Press Releases have been around for ever, but these days the lines have blurred a little too much on exactly what a press release is, how it looks, and most importantly what it does. In this session at Pubcon Vegas 2016, Sha Menz reveals the negative effects of mistaking your press release for a blog post and what to do if you have those scary press releases still sitting out there attracting Penguin to your website. Drawing on her background as a newspaper editor, Sha also provides insight into the real purpose of those releases and how they fit into your Brand Strategy.

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Why A Press Release Is Not a Blog Post – and why it matters

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@shahmenz

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#pubcon

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before
we get
started

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today we’re going old school

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there is a line

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if your press release turns
into a link generator

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so what does that look like?

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OMG!!
NEVER
FOLLOW
THIS
ADVICE!

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why?

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that’s manipulative linking

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seriously people!

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it’s in the quality guidelines
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en

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but

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you can fix that

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just make sure the link
does not pass page rank

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there’s another reason

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your press release should
never

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into a

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it has a job to do

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it’s the worker bee

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of your
brand strategy

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it is not a

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let me tell you a story

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Many years ago I was introduced

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to the world of journalism

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I was 20 years old

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yep, that was me

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four years later

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I quickly came to rely on
one thing in my office

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it looked like this…

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and out of it would roll…

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these icky
grey looking
things that
would save my
life!

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journalists and editors are
looking for your stories

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as long as you have an
ACTUAL story to tell!

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but you have to give them
what they need

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remember
you’re not
TELLING the
story

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You’re
generating
a desire in
them

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to tell it for you

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if you have a real story
to tell

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and now you have entered

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a world of infinite
possibility

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where successful
brands are born

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and real, live natural links
fall from the sky…

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but if your carefully
crafted, intriguing,
need generating
press release

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You may
have just
killed your
own story
because…

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what is left to say?

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thank you
See you at #Pubcon #SFIMA