Articles

Online Public Relations: A Proactive,
Innovative Approach to Communication

Public Relations is more than distributing a news release. It's the art of effectively communicating a specific message to a target audience. In many cases, that audience is comprised of media representatives that help you generate publicity. However, that audience may also be your investors, employees, clients or community.

A good online PR campaign can help you increase your Web presence, improve your rankings and enhance your company's image – especially when combined with proven search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. This might be a new concept for some of you, but I know it works. Using these techniques combined with traditional SEO and PPC, I was able to achieve a 400 percent sales increase in only 18 months for a former employer.

Right now, I have a client that operates a business in an industry that is a “hot topic” – one that tends to spark media interest. Our client was ready to start tooting their own horn, so I put together a small PR plan for them. We put the first phrase into motion with a feature release at the end of June. Since then, we have distributed two more news releases. We're also working with them to make some small changes to the site that will enhance credibility and usability.

Anyway, I compared statistics from the week before to the week after the first release:

There was an 8 percent increase in unique visitors.
There was a 7.2 percent traffic increase to the order form page.
Order form downloads increased by 42 percent. (Conversion rate increased.)

In addition:

Return visitors, which usually average around 30 – 32 percent, spiked at 43.4 percent the day after the most recent release.
Google backlinks have increased 270 percent since the beginning of the campaign.
Traffic peaked with about 18,000 unique visitors per week prior to the start of the campaign. Since then, the traffic has been steadily climbing, with the highest number of visitors last week (nearly 24,000).

Now, we're still working on measuring the effect in terms of phone calls and print exposure, but as you see, the results so far have been fantastic. Can you imagine what kind of results a long-term, dedicated campaign might achieve?

As SEOs, I think we tend to forget that there are other ways to generate business: we are trained to think search engines (Google), search engines (Yahoo), search engines (MSN)! Not that it's bad– all Web sites need good SEO work to be successful. However, there are other methods out there beyond SEO and PPC. Just like you should include the four food groups in your diet, you should be sure to include a mix of techniques in your Web marketing plans: SEO, paid marketing/advertising, and online Public Relations. The key to maximizing your Web site's effectiveness is finding the right combination for your business.

Of course, there are many other benefits of online Public Relations. Some of the side effects include:

Increased exposure offline;
Ability to spot key trends among target audiences (before the competition);
Higher conversion rates;
Ranking for “problematic” terms;
Improved credibility and public image;
Formation of relationships with key media representatives.

Even if you have a news section on your site, there IS more you can do. If you have questions or need some help, just ask.

By Melanie Broemsen, Broemsen Web Marketing
Melanie Broemsen is CEO of Broemsen Web Marketing and a former chair person on the IABC Heritage Region Board. This article was first printed and distributed by Jill Whalen, www.highrankings.com.

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Articles

Online Public Relations: A Proactive, Innovative Approach to Communication

Online Public Relations: A Proactive,
Innovative Approach to Communication