What is a press release or a news release?

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