Search Engine Optimization Should be an Integral Part of the Public Relations Consultancy Service Package, says PR Firm Fame Publicity
In the Internet age, a press release is no longer just a press release ⬠it must also increase your company's visibility on the worldwide web. The Internet has given an entirely new dimension to the public relations profession, and businesses throughout the world should be demanding that their PR people gain them increased visibility on the worldwide web in addition to editorial coverage in the traditional media.
Ayrshire, Scotland (PRWEB) June 11, 2004 -- In the Internet age, a press release is no longer just a press release ⬠it must also increase your company's visibility on the worldwide web. The Internet has given an entirely new dimension to the public relations profession, and businesses throughout the world should be demanding that their PR people gain them increased visibility on the worldwide web in addition to editorial coverage in the traditional media.
So says Murdoch MacDonald, managing director of dynamic new Scotland PR consultancy Fame Publicity Services.
A company's website can be it's most powerful and influential interface with all of its various publics ⬠shareholders, staff, customers, suppliers, etc. But instead it can be worse than useless, a waste of money, time and cyberspace if it is virtually invisible to the outside world as a result of a lack of search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a science in itself, which must be left to the experts in the field, and not confused with the public relations profession. But PR people can and must make a vital contribution to a company's ongoing search engine optimization process.
SEO is the process of promoting a business and its products and services online in order to achieve better search engine rankings for relevant, targeted key phrases.
Search engine ranking is important for most businesses because more and more people are using the Internet in order to source suppliers of the goods and services that they require. And it is estimated that 85% of Internet customers use search engines and directories in order to facilitate their search.
This means that people keying in (for example) "search engine optimization" are probably predisposed to buying search engine optimization services, and are therefore, to use the salesmanâ¬"s jargon, "qualified leads". But research also indicates that these potential customers will not look beyond the first one or two pages of search engine results.
Which makes it absolutely vital to second-guess the customer and correctly identify the key words and phrases that he or she is going to type into the search engine when looking for the goods or services that you have on offer, and for your website to attain the highest possible search engine results page listing for those key words or phrases.
These key words and phrases must then be incorporated into the title, meta tags and body copy of your website, and this begins the process of search engine optimization.
Public relations practitioners can play a vital role in assisting the search engine optimization process by prominently incorporating these same key words and phrases into the body copy and (even more importantly) into the headlines of all press releases and other announcements that the company makes to the public.
There is more to it than that, of course. But Murdoch MacDonald maintains that a well-crafted press release by a PR expert with the Internet in mind can make a significant difference to a company's visibility on the vital search engine results pages.
As Dr Michael Gray, managing director of search engine optimization specialists Web Age points out: "The customer is already looking for your product or service by the time he hits your page. The important thing is to make sure he hits your page."
And to prove t
