10 tips for Press Releases
Here is a list of 10 things to think about if you are planning on writing and submitting press releases. It is worth spending some time on the writing as the benefits of links and traffic can be very good!
- Date Instructions - e.g. “For Immediate Release” or “For Release After [date]”.
- Title - Strong, enticing, keyword rich - and remember, its news not advertising!
- Contact Information - make it easy to be contacted - include name, phone, address, fax, email and URL.
- Summary - Summarise the press release in a couple of sentences. Some sites put a limit on this of around 400-500 characters. Make it interesting and enticing, as the title and summary are responsible for encouraging people to read the release.
- Content - This is the main body of the release, and needs to contain all the important details about your news story. Most press release sites have editors who check submitted releases for spam and blatant advertising, so be careful that your news is actually news, and not just self-publicity, else your release will get rejected!
- Audience - Think about your target audience - what kind of people do you want to attract to your site, and will they be interested in your news story? Do the press release sites you are submitting to target this audience, can you choose the industry the story is relevant to? If not, is it worth submitting it?
- Spelling and Grammar - Always spell and grammar check your release before submitting it to any sites. Even if it does get past the site editors without being rejected, it will not reflect well on your site. It is also a good idea to get a friend or colleague to check the release before sending it out.
- Links - Most paid press release sites allow links to be added to the release. Usually this is a simple URL at the bottom of the release, but often you can add links into the actual text. It is worth spending a bit of time to ensure you link to the best landing page to make the most of any traffic that clicks on the links. Also, think about the anchor text of the links. It is usually worth rewording some parts of the release in order to get good keyword-rich anchor text.
- Timing - Depending on the site you submit your release to, it can take anything from a couple of hours to a couple of days to get your news released into the wide world of the internet. If your release is about an event in the near future, try to allow some time for it to be processed before expecting it to show up in search engines. Also, again, think about the audience. If your news is business related, its probably better to wait until Monday morning to submit it, rather than get it released on a Friday or weekend. This is because it might get buried by other news before your target audience has a chance of reading it.
- News - Don’t forget that a press release is supposed to be news! If you are not sure that you have a decent news story, think about if you are able to put a newsworthy spin on it somehow. Don’t write about events that happened months ago unless something relevant is going to happen in the near future regarding that event. Don’t just say that you have redesigned your website, talk about how the design is going to really help your existing user base, how your service is unique, and maybe tie your news into current market/social trends.
