How To Write A Press Release (And Get It Noticed)
By Christine OKelly | March 9, 2010
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I’m a huge fan of online press releases for several reasons:
1. SEO value - when you embed anchor text links in your press releases and publish them on authority sites, you gain valuable backlinks — which helps your site rank higher in the search engines.
2. Visibility - When you publish a well-optimized press release in the right place, you can gain almost instant page one visibility for even very competitive terms. If you have something to announce, don’t wait for people to find you, put yourself in front of them. News results typically stay on the front page for 1-2 days, but they stay online indefinitely (depending on where you publish them - some sites want to charge you to keep them online indefinitely, others take them down after a while, at Online PR News, they stay online indefinitely).
3. Authority - Submitting well-written press releases can help you establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
You don’t need to be a Fortune 500 Company to write a press release. Your news doesn’t need to grace the pages of the Wall Street Journal to be considered ’successful.’ Give yourself the credit you deserve. If your news could be useful, interesting, or beneficial to those in your niche, then you have a damn good reason to put together a press release.
Here Are Some Examples of the Power of Online Press Releases:
Top SEOs put out a press release titled: “The Best Social Media Optimization Agencies for March 2010 Ranked by topseos.com.” Later that day, I Googled “Social Media Optimization Agencies” (notice that there are 1,370,000 search results for that keyword) and their press release is ranking in spots 1, 3, and 4 as a result of the distribution on Online PR News.
The next example highlights a press release about Google Caffeine was distributed by Scott Moir. Scott is the founder of Irbtrax and also owns PR Site List, a list of free press release distribution site.
The image below (snapped a few weeks ago) shows a search for another competitive search term, “seo internet marketing tips.” Even though there are 143 articles related to that topic, Scott’s press release title is being displayed. Also notice that this screen cap was taken 4 days after the press release was published.
Online Press Releases and Twitter
In the past, press releases were only distributed by big expensive PR firms that had connects with journalists. And the only way your news was going to get out was if a journalist decided it was print worthy. But the social media age has turned that balance of power upside-down.
Now people decide what is newsworthy. People are the media influencers. Scott Moir has been very active with integrating Twitter with his press releases - and the results are awesome.
As recorded by Uberview, this press release about the Google Caffeine update has 52 conversations (retweets).
As documented by bit.ly, his Secret List of Free Article Marketing Submission Sites press release has received 577 clicks and 93 tweets just after publication.
How to Write a Press Release
It’s tough to deny that online press releases have online power, but there are a few key ingredients to success.
1. You’ve got to have a news angle: Many press release submission sites will not publish your press release if it doesn’t have a news angle. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering news, but it does have to be timely and relevant. There are probably lots of things happening within your company each month that are newsworthy and relevant.
Here are some good examples of topics:
- A new product or service
- A new client or employee
- Announcing an award or accolade
- Announcing a special event, contest, or sale
- Announcing a new website, blog, or website enhancement
2. Appropriate tone and style: A press release should be written in 3rd person - meaning you need to avoid using “you,” “I,” “we,” etc. Otherwise, it tends to sound too promotional and subjective and that will likely mean it won’t get published. If it does, people reading may not take it as seriously as they should. You can use first person if you’re quoting someone in a press release. Some people try to get around that by making 90% of their press release a quote, but that defeats the purpose. A good rule of thumb is to have 1 quote per every 200 words in the press release - and that quote should be 1-2 sentences long.
3. Filling in all the pieces: There are several standard pieces and parts of a press release that you need to have in place:
- Title: Should be around 100 characters in length. The title should reflect the news angle! This is one of the main problems we see at Online PR News. Anyone should be able to get a feeling for what the press release is about just by reading the title.
- Summary: Should be about 250-300 characters in length - a few sentences that summarize the press release
- Body: This is the main part of your press release where you talk about the news announced in the title
- Quote: This is where you get to be a little bit subjective and toot your own horn a bit. While the majority of the press release needs to be objective, you can give an opinion here
- About the company: Wrap up the press release with a short “about the company” paragraph that gives and overview of your company.
- Contact info: Many press release sites will not publish your press release if you don’t have adequate contact info. This includes name, phone number, email, website, and sometimes physical address.
How to Submit An Online Press Release
Now we’ve covered how to get your press release published on a press release distribution site. But that alone won’t get you the type of results you’ve seen above. To gain great visibility with your press release and to have it work for you in the search engines, it needs to be optimized.
4. Keyword optimization: The most important place to use your keyword is in the title and the summary of the press release. You’ll also want to include at least keywords in the body of the press, but don’t worry about counting and calculating - just get them in there naturally.
5. Anchor text links: If you’re using a press release distribution site that allows you to include anchor text links, this is ideal for SEO. You should already have three of your most critical keywords in the body of the press release. Then you’ll want to turn these keywords into anchor text links by linking to your targeted webpages in those keywords.
And even if you do all of these things, your press release could fall upon deaf ears if you don’t submit it to the right places.
7. Not all press release submission sites are created equally: You’ll want to submit your press release to a place that has certain characteristics:
- Visibility: Look for sites that are indexed by Google News.
SEO Friendliness: Press Release sites that are coded for SEO friendliness will help your press release rank higher. For example, the title of your press release is in the title and the URL, your summary becomes the Meta description, etc.- Offers anchor text links: Links are the currency of the web. If you’re going to submit a press release, you might as well get some anchor text links!
Press release stays online indefinitely: Some places will only keep your press releases online if you continue paying a monthly fee. Once you stop paying, your links are gone. Others will just take them down after x amount of time. - Extended distribution: Some sites will push your PR our to their content networks for much less than you would have paid if you would have submitted to all of these places alone. For example, Online PR News’s $49 package includes extended distribution worth $225. Strategic partnerships and volume discounts that the PR submission site can leverage help YOU get more for your money.
Tara and I put together an ebook that offers even more detailed info about how to write a press release titled “The 7 Deadly Mistakes People Make When Writing Press Releases” that is free to download.
Shout Outs!
I want to give a couple of shout outs to two awesome people who are really working hard to educate people and give them the tools they need to create successful businesses. I also want to graciously thank them both for allowing me to be a part of their projects.
Dave Navarro: Dave is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. Not only is he an @$$ kicker, but he is passionate about teaching others to be the best that they can be.
His More Buyers Mastermind program is packed with so much information from industry experts that I had to absorb all of it in small doses in order to fit it all into my head.
Kai Rostcheck: Kai definitely fits his title as the idea guy and his energy is contagious. He’s on a mission to help people go from zero knowledge of online marketing, to having enough information to be dangerous.
He’s always got his target market in mind. When we were doing the podcast and screencast for Free Marketing Made Easy, he did such a superb job of keeping me on track and asking questions that are important to his audience so that they can take the information and hit the ground running with it to market their businesses.
Dave and Kai - Thank you both for inviting me to be a part of your projects!
Topics: Marketing |
12 Comments »
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Wow Christine, great post! This literally teaches someone how to write an ideal press release, even if they have never done one before. Sweet!
Thanks for the shout out too. Here’s some objective feedback on the process: yesterday we posted our first press release for Free Marketing Made Easy, using the exact tips you outline above. By last night the release had been retweeted over 30 times (for proof, check our Twitter feed: I sent thank you’s to everyone for the retweets). So not only does Online PR News get the word out effectively, but this proves that a well written press release (following your model) can grow legs.
Thanks!
That is awesome Kai! I have no doubt that Free Marketing Made Easy is going to spread like wildfire - it’s an incredible program. Thanks for sharing your news about the success of your PR!
Christine. Excellent article backed by superb research. An unbeatable combination.
But then again, it’s all part of what makes Online PR News so effective and your release services worth every penny and more!
One of my newer submissions through Online PR News has surpassed the above outlined statistics in every category. Virally, Internet Visibility and maintaing high organic SERP’s for a competitive search query. As much as I’d like to share it publicly. Some things are just too good to publicize until the timing is right.
Best wishes for continued prosperity!
Scott - your results never cease to amaze me! Your level of commitment to testing and trying new things is incredible. While we have provided a solid platform in terms of SEO and visibility, it is your attention to detail and your ability to hone in on the what’s hot that really takes it over the top. Your results are proof that with the right tools, a smart strategy, and a goal to succeed, incredible things are possible!
Thanks Christine!
However, it appears my level of proof reading isn’t up to those high standards. “maintaing?? high organic”
By the way. I feel this article deserves additional publicity. And not because my name or company name’s in it. You can remove them if/when you submit elsewhere. Here’s a good source right off PrSiteList. An article submission site that goes into G’news:
Jazzou.com
Best of all? I have the ability to approve and/or edit the article’s appearance so it doesn’t end up with bad line breaks and other stuff you so often see. Let me know if you’re interested.
Best Wishes
This is great Christine, so timely too because I am in need of writing a couple of press releases. Still need to figure out where to submit it.
Hi Thanh! Press releases are a lot of fun. You’re a mover and a shaker, so I have no doubt that you have plenty of things to write about! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!
[…] How-to-write-a-press-release-and-get-results […]
Hi Christine,
Thanks for your tips and for setting up Online PR News. I submitted my press release and got on the front page of Google for my search terms…given I’m a novice I was pretty psyched about that!
As an ex-PR girl I really didn’t think PR for a one-girl-band was worth the effort but distributing press releases the way you advise actually makes perfect sense to me, so thanks for clearing that one up!
I love hearing stories like this Tamarisk! I love the tagline on the site you’re promoting BTW: “Worry is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won’t get you more clients.” That is great!!
Great article Christine, you’ve clearly put a lot of effort in and attention to detail. There are some great tips here, I work for a small company but we’ve decided to submit a press release to announce various changes to the company. A lot of your article makes sense and backs up why we need to do this. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing asbestos! The great thing about the way that people receive information today is that you no longer have to be a huge company to submit press releases and to realize results from them.
In the past, a handful of big media outlets controlled what info people would see and what they wouldn’t — and big companies who had the money to spend on expensive PR firms had the power to get the word out. The internet has changed all of that. There is more opportunity for small businesses than ever before!
I think you’d really enjoy the book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott - I highly recommend it!
http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Marketing-PR-Podcasting/dp/0470113456