First off, you may be thinking to yourself what does real estate have to do with a press release and SEM? Well nothing… if you’re thinking in terms of the expensive/inexpensive house you may be looking to purchase (depending on how the current economy is treating you). In this situation “real estate” is actually a buzz word meaning: how much space you have to work with. In the world of web design, designers have only so much page space and they need to use utilize every inch of space to get the most bang for their buck. Creating a press release is no different; the rules are the same: you have to use your space wisely.

Now, let us assume you have the standard one page press release to write…great, what do you do to make it the best press release you have ever written (or at least one that gains substantial reader visibility)? First, you have to answer the same boring, basic questions: who is your audience/who are you trying to reach, which is essentially the purpose for your press release. Even though these questions may not be particularly fun to answer, they are essential. After you have answered these questions it’s time to get creative and deliver a fully captivating, highly visible, content driving, search engine optimized, all encompassing press release (I hope that got your attention).

Think of a press release as a mini-webpage…and design it like one. Remember to use your “real estate” space intelligently. Use formatting such as bold, italics and bullet points to create an easy-to-follow/read, SEO document. It’s also a good idea to embed specific graphics or videos as well, which are a great way to visually depict what you are trying to say. Sometimes pictures are better forms of communication than words and will definitely keep your readers interested. Adding links to specific key words will also be very helpful. This will not only allow your press release to rank well for the specific key words you used, but it will help your press release serve as a gateway…a gateway to drive traffic to various landing pages (with the same keywords) that you want to optimize for. It’s really about using these tools within your press release to strategically get the most out of the press release as you can.

Hopefully by starting to view press releases in this way, you will be able to better utilize them in your SEO and marketing efforts.

There are many other tactics that can be used and addressed, but this post was meant to simply highlight a few creative strategies to get you thinking about press releases in a new light. Take this knowledge and put it to good use.

Ready…Set…Go (Write Your Press Release)!