Scarborough Research has released a new research report about the buying habits of online newspaper readers based on data from newspapers in five markets: Sacramento, Houston, Providence, Orlando, and Kansas City. The data proved that online newspaper readers tend to be avid online purchasers. This supports our belief that people who are going to do business online tend to do other activities online, such as reading their newspaper.

If they are already reading a newspaper online and buying online, chances are very good that they are also reading blogs and other content-oriented web sites. So if you engage in a targeted blogging campaign, combined with periodic targeted online press releases, you will have a very good chance of getting your message directly in front of the people who are seeking information about you.

The interesting thing is that online blogging + PR works irrespective of how well optimized your web site is, and the traffic is free (except for the cost of distributing your press releases).

However, even if your web site is not optimized, your blog should be, and your press releases can be (sorry). You still need to do your keyword research. You need to target a very specific set of keywords, and you won’t really know what those keywords are if you don’t look at the traffic numbers behind them. You also need to keep in mind SEO principles such as keyword density.

And while you’re at it, you might as well optimize your web page because you are going to be sending traffic to your web site. Remember from an earlier blog that you want all of your links pointing to your home page to maximize your buildup of Google Page Rank. As you distribute press releases, you are going to have the opportunity to create lots of new keyword-rich links pointing back to your site.

The single most important thing, however, is to be consistent. Blog 3 – 4 times per week, if not more, and ping various blog directories every time. And do an online press release every 2 – 3 weeks.

You will absolutely drive a lot of targeted traffic to your site. And as the Scarborough report proves, this traffic will spend money.