Sep 10 ' 20 - by Amber - Tutorials - 0

If you're sharing your company's news using online press releases, then you already understand the benefits and excellent exposure it provides. But what happens when a reader actually comes to your website from your press release? Are you ready and waiting for them? Do you have a clear call to action (what you want them to do on your website), and an easy way for them to do it? 

Planning ahead and setting up dedicated forms and pop-ups can help you get more people to act on your call to action. 

Here's how to do it.

Create Dedicated Landing Pages

A landing page is simply the term for a page on your website that exists for a specific purpose. It is usually not part of your main website navigation. Instead, the URL (web address) is used in ads, emails, and even in press releases to direct visitors to a specific page to learn more about a product or service, fill out a form, or complete some other action. 

Versus just sending visitors to your homepage where they aren't sure where to go or what to do, a landing page has a clear call to action, the information a visitor needs to make a decision, and an easy way to do it. 

Best Practices For Using Landing Pages In Your Press Release

• Make at least one of your anchor text links in your release go to a dedicated landing page. Ideally, this is around your call to action (i.e. "register for the webinar" which links to your landing page, https://example.com/webinar/).

• The landing page should have more info that expands on press release topic or call to action (i.e. details of the webinar, how to register, case studies from past customers who have used the strategies from the webinar, etc.).

• Use a form to collect leads or registrations, but KISS -- Keep It Super Simple! Only collect the information you need. 

• Make sure the topic of the landing page is relevant to the press release, and most importantly is helpful and valuable to visitors. 

Targeted Pop-Up Offers

Pop-ups can be used separately or in conjunction with landing pages. The advantage of pop-ups is that they can be used anywhere on your website. Picreel also has very specific targeting options that allow you to show pop-ups to visitors based on how long they have been on a page, how far they've scrolled, how many pages they've visited, and a host of other options.

You can also target pop-ups based on where a visitor came from. Yep, even from your press releases!

Our partners over at Online PR Media recently shared a post about using UTM tracking codes in your press releases. It's a feature in Google Analytics that allows you to create a custom code to add to the URL (web address) of one of your website pages. The code allows you to track the link's performance, which effectively also tells you something about the press release's performance. 

It also allows you to customize pop-up offers for people coming to your website from that link. 

Creating A Pop-Up Offer Targeted To Your Press Release

Let's go back to the webinar example and create a pop-up that only displays to the people that click the UTM link from your press release.

In Google Analytics, go to the Campaign URL Builder and enter the parameters for your UTM code. For a webinar signup, the parameters could look something like this:

Website URL: the web address of whatever page on your website you want to link to and track (i.e. https://example.com/webinar/)

Campaign: "marketing-webinar"

Source: "news"

Medium: "press-release"

Content: "nov-19"

Google Analytics will then generate a custom URL with the UTM code. 

Next, head over to your Picreel dashboard and create a new campaign to invite visitors from the press release to sign up for the webinar (we conveniently already have a webinar template, should you ever need one!).

Once you're happy with the design and wording, save your campaign and move on to Target Options. 

Scroll down to Other Options, then expand the "where visitor came from?" section.

Select "referring domain"

Select "is" 

And then paste in your UTM. 

Now, anyone who reads your press release and clicks on your "webinar" link will be directed to your website and shown this uber-specific pop-up offer. 

Imagine the possibilities! With a little forethought and planning, you can get so much more from your press release traffic. 

Get Started With Picreel In Minutes
Ready to see just how much more? Try Picreel for free for 30 days - no obligation and credit card required. For a limited time, we're also offering FREE setup services for new customers. We will setup Picreel on your website, create an offer your customers will love, and launch it on your website. Contact us to learn more or schedule your setup today.

Aug 03 ' 20 - by Amber - Press Release - 0

CITY, STATE - As parent company, Growth Stack, has continued to expand its network of marketing tools, or “MarTech”, Online PR Media customers can now harness the power of Long Tail Pro, a robust keyword research tool. 

Online PR Media is an online press release distribution platform that specializes in affordable syndication packages that enhance a brand's visibility and helps them reach their audience with timely news. Using SEO press releases is a powerful middle-of-funnel marketing strategy that helps businesses reach leads with targeted content and clear calls to action. 

One challenge of knowing how to write an SEO press release is identifying what keywords will help it rank and be found by readers in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Long Tail Pro helps marketers find low competition, high search volume, keyword phrases that can help their content - including press releases - rank higher in the SERPs.

When the right combination of long tail keywords are used to help a press release rank, more readers will find it and take the desired action, such as visiting the brand's website, downloading content, joining a webinar, or even making a purchase.  

"Long Tail Pro's capabilities are superior to other keyword research tools on the market, and it is clear that an incredible amount of research and development went into creating the technology. It was a natural addition to the Growth Stack portfolio, and we want to make sure our Online PR Media customers who want to improve the visibility of their press releases are aware that this powerful keyword research tool is at their fingertips," said Kevin Petersen, CEO of Growth Stack.

Online PR Media customers can try Long Tail Pro free for 7 days after joining the company's free one-hour hands-on training. At the end of the training, participants will know how to begin using the keyword research software right away, and will even receive three low-competition keywords.

To learn more about Online PR Media, visit https://onlineprnews.com/. To learn more about Long Tail Pro and sign up for the 7-day free trial and hands-on training, visit https://longtailpro.com/ltp-webinar-registration. 

About Online PR Media: Online PR Media offers affordable multimedia press releases that achieve high search engine visibility -- putting your message in front of the right people at exactly the right time. We’ve combined all of the features that internet marketers, business owners, and journalists have asked for in an online press release distribution site.

Media Contact:

Chris Browne

775-434-6115

chris@onlineprmedia.com

Links: 

Online PR Media - https://onlineprnews.com/

Long Tail Pro - https://longtailpro.com/

How to write an SEO press release - https://onlineprnews.com/how-to-write-an-seo-press-release/ free one-hour hands-on training - https://longtailpro.com/ltp-webinar-registration

Dec 23 ' 19 - by admin - Tutorials - 0

Maximizing Traffic From Your Press Releases
So you've written and distributed an online press release. Woohoo! Now what? Ideally, your customers will read it and take some action like clicking the links and visiting your website. But is your site ready for them? 
While we have always recommended a mix of anchor text links in press releases that go to your homepage, relevant product/service pages, and supporting content, we haven't really talked strategy for converting the people coming from those links. "Converting" as in, buying something, downloading something, signing up for something, or otherwise taking some desired action. 

After all, isn't that the purpose of your website? To provide something valuable or helpful to visitors so that they will reward you with business? Even if that business isn't cash-money just yet, by signing up for your newsletters, reading your content, or downloading your handy guides, they are getting to know your company, building trust, and keeping you in mind for when they need your product or service.
So now let's get serious about those visitors who are coming to your site from your press releases. They just read something that interested them and they want to learn more - that's great! Instead of just dumping them on your homepage, use this opportunity to send them to a dedicated landing page or show them a specific pop-up offer that relates to your press release topic or call to action. 

Landing Pages

There's a misconception that a landing page is just any page on your website. A landing page is generally not part of your website navigation; a visitor can't come to your website and find a landing page. Instead, they land on these pages from other locations around the internet (i.e. ads, social media posts, press release links, etc.)
Landing pages are very specific. They expand on a single topic - for example, an SaaS company that is promoting discounted renewal pricing for the holidays might create a dedicated landing page that shows the discounts, highlights the benefits, and has an easy form for people to convert (sign up for the offer!). This promotion might not be on their website, but they may promote it as an exclusive offer from a press release or social media ad. Only people coming from those sources will land on the landing page and see this offer. 

Using Landing Pages From Your Press Release Links

Consider these best practices when creating landing pages for your PR links:

• When creating your anchor text links, direct one of them to a dedicated landing page related to your call to action (i.e. "exclusive holiday renewal pricing" that links to your landing page, https://example.com/holiday-software-renewal/).

• Use your landing page to go into more depth about the press release topic and/or call to action.

• Include a form to collect leads and signups. Just be sure to only ask for what you need to make it easy for customers. 

• Be sure the topic of the landing page actually relates to the press release topic and/or call to action. If a person clicks a link for "exclusive holiday renewal pricing" don't send them to a landing page to schedule a demo. 

UTMs And CRO, Oh My!

In our last post, we shared tips for using UTM tracking codes in your press release links to track engagement with those links. It's particularly helpful for creating targeted pop-ups on your website based on where the traffic is coming from (often called the "referring source"). 
To create pop-ups on your website, you'll need a conversion rate optimization platform. Don't let that sound intimidating. Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is simply any strategy that increases the number of people, that do what you want them to do, on your website. Want more people to sign up for your newsletter? That's considered a conversion. So is renewing a software subscription under a holiday pricing plan. It's some action you want visitors to take that you can measure and track -- and that you can ultimately increase using CRO strategies, such as pop-ups. 

Targeted Pop-Ups

Once you've mastered using UTM codes in the links in your press releases, it's time to focus on what to do with that specific traffic once it hits your website. Enter: pop-ups, a pretty powerful CRO strategy!
Great pop-ups work not necessarily because they disrupt the visitor on your website, but because they are timely, relevant and valuable. A great pop-up shows the right offer, to the right, visitor, at the right time. This is why using a pop-up to capture traffic from your press release links with UTM codes is so effective. 

As a quick refresher, to create a UTM code in Google Analytics, go to the Campaign URL Builder. For our holiday software renewal, the UTM parameters could look something like this:
Website URL: https://example.com/holiday-software-renewal/

Campaign: "holiday-pricing"

Source: "news"

Medium: "press-release"

Content: "nov-19"

You'll get a custom URL that includes the tracking code. Use this URL in the keyword section when you upload your press release on Online PR Media:

Next, go to your pop-up software and create a new campaign to capture traffic from your press release link. When you get to targeting, you will see an option for "referring source" or "where visitor came from." Click through these options until you are able to paste in the UTM link to indicate that visitors coming from that source or domain should see your pop-up.
What should the actual pop-up contain? 

• A relevant offer. If you're capturing traffic from the "exclusive holiday renewal pricing" link, your offer should give them a way to secure the pricing.
• Clear and actionable language.  

• Attractive design that catches the eye while complementing your website's branding. 

• A follow-up. Whether you're downloading your leads manually or they are automatically being sent to your email platform, be sure to have an email ready to go to confirm whatever the customer signed up for. 

Here's an example: 

And remember, only the people who clicked on your UTM links from your press release will see this offer. Because they read the release and clicked the link, this pop-up will not only make perfect sense to them, but it will be exactly what they were looking for. It couldn't be more timely or relevant than that!

Want To Maximize Traffic From Your Press Releases?

When it comes to CRO platforms that perform, we recommend our partners over at Picreel. They offer a free 30-day trial - no credit card required. And for a limited time, they're even offering free setup services. Meaning, they will install Picreel on your website, create your first campaign, and launch it on your website. It really doesn't get any easier than that!

Dec 17 ' 19 - by admin - Tutorials - 0

Online PR Media offers customers an opportunity to insert anchor text links within your press release. These are underlined clickable words that link to a specific webpage. Online PR Media refers to this anchor text as “keywords,” and this is where you will enter your keyword text and associated web address (URL). 

When choosing which words will become your anchor text, it’s important to note that only UTMs linked to a page within your website will be trackable. For example, if one of your keywords links out to the website of a company that you are partnering with, you will not be able to track clicks on this link since the primary URL links to their website - not yours. 

Parts Of A UTM

Before we get into how to create a UTM code, it’s helpful to first understand the different parts of it. The four key components, or “parameters” of a UTM are:

• Campaign - there are several philosophies to naming campaigns, but most commonly, this should be the name of the piece of content you’re linking to. For example, if you’re linking to a blog about pollution, your campaign name could be something as simple as: pollution-blog. 
• Source - this shows where the traffic is coming from. This should be a fairly broad category. For example, for a UTM in a press release, you could choose “news” as a source. Other common options are paid, unpaid, organic, CPC, etc.
• Medium - this describes how the traffic got to you. This would be the subcategory of the Source. For a press release, the medium could be “press-release” or simply “pr”
• Content - this is not mandatory, but useful to differentiate between sources that are otherwise the same. For example, if your company publishes press releases frequently, you would want to choose a name for “Content” that differentiates it from other press releases. For example, if you publish one press release per quarter, Content may be named 2019-q4-pr

One important consideration before moving forward is that UTMs are an extraordinarily helpful tool - and once you see the value they bring, it’s hard to stop creating them! If you’re generating a decent amount of content, you should consult this article on UTM naming strategies that can help you develop a system that is organized, consistent, and works for you.

How To Generate A UTM

Google makes generating UTMs easy with their Campaign URL Builder. Using the naming strategy described above, we can fill in the parameters to create a UTM for this blog to be used in a November 2019 press release. It could look something like this:

This tool will then generate a UTM in the box below, which looks like this:

Congratulations! You’ve made your first UTM code.

Inserting A UTM Into Your Press Release

This is the easy part! Once you have identified the anchor text or keywords for your press release, you’ll scroll to the Keywords and Anchors section when uploading your release on Online PR Media. In the field labeled Keyword #1, you’ll type the word(s) being used as anchor text. In the corresponding cell to the right, Link #1, you’ll paste the UTM link in its entirety. Because UTMs are long, it may appear to be truncated even though a quick scroll to the right reveals that all the text is present. 

And that’s it! You can generate a separate UTM for up to three other pages you’d like to link to. 
Bear in mind that if you will be linking to the same Campaigns in other media (i.e. sharing the same pollution blog on your Twitter account, or as a guest post on a local conservation group's site), you will need to generate separate UTMs, where Source and Medium should change accordingly. In this way you’ll be able to not only identify which links perform best within your content, but also which form of media receives the most clicks to each of your campaigns.

Interpreting Results From Your UTM Codes
Here’s the fun part: using Google Analytics, you can watch the results come in.

In your Google Analytics Account in the left-hand side bar, click Acquisition → Campaigns → All Campaigns. 

Each of these rows represents a single campaign. This page shows a summary of how many “clicks” each campaign received (regardless of source or medium), as well as some other pertinent stats about user behavior while on your site. 

More information can be gathered about source and medium when an individual campaign is clicked on:

Here we can see that one campaign received 21 users, 19 of whom came from the signature line from company emails, and 21 of whom came from organic posts on Twitter. While further analysis would be required to draw conclusions (knowing how many times the link was posted on Twitter, how long the link appeared in email signature lines, etc.) you can see how these insights can really help shape your future marketing efforts! 
Now that you know how to track traffic from your press releases, we know you're anxious to get started! Stay tuned for our next post where we’ll discuss how to prep your website to maximize traffic from press releases. Think: collecting leads, growing your email lists, and ultimately boosting sales!