Before we talk about how to get your business story into Google news, we should talk about why. Obviously, of course, you want your business story to be in the news.

But why Google news specifically?

First, if your business has been trying to increase its exposure in organic Google web searches or even Google shopping, a few simple steps can increase how much publicity you’ll receive, in areas where your competitors can’t easily follow you.

Since you already have written articles, you may also get more than one benefit from them. You can make once, and profit in several ways.

Google News is a reliable and repeatable source of visitors, and they will usually arrive sooner, while you wait for things like Google organic search results to show up.

Second, reading the news is one of the main reasons why people log on to the internet every day. 85% of Americans over the age of 18 use the web, according to Pew Internet Research. 78% of those web users have arrived here to read the news.

We used to read the newspaper. Now we scan news websites, top stories we find on Twitter or Facebook, and subscribe by email to industry news.

Since the main reason most people come online is to use a search engine like Google, you might be tempted to target only Google organic search and be done with it.

However, consider this: if you can find a place to get more subscribers’ attention to your message – usually much faster than your desired keyword rankings – wouldn’t the additional sales and leads do you good?

How Does Your Business Story End in Google News Results?

There are three great methods. The first method, is to get the press release accepted by one of the 50,000 publishers who share the 6 billion monthly clicks that Google News provides exclusively to them. (That doesn’t include additional organic search traffic.)

For a small fee, there are many press release distribution services that will do this for you, ranging from $25 to $200 each time. You can also often find small publications that accept free or low-cost press releases.

If you want to do this every day, it can make quite a bit of money. However, this is not a bad technique to test the market and repeat, say, once a week.

There is an easier and faster way.

My favorite way to get published on Google News is to get my articles accepted by publications that are already in Google News. They are usually referred to as Google news publishers.

You don’t have to be a marketing genius to understand the benefits of being published in a reputable publication with a byline pointing back to your site, compared to the amount of money you would have to spend on advertising to get the same level of exposure.

It’s a little more difficult to get into Google News this way because you may need to be approved by the editorial staff in order to get published. Such publications may request first-time exclusive rights to your original articles or content. If you’re not a writer, or don’t hire someone full time to write original content, that can be a hurdle.

Admission is also not guaranteed. You can see this as a loss, or accept the fact that it will make it harder for competitors to copy your marketing and steal your thunder.

You may be thinking “but who wants to read stories about my timeshare company or my pet furniture manufacturer.”

And you’d be right – they weren’t. It is very important for this method for you to know what the people you want on your site want to read, and write for them in areas related to your product or service.

It can work for any industry – the Google News publisher site focuses on everything from business travel to pet health. And if your niche is so small that you can’t understand it, there are plenty of publications out there about your local area. To fix this, you can simply localize your story – remember, these articles can still show up in web searches or news stories with your keywords.

If it fails, there is a third method.

This can take a lot of trial and error and cost a lot of money. But there is a third way to Google News that, if you succeed, can provide you with an advantage for years to come. Just create your own news site, and accept the site on Google News.

Brand journalism is a growing trend. Why not be at the forefront and not be in the news, but be the media themselves?

If that doesn’t convince you, what about the share of the 6 billion+ clicks set aside for Google news publishers? Each site may not get the same exposure. But the possibility of an additional 40,000 to 120,000 visitors a month is reason enough to try if you meet all the other criteria.

Google News publisher guidelines are very strict and sites are often turned down, which makes this a long-term plan. So run the numbers for your business and see if the returns are worth it.

In the meantime, try another method. They can help you get into Google’s news database, often faster than you can get results from your site’s search engine optimization alone.

Even in situations where the risks and costs may be slightly higher, so can the potential gains and benefits.

Tinu Abayomi-Paul is a respected digital marketer and writer who has been marketing everything from poetry books to practicing law on the web since 1998.

Also read Television News Vs Internet News