A publicist's greatest tool, the press release, is a staple in any copywriter's arsenal. Writing a press release is said to be a challenge for some of the best in the field. However, with a few tips and a little practice, even a novice writer creating an effective press releases.
You can get started with this by first writing and submitting an article to one of the article directories. Then you can repurpose that article into a press release by simply turning it into an announcement. Answer the who, what, where, when, why, and how questions and make it sound exciting. I like to think of it as a kindergarten student coming home from the first day of school and giving his family a detailed account of exactly what went on at school that day. If you can incorporate the excitement of what you are announcing into your press release, it will bring you lots of interest from the media and others on the Internet.
A press release always begins with a headline (actually, the media contact details sometimes come before this, though this may also be placed after the body of the release). Your headline needs to be strong and compelling, conveying the main idea of the press release in a single sentence. As you write your headline, what you're doing is trying to tell the whole story in the shortest possible form. You may want to write a few alternate headlines and choose the best from them before you finalize and submit your release.
Even though this may only be a temporary boost in your ranking, it will draw attention to you and what you are doing.
Next, put as much information as possible into the first paragraph. Busy clients or potential customers may not have time to peruse your masterpiece. So, make your first paragraph an intriguing summary, one that makes your reader want to read on (or skip to the bottom and call your contact person). Begin this paragraph with the date and location of the subject of your press release.
The way to make subjective statements in a PR is with attributions. These are quotes from a company spokesperson which can convey a more personal point of view again though, it's a mistake to make this an outright sales pitch. However, attributions are a valuable way of putting a more personal spin on your release, something which does have an effect on readers and with an online PR, your readers include potential customers as well as members of the media.
Sending out press releases improves your web site traffic because news sites and press release distribution sites are considered to be credible sources of information. Also, the links from those sites to your site in the news coverage or news releases count highly in making your site more likely to show up on earlier pages of search engine results. Over time, the use of news release distribution helps all the pages of your website rise in the search engine rankings, increasing your overall volume of traffic.
In addition, if you are aware of the exact phrases (keywords) you use in your releases, the releases can dramatically increase your chances of showing up when potential customers type those phrases into search engines.
A well written search engine optimized press release can do a lot for your business. It can raise your profile, bring in new clients and give you some invaluable free exposure in the media. Writing SEO press releases for the web is a skill well worth learning; or at least hiring a professional copywriter to do for you there are a lot of benefits to be had and the press release remains as valuable of a marketing tool, possibly more so than ever.
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