Steps to a Writing an Effective Press Releases

Want to get the most media attention and spotlight for your business? Then the 1st place to start is with a GREAT press release. Now I can about see half of you departure now, dreading the thought of having to write one of these. But wait!! I’m going to show you easy methods to do your press release activity for you and get the attention it deserves. Ready? Let’s go.

We’ll concisely go over the basics because of their importance. Editors want to see things done the RIGHT way. I would-be bet that a lot of nice releases just get tossed out just because they aren’t set up properly. To a busy editor, that all too familiar “10 second glance” says a lot for you and your business; it let’s them cognize if you’ve done your research enough to warrant that release to be placed in their newspaper or magazine.

Here are your essentials:

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" on the top left of the page.

Your contact name, phone number, e-mail address, and website follows.

Headline is next, usually in bold and centered on the page. Summarize what the release is just about and capture their attention. Spend about as more time on your headline as you do writing the release. It’s that important.

The press release body starts with the location of the release and the date (Margate, Florida, May 5, 2005.)

Most press releases are between 200-500 words, and no more than a page. The 1st paragraph has the most important information. Don’t save the better for last, it won’t get read. In this paragraph answer the questions, who, what, when, wherever and why?

It is suggested that you write press releases in the 3rd person and use short sentences and paragraphs. Do not go over board, trying to dazzle the editor, it won’t work.

Target your release. You wish be causing your release to a specific audience so do sure that in your release you support to what would-be appeal to that audience. What don’t they cognize that you can add? Nothing works better than acquiring an “AAH HAA” once an editor is reviewing your release.

Provide statistics. Do several research and find several relevant information that applies. You can easily do this through Google. Once you find your quote, do a Google search or Yahoo quote on that particular topic. However, don’t finish on the 1st Google link and take that for gospel. Research it a bit further. Have it move from a respectable institution or magazine.

Include relevant quotes from experts in your field that wish reinforce what you are saying. Approach authors, leaders in your Industry, and another experts that back up the facts you are stating in your release. They wish usually appreciate the accessorial promotion and you get the quote you’re looking for. For example, as an author I’ll often get asked to provide a quote for an article on home-based businesses or the virtual assistant industry. I welcome the chance as it provides me more publicity.

Also, if you have a satisfied client that you feel wish add credibleness to your Release, add a quote from them as well. The 1st time you mention the expert, write out their full name. Then list them by last name or Mr. and Mrs. Smith only. I usually prefer the last name.

The last paragraph should be your call to action. You’ve talked the whole release just about your business or product, now tell them what to do with the cognition they just acquired.

At the bottom of the release include ### to indicate you are done, followed by a short bio. Do sure if you include your website that you include http:// in front of it for search engine recognition.

Your bio should include your information, any books authored, etc. Double check this for accuracy. At this point, you’re tired and done with the Release. But if it goes out to the earth with the wrong web address, the valuable time spent even as writing the Release has been wasted.

That’s it; the basics for writing a press release! Now one another thing I’d like to add in, they work! They truly work. I’ve had a recent release get accepted by PRWeb (and yes they do reject bad ones!), and then go on to hit several another major newspapers and media outlines and the Google alert, which resulted in our paper in the area contacting me. You want to set up a Google news alert for your name so that you can follow the path and see once you do the news so you can follow up. Also, PRWeb at http://www.prweb.com has complete guidelines for setting up a nice press release. Go with the extra money and spend $20.00. It’s worth it to get the additional exposure.

About The Author

Diana Ennen is the author of many books including Virtual Assistant: the Series, Become a Extremely Successful, Sought-after After VA, Words From Home, Start, Run and Profit from a Home-Based Word Process Business & the House Office Recovery Plan. She specializes in promotion and book marketing and is president of Virtual Word Publication http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com and http://www.Publicity-VA.com. Articles are free to be reprinted as long as the author’s bio remains intact

This article was announce on Dec 10, 2005