they’re an easy SEO tweak. <h1> tags are the strongest rated by search engines, and they go down from there. Remember, though, to only have one <h1> tag in a release, otherwise they are likely to be disregarded by the search engine spiders as trying to mess with the crawling system. Plus, it looks juvenile, and is not pleasant on the eyes.

Use descriptive, keyword-rich text anchors for links to your website.

You cannot expect your appearance in Google searches to improve dramatically if the links to your site just look like URLs. Ensure that links within your press release have appropriate, keyword-rich anchor text. This way, wherever the press release is picked up on the ‘Net will link to your site with the keywords that are important to your company. ‘Tis far better for people to link to you with “online PR tips” as the anchor than it is with “www.yourcompanyname.com/products/newamazingproduct.html.”

Also, never waste these links by directing them at your home page. Guide clickthroughs to an informative, valuable inner page, even if it means creating a landing page from scratch. This way, the meat of your web site is what gets viewed, rather than the superficial, oft-bounced-from home page.

Allow viewers to share the content easily.

Through RSS feeds, links to social bookmarking sites, and email subscriptions, your press release’s message can travel further and be seen by thousands more people than it otherwise would by simply dropping it on the wire as in the days before social media. Of these thousands of people, Justin Levy, author of That’s Great PR! Blog, says, “Many will click on the link to your website to see what you’re all about. Some of those will even buy from you. So rather than putting all your eggs in one basket with the … major media channel of your choice, you do better to diversify and let larger numbers of people in smaller, under served niches find you.” When you post your press release to your web site, ensure that you have links to various social media outlets. Insert a means of allowing readers to subscribe to your feed, thereby allowing them to automatically view any new press releases you may have in the future.

Perhaps most importantly, set up a Google alert to let you know when your press release is being discussed by outside sources, and be sure to submit these articles to social bookmarking sites. It is important to note that straight press releases are Dugg or Stumbled-Upon far, far less than the commentary surrounding it.

Provide a straightforward call to action.

You have the most incredible news story in the world. People will read your press release, no doubt about it – but then what? Conversions come from giving visitors a single path to the information they desire, and they’ll continue along that path provided each step gives them information or content that is a little more valuable than the stuff before. Thus, drop the press release with a paragraph that details a new whitepaper that is available on the same subject, or link to a free trial of the product you’re launching.

Related Articles

• How to Write and Optimize Press Releases for Search Engines – SEO for PR
• Optimizing Press Releases for SEO: Add to the Power of Media
• Why Press Releases Work Better Than Ever

The lawsuit emerged as a result of Hasbro’s recent partnership with game-making behemoth Electronic Arts to create an online version of the board game, which is now available on Facebook. In a statement, a Hasbro spokesman said, “Scrabulous infringes on Hasbro’s trademark. Like all intellectual property owners, we take this type of infringement seriously. We are reviewing a number of options with the parties involved and hope to find an amicable solution. If we cannot come to one quickly, we will be forced to close down the site and its associated distribution points.”

The popularity of the application has sparked an online protest movement. As of this morning, over fifty thousand people had joined Facebook groups with names like “Save Scrabulous!” and “Give Us Scrabulous or Give Us Death.” And message boards are exploding with comments about the affair:

“This stinks of greed and, frankly, really goes against the whole idea of ‘fun’ that a toy company should promote. I hope they wake up and realize that the result of this action is alienating customers rather than attracting them, which is what they were already doing.”

“Why don’t Hasbro just strike a deal with Scrabulous? The Scrabulous design and format is so much better than the Scrabble one. I understand fully that Hasbro want to protect their intellectual property but can they not see what a PR disaster it will be for them if they kill Scrabulous?”

“I have already been invited to the ‘official’ Facebook Scrabble and refuse to join. I own TWO travel Scrabbles and one collector’s edition AND the Scrabble dictionary. Scrabulous has encouraged thousands of people who wouldn’t normally play the game to become interested and purchase Hasbro’s products.”

Despite the clear derivation from Hasbro’s long-beloved board game, the basis for the whole “violation of intellectual property rights” argument, simply shutting down Scrabulous and suing its creators, Hasbro risks losing both current and potential customers for its ‘bullying’ tactics. Hasbro could very well have turned this into a good thing for all parties involved: Scrabulous earns tens of thousands of dollars in advertising revenue every month, and with a quiet settlement, Hasbro could have reached an agreement with the creators of the application to receive a percentage of the profits or to perhaps add its own branding to the application. Instead, they have set a precedent for future Facebook application creators who might not be so inclined to create the extremely popular applications of tomorrow.

In short, Hasbro had the opportunity to turn an awesome viral marketing opportunity into a PR nightmare, and I for one hope that sales to the 18-to-30 crowd – the big spenders – suffer because of it. In the meantime, head over to www.scrabulous.com to play the game while it’s still available.