Unlike most public relations people, I have a past life of doing Web development. Although I only developed sites for about a year, I learned first-hand the power of keywords, search and content. My experiences created a fascination within me for observing the intersection of SEO and PR.

When I returned to public relations work and observed the media shift online, I realized that I could bring my PR clients the highest value by clearly understanding how to customize PR plans for them that would provide a blend of traditional public relations along with optimized PR. I remember the excitement of learning that search engine tactics when properly appplied will make press releases appear in top Google News, AOL News and Yahoo! News search results for about a month! I have used these tactics to help clients gain customers, develop association to a national news stories, introduce new blogs into online communities and expand brand recognition. I love creating double wins for our clients … garnering traditional media exposure in print publications and then gaining more mileage from the same release by syndicating it for exposure online to their target audiences through pick-up by search engines and RSS feeds. Frankly, I relish the efficiency of it!

From my viewpoint, one of our most important jobs at Accolades is to understand the array of tools for wire distribution, web syndication, and search optimization – to know their advantages, limitations, and cost effectiveness.

In this way, our team can gain recognition for our clients and optimize the releases and articles that we create for them with key words that will improve their prospects for being found by the right people on the Web. As the Internet is becoming a key factor for most companies in gaining new business, the ability to improve the traffic to a client’s corporate site for conversion into leads (and ultimately sales) is crucial.