We have successfully migrated PR Leap to our new servers.
The service is now up and running.
Thank you for your patience.
PR LEAP Team
P.S. If you find any bugs, please let us know via our help desk.
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PR Leap is moving to its new servers. The migration started at 12A.M. PST. We expect to be up and running later this morning.
Thank your for patience.
PR LEAP Team
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UPDATED 2:54P.M. PST – PR Leap will be offline on Sunday 25, 2007 for system upgrades. We purchased new hardware in December and we are finally migrating to it. We expect to be up and running by Monday, March 26, 2007.
IMPORTANT: Please do not submit news for Sunday. Next best available release date is Tuesday, March 27th.
FAQ:
1. Will my news release(s) be offline? Yes.
2. Does that mean visitors will not see anything? Yes and no. Depending at what time a visitor comes to PR Leap, will depend what they see if anything.
Three Different States of PR Leap During Migration:
1. Completely offline. Visitors will not see anything. Nada.
2. Systems are up, but site is not visible. Visitors will see the following: “PR Leap has moved servers and is up. You will see the site once your DNS records update, shortly.”
3. PR Leap is up and running on our shiny new servers.
NOTE: PR Leap Blog will be online. You can check here for updates.
Once the new systems are in place, we will be releasing our new upgrade package that includes the ability to include images with a news release.
Thank you for your patience.
PR Leap Team
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Updated January 9, 2008 – Our free service was discontinued on January 1, 2008.
In December of 2006 we highlighted the importance of targeting your news down to a local level. PR Leap members responded. over half of the news submitted to PR Leap last month was targeted to a zip code, and we are starting to see local search traffic from Google, Topix.net and Yahoo for those press releases.
What else can you do to get more local search visibility?
Graywolf’s SEO Blog dedicated itself to answering this question all week. The great news is there is plenty you can do. Graywolf interviewed 20 people in the search industry asking them to provide local search tips, tricks & secrets. He followed up by providing 13 ways to promote your local business for free.
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Summary: “Date to old”, continues to be one of the top reasons why a news release is not included into Google News.
Including the right date with a news release is extremely important for Google News Inclusion. A task that seems so trivial can have big consequences if not done right.
We are not saying a news release must include a date. In fact, the PR Leap system already stamps the release date on the news release for you. However, some of you choose to include a date in the lead paragraph of a news release. This is good practice so long as the date is equal to the actual release date or beyond.
First Impressions Matter
If a news release includes a date older than the actual date of release, then it will not be included into Google News. Once Google News has labeled a news release with “Date to Old”, changing the date after the fact will not help.
Check, check and triple check a news release to make sure the very first date in the lead paragraph matches or is beyond the actual date of release. Also keep in mind that we are now in the year 2007. We are still seeing some news releases with 2006. We do our best to fix this problem for you, but some do manage to escapes our eyes too.
Material Dates
Some news releases must reference or disclose a material event in the opening sentence (i.e. On January 1st, 2006). This may prevent a release from getting included into Google News because it would be confused as “Date to Old.” To counteract this, we recommend you place the actual release date before the opening sentence to show that it’s fresh news.
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Use action words to craft a newsworthy headline. Seek words that communicate the news value of the story. The following is a list of 25 action words and 25 sample headlines from the pressrooms of Apple Computers, Yahoo!, Google, IBM and T-Mobile:
- Announces – Apple Announces iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition
- Launches – Google Inc. to Launch Transferable Stock Option Program for its Employees*
- Acquires – Google To Acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion in Stock*
- Introduces – Apple Introduces MacBook Pro
- Releases – Google Releases 2006 Google Earth Election Guide*
- Unveils – Apple Unveils Mac mini with Intel Core Duo
- Appoints – Yahoo! Appoints Jill Nash Chief Communications Officer
- Celebrates – Google Celebrates Geography Awareness Week with New Innovations for Google Earth*
- Enters (enters into agreement) - Fox Interactive Media Enters Into Landmark Agreement with Google Inc.*
- Opens – Yahoo! Search Marketing Platform Opens Online Sign-up for New Customers
- Ships – Apple Ships Final Cut Studio 5.1
- Signs – IBM Signs IT Services Agreement With Scotiabank Mexico
- Makes – Yahoo! Makes Strategic Investment in Right Media
- Participates – Google Code Jam 2006 Programmers Worldwide Invited to Participate in Google’s Fourth Annual Global Coding Competition*
- Showcases – Yahoo! Showcases Internet Time Capsule at the Site of One of the World’s Oldest Communities
- Joins – The University of Virginia Library Joins the Google Books Library Project
- Expands – Yahoo! Go for Mobile Now Available for Windows Mobile Devices; Expands Reach of Service to Millions of Windows Mobile Devices Globally
- Adds – Google Adds New Features to the Google Toolbar for Firefox
- Now – CBS’s CSI & Survivor Now Available on the iTunes Music Store
- Hosts – Seattle Hosts Top High-School Basketball Teams in First-Ever T-Mobile Invitational
- Closes – Google Closes Acquisition of YouTube*
- Issues – Google Inc. to Issue 5,300,000 Shares of Class A Common Stock*
- Presents – Google to Present at the Goldman Sachs Seventh Annual Internet Conference*
- Reports – Apple Reports First Quarter Results
- Partner(s) – Helio and Yahoo! Partner to Offer Mobile Access to Internet Services; Relationship Includes Comprehensive Integration of Yahoo!’s Properties Throughout Helio’s 3G Service
- Tests – Google and Viacom’s MTV Networks to Test New Online Video Distribution Model*
26 is a Bonus
Stop Words
Spam filters are automatically triggered when certain words are used in the subject line of an email. You can confirm this by observing how many emails in your Junk folder are from the bestoffering new and amazing health products!
Use alternative action words for “New” and “Offers (to offer)” whenever possible.
Punctuation marks like periods, exclamation points and question marks are typically used in advertisements and articles. News headlines almost never include punctuation marks.
Learn More
Press Release Optimization: How to write an effective headline
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Search engines need your help determining the original source of a press release. Why? They often see the same press release on multiple sites and are tasked with determining which source to show in their search results.
You can help by linking to your press release on PR Leap from your company’s site.
If your organization’s website does not have a newsroom, follow these steps to nudge the search engines in the right direction.
- Login to PR Leap.
- Click News.
- Click on the headline of the press release you want to link to.
- Copy the headline, and News URL of the press release.
- Link to the press release on PR Leap from your website shortly after it has been released on prleap.com.
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2006 was a great year to be in the search industry but there are always a few speed bumps. Below are our nominations for the top search industry blunders this year.
- Yahoo’s New Ad Platform (Panama) Delayed, Stock Plummets
- Microsoft’s Live.com Replaces MSN Search; Microsoft’s Search Product Loses Market Share
- DMOZ goes offline, Again!
- Incisive Media Lets Danny Sullivan Walk Away from Search Engine Strategies; Danny Starts Search Marketing Expo
- Adieu to Google Answers
- Microsoft’s Hires Porn Actress as Ms. Dewey The Face of Live.com
- Google Copies Yahoo’s Internet Explorer 7 start page
Now it is your turn to vote on the top 7 and add your own. We added the list to Squidoo with the new Plexo feature that allows you to vote for your favorites like on digg, only it is on a Squidoo Lens.
More about Plexo in Squidoo’s announcement here: Squidoo Goes 2.0 and here.
Of course every industry has its share of blunders, below are more lists for your consumption.
PR Blunders of 2006
Business Blunders of 2006
Consumerist.com – Top 10 Biggest Business Debacles 2006.
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Merrick, Pamela and Mario – Coronado, California – December 15, 2006
We went to Il Fornaio restaurant in Coronado last Friday for our Holiday Dinner. Food was great and the service was excellent. Our table had a beautiful view of San Diego Harbor. Merrick gave a warm speech commemorating our achievements in 2006.
We would like to thank all our members for helping us make PR Leap into one of the best online press release services. We would also like to thank anyone who has personally referred PR Leap to a friend, co-worker or client. And most of all we would like to thank our family for their continued support.
Happy Holidays from PR Leap
P.S. Our flickr has a few more pictures of the team.
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When Michael Gray author of one of the best search engine optimization blogs approached Merrick about doing an interview, he gladly made the time. GrayWolf provides insightful research brought to you from deep in the SEO trenches, we highly recommend subscribing to his blog.
We met GrayWolf at Pubcon last month. The interview with Merrick was posted today, which provides some backstory on the beginnings of PR Leap and a few press release tips.
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