Press Releases

November 23rd, 2019

   

Press ReleaseCreating Press Releases is the same as Article Marketing… only different. Much of what you learned in that module will apply, but some of the rules are changed.

A Press Release is an article with a news slant. You are trying to alert the world of some wonderful new product, opportunity or news event pertaining to your business. We will assume that the reader is truly interested in the news story you have to tell. You want to be factual and ‘to the point’.

You will submit your Release to special sites, some of which may charge you. Of course, there are many free sites, but not as many as there are for Article Marketing.

Here are a few to get you started:

And, you can always use the Google Footprints tool to find others. Remember to omit your Keyword Phrase for this search.

I recommend that you take a minute or two to review some recent press release examples at Marketers Media to get a feel for what a good release looks like.

After taking a look, you may decide to hire them. They are among the top agencies in the world. You can have your release published by them for as little as $99 (at the time of this writing).

For a few extra dollars, they will also distribute your news release to major news outlets such as:

  • AssocatedPress
  • New York Times
  • LexisNexis
  • CBSNews
  • The Washington Post
  • journalists
  • Houston Chronicles
  • Dow Jones Factiva
  • radio and TV stations


Here is a synopsis of their submission rules. Good tips regardless of who you work with. I think you will find them fairly typical of the service sites available… at least the reputable ones.

Press Release Guidelines

  • Headline must not be too long (under 80 characters), has active verb and subject.
  • Headline should accurately present press release’s content.
  • Headline must be newsworthy (important and recent enough to be announced).
  • Summary should clearly describe press release’s content.
  • Your summary should be one to two sentences long.
  • Please do not use first paragraph as summary paragraph.
  • Press release word count should be between 350 to 800 words.
  • Press Release should be objective — don’t use casual first person language (I, we, you, etc).
  • Attach only 1 image per press release not more than 1MB in file size (jpg, png or gif only).
  • Video should be embedded correctly into press release. See template to learn how.
  • Content should have a legitimate news angle (announcing something new and/or timely).
  • Don’t write your press release like an advertisement or a salesletter.
  • Content should keep an impartial tone throughout the press release.
  • Please don’t ask question(s) in a press release.
  • Use Uppercase and Lowercase lettering appropriately.
  • Avoid inserting JavaScript or other markup languages in your press release, such as … or … ONLY links eg. … are acceptable.
  • Please ensure links are formatted correctly.
  • Make sure each paragraph is spaced out with a line.
  • Please ensure press release is properly formatted e.g. do not double space unnecessarily, use appropriate punctuation and symbols.
  • Only include a quote that someone might have actually said.
  • Make sure the press release is not duplicated content.
  • News releases should not contain only opinion.
  • Press release links should be limited to 1 per 200 words.
  • Press releases should not contain references or links to sexually explicit material, illegal material or profane language.
  • Content should not have intent to harm or exact personal revenge against a person or group.
  • SPAM related words that will be filtered out by spam filters should be refrained.
  • Include available contact information where possible.
  • Do not place email addresses within the body of the press release.
  • Include the city from where the release originates, usually the location of the company’s headquarters.
  • Content should contain no or few grammatical and spelling errors.
  • Do not announce discounts, bonus, price cuts, sales, coupon codes or anything related to promotion of products/services, advertorials or news about promotions.

Wow! If you thought that was helpful then check THIS out! Gosh, I just love internet marketing.

OK, are you ready for the next backlink building idea? Private Blog Networks… here we come.