"89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases"

Lesson #42:  A landing page

Now that we're writing press releases primarily for buyers, and we're inserting links within the release to take them to our website, let's save visitors the time and trouble of hunting around for whatever it is we want them to find.

For example, let's say you're a seed company and your press release offers tips for growing gargantuan sunflowers. In the call to action at the end of the release, don't lead visitors to your online store where they then have to search for your seed catalog, then within the catalog they have to find the section for sunflower seeds. Insert within the release the link that will take them directly to the page where they can buy sunflower seeds.

This is called a landing page and I learned everything I know about landing pages from Internet marketing expert Mark Widawer. Mark says that if you're asking your visitor for an email address on your landing page, your job becomes even more difficult because you must convince the visitor that they'll get something valuable in return.

When I started promoting this 89-day tutorial, I created a landing page that explained the tutorial in full. It includes my photo, a description of the course and a breakdown of what you'll learn during all 12 and a half weeks. Go ahead. Click on the landing page right now so you can remember what it looks like.

The homepage at my website also has a short description about the course near the bottom of my photo under the headline "Free Tutorial: How to Write Press Releases." You can see what it looks like here.

I'm writing a press release announcing this course and posting it online. The release will include the URL of my landing page where people can sign up for the course, not the website URL that will lead visitors to the homepage at my website.

Why? Because I want visitors to be able to find what they're looking for quickly. I want them to click just once on the link in the press release, then sign up for the course. I don't want them to land on my home page and become distracted, or see the buttons down the left side of the page and decide they want to read some of my free articles. Creating a separate landing page where people can sign up for the course, then including the landing page URL in the press release, ensures that my visitors won't have to waste precious time looking for the sign-up page.

Notice that my landing page is actually a sales page. Notice, too, that it doesn't have Google Adsense ads like the ads you see at the top of this page.  My landing page doesn't even have the standard navigation buttons down the left side, like every other page at my website.

That's because I don't want visitors to become distracted. When they land on the sign-up page, they can do only one of two things. They can give me their email address. Or they can leave the page.

In your press releases, send visitors to a specific landing page, depending on what it is you want them to do. A landing page shows that you value their time.       

 
P.S. The very best landing pages are built according to a specific list of do's and don'ts. I thought I knew a lot about landing pages until I read Mark Widawer's excellent ebook "Landing Page Cash Machine--How to Turn Your Adwords Campaign and Your Website into Your Own Gold-filled 24-Hour Online ATM." He wrote it for people who buy Google Adwords and need to lead visitors to a landing page. But all his tips are equally valuable for any website owner who wants to convert traffic on any of their pages into paying customers. I've tweaked many of the pages at my own website according to his advice, and I'm already seeing increased traffic and sales. Anyone who has a website and needs more traffic and more sales needs this book. (If you're at work, turn down your speakers before you click on the Landing Page Cash Machine below.)    
 

 
Opportunity #42: Mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions, which are worth a press release, aren't only for big companies. Non-profits of all sizes, businesses of all sizes, and even government agencies merge or make acquisitions.  
 

Tomorrow: We'll start Week #7 and see "before" and
                    "after" versions of press releases


Please help spread the word about this tutorial

If you like this tutorial, let your business associates know about it--even your trade associations and chambers of commerce. Also, bloggers, ezine publishers, newsletter editors and speakers can spread the word to their audiences. Just give them this link where they can visit my blog, take my press release quiz and sign up for the free tutorial:

http://tinyurl.com/pwnu7
 

Need help with publicity?
The Publicity Hound's Resources List includes products and vendors that can help with many aspects of your publicity campaign. You'll find press release distribution services, publicists, audio experts, ghostwriters and more.
 

***Have you missed previous lessons in this tutorial? You
      can find them below:

Lesson 1     Lesson 2     Lesson 3     Lesson 4     Lesson 5     Lesson 6      Lesson 7     Lesson 8     Lesson 9     Lesson 10    Lesson 11    Lesson 12   Lesson 13   Lesson 14    Lesson 15   Lesson 16   Lesson 17    Lesson 18
Lesson 19   Lesson 20    Lesson 21   Lesson 22   Lesson 23    Lesson 24
Lesson 25   Lesson 26    Lesson 27   Lesson 28   Lesson 29    Lesson 30
Lesson 31   Lesson 32    Lesson 33   Lesson 34   Lesson 35    Lesson 36
Lesson 37   Lesson 38    Lesson 39   Lesson 40   Lesson 41
 

If someone sent you the link for this tutorial and you want to sign up and receive Lesson #1 within 15 minutes, then one lesson each day for 88 more days in a row, sign up here.