A press release or a
news release is a written announcement directed at members of the news media
about something claimed as having news value. This encourages the journalists to
write a news article on the subject giving you a lot more exposure for free.
Press releases can announce a range of business news such as: scheduled events,
awards, accomplishments, new products, new services, executive promotions,
sales and other financial data, etc.
A well-written press release should contain embedded
links to key web pages on your site. Then, when it is distributed through a
press release distribution service and is syndicated and posted on numerous
third-party websites and blogs, you automatically have a powerful set of links
(with chosen anchor text) back to your site. This means those links serve as a
link signal for the major search engines and elevate your search visibility for your website.
Here are some tips for
ensuring you optimize your next press release:
Make sure your press release is
newsworthy
The first step you’ll want to take before you sit down to write your release is
to make sure you aren’t just writing a marketing pitch. A press release should
let people know about something new that’s happening, whether that’s internal
company development, or a larger trend/story that your news/company fits
into.
Clearly define your goals and target
audience
Think long and hard about exactly which types of publications you are hoping to
target with this release, and then write the release with those publications in
mind. Really think about whom your ideal audience would be, what story hook
would appeal to them and how you might be able to interest them in your
story.
Structure your release like a news story
– and focus on getting your keywords in first two paragraphs
Structure your release like a news story. If you studied journalism, you are
familiar with the infamous inverted pyramid theory. Stick to that structure.
The more the release is written like an existing news piece you might see in
the press, the better chances you’ll have of getting it picked up.
In addition, search engines place a disproportionate amount of importance on
the content early in your release — specifically the headline, subhead and
first two paragraphs. Make sure to use your targeted keywords as often as you
can within this space.
How
to Write a Press Release?
So, how to write a
press release? That's a million dollar question. If done right, it can indeed
bring you a million dollars in revenue. Let's get started by answering what a
press release is.
"A
press release is simply a statement prepared for distribution to the news media
announcing something claimed as having news value with the intent of gaining
media coverage."
A
press release consists of following elements:
Headline
The headline is the
first single line of text in the press release and tells what the press release
is about. It can be a very effective tool to grab the attention of the journalists,
so writing it from a journalist’s perspective is very important. Think what
headlines catch your eyes in the newspaper.
The headline should be descriptive but not too long. For the later reason,
PRLog limits it to 100 characters. The headline should be formatted in title
case, that is, each word in the sentence should have first letter capitalized,
and rest of the letters in lowercase. Acronyms can be in uppercase.
Summary
The summary lets you
build up your chance to sell your press release to the journalist. It is
generally a requirement of online press release services. Identify a unique
feature about your product or service and then write how it is going to
revolutionize the world.
The summary should be a single paragraph with about three to five lines. Beyond
250 characters is too long, so this is the limit for PRLog. All sentences in
the summary should be in sentence case, that is, only first letter of a
sentence should be capital, and all others should be lowercase. Again, acronyms
can be all capital letters.
Body
Dateline
The dateline contains
the release date of the press release and usually also the originating city of
the press release. For online press release services like PRLog, the date stamp
is automatic and should not be entered.
Introduction
The introduction is
where the press release body starts. It is the first paragraph in a press
release, that generally gives basic answers to the questions of who, what,
when, where and why.
Details
The details come after
the introduction. It gives further explanation, statistics, background, or
other details relevant to the news and also serves to back up whatever claims
were made in the introductory paragraph.
The body should be at
least 3000 characters or 500 words. PRLog allows you a much higher limit of
8000 characters. The body should have a minimum of two paragraphs. All
paragraphs should be ideally between 5 to 8 lines each. There should be a blank
line after each paragraph for good visibility.
About
The about section is
also called the "boilerplate" as it used over and over again. It is
generally a short section providing background information on the press release
issuing company or organization.
Media
Contact Information
This section contains
the contact information like name, phone number, email address, mailing
address, etc for the media relations contact person. For good credibility, the
email address should be the same as the organization the press release is
about. For example, if the press release is about an organization with a website
called abcd.com, then the email address should be email_address@abcd.com.
General
Tips
A press release should
be written in third person. Instead of using we, us and ours, your should be
using they, them and theirs.
It is very useful to
look at other people's press releases. Feel free to take a look at the most
viewed press releases, as it usually gives a lot of insight into how to write a
press release.
Press
Release sites list:-
1. http://www.prnewswire.com/
2. http://www.prleap.com/
3. http://www.i-newswire.com/
4. http://pressreleaser.org/
5. http://www.1888pressrelease.com/
6. http://www.24-7pressrelease.com
7. http://www.clickpress.com/
8. http://www.freepressindex.com/
9. http://www.free-press-release.com/
10. http://www.marketpressrelease.com/
11. http://www.mediasyndicate.com
12.http://www.newswiretoday.com/
13. http://www.onlineprnews.com/
14. http://www.openpr.com/
15.
http://www.scoopasia.com