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Thanks to low quality press release directories, a lot of us have lost sight of what press releases are really supposed to be. A press release is supposed to be a piece that highlights a news story the media might be interested in covering. A press release isn’t supposed to be a poorly disguised advertisement for your company, and it’s not supposed to be something you thoughtlessly throw together and post online because you want to improve your search rankings.

In short, press releases are supposed to be newsworthy.

But what exactly does “newsworthy” mean?

For a story to be newsworthy, it should meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Timely—Go to the front page of CNN or your favorite news website. The featured stories are about things happening right now, not things that happened a year ago. The topic of your story needs to be current or connected to a trending topic in the media.
• Relevant—Your story needs to address an issue that the media outlet’s target audience will actually care about. For example, if you’re trying to get featured in Entrepreneur magazine, you’d better have a story that entrepreneurs (the people who read the magazine) would actually  care about.
• New angle—You could get by with talking about an old subject if you find a new twist that makes it fresh and relevant.
• Human interest—Human interest stories tend to have a longer shelf life. They have an emotional element to them that people can really latch onto.
• Geo-specific—When targeting local media outlets, having a story that has a local angle or local appeal could be helpful.

What are some other criteria that could determine if a story is newsworthy?

Recently, Adam Sherk did some research and came up with a list of the most overused buzzwords and marketing speak in press releases. For anyone who writes press releases or companies that use them, this list is an eye-opener and a definite must read. It’s a good reminder that marketing speak has no place in press releases, and it’s a handy checklist for making sure it hasn’t sneaked in without you realizing it.

But why doesn’t marketing speak have a place in your press releases? After all, isn’t the end goal of press release distribution to create a buzz and, you know, market your company?

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Every owner of a website is interested in finding ways of getting more people to come visit their website. Many of the steps are the same as getting potential customers to come into your brick front store. There are more avenues with using a website, however. It is all a matter of knowhow.

Here are some proven free methods of increasing traffic to your website:

1. Start a blog. Blogging is the newest Internet “craze”. Well, blogging has been around for a few years, but the phenomenon continues to this day and is expected to grow even more in popularity. To succeed in this field, you simply develop your expertise on your chosen area and write (blog post) about it. At the end of each blog post simply put your website address. Also, many blog software allow blog postings to be posted directly onto your website.

2. Use social networking sites. Social networks (such as Squidoo, Reddit, de.licious, etc.) are very, very popular mediums for a wide variety of Internet users. This is a great way to socialize and become a part of a community. Just be certain you do not use these sites to simply sell something. That will not go over. Offer your expertise in your targeted area.

3. Write articles. By writing articles on your area of expertise, you can post them to numerous sites found on the Web. You establish yourself as an expert, and people will come to visit your website. Be sure to include a short bio on the bottom of each article and include your website address in it.

4. Help Wikipedia. You can write research papers on your area of expertise and include them in Wikipedia’s library. List yourself as a reference, along with your website. Not only will you be seen as an expert in the field, but your website will be viewed by millions.

5. Write optimized press releases. A well written press release will be heavy in targeted keywords and contain quality SEO content. Post these both in print and online publications.

6. Post to targeted blogs. Perform an online search targeting your area of expertise. Search by typing your keyword in quotes and follow with + blog. For instance, if my keyword is widgets, my targeted blog search would be “widgets”+blog. Then, once you enter the blog, post a comment. Include your website in the comment.

7. Post to YouTube. Make a video and post it to this popular site. It is highly responsive and free. And, place a link to your website in the video.

These are but a few of the many ways for you to increase your website’s traffic. They are a good beginning and will keep you busy for awhile. Good luck!