by:
Jennifer Clason
One
of the most untapped resources that EVERY website owner should
utilize is the submission of press releases. Getting the word
out there about your product or service is your main goal
- why not have the newswires shouting it from the rooftops?
How
will you know if your information is newsworthy? Well ask
yourself this: how often have you watched the local news channel
and you'll see a small story about a bake sale or a kitten
caught in a tree, etc. It's not major news but someone has
submitted it to the local news station in order to get publicity.
Obviously you're not going to submit a press release for every
new link that you put on your site, but if you release a new
product or service, or revamp a new product or service, or
have some sort of special offering in any way, it's newsworthy!
You'd be amazed at the stories the media wire will distribute!
But
how do you write and distribute a press release? With these
easy tips, you'll be ready for media distribution in no time.
Your
press release should look like this:
The
Headline of Your Press Release Should Have a Capital
Letter On All of the Major Words.
Your
City, Your State, Month Day, Year - Get right to the
point immediately with your first few sentences. This
is not ad copy nor are you here to trick people into
buying a product or service. This is a media release
of who, what, when, where, and why. Keep it simple in
25 words or less.
Keep
the sentences to minimal information, and keep the paragraphs
short. You want to give all the information in the least
amount of words as possible. However you don't want
to be cryptic, you want to give detailed information
but don't be wordy.
"You
should always have a quote by someone in your organization,"
Jennifer Clason says. "This is your public statement
about the newsworthy event you are trying to distribute."
Then
you have a followup paragraph such as: For more information,
visit our website at:
http://www.yourwebsite.com
About
the company:
You can even have a very short, one paragraph "about
us" section pertaining to your company. This gives
the reader a little background about your organization.
Contact:
Your name
Your phone number
Your website address
###
|
Notice
a few things about the "contact" area of the press
release. You do not include your email address in the contact
information. That information will be asked of you when submitting.
Also be sure to include three ### symbols. That is the formal
way to tell the reader that the press release has ended.
So
where do you distribute your fancy-shmancy press release after
it's been written? There are several places. My personal favorite
being a site called "PR Web", but here's a listing
of a few places to submit:
http://www.prweb.com/
http://www.click2newsites.com/
http://www.free-press-release.com/
http://www.ap.org/pages/contact/contact_pr.html
Or
on Yahoo, go to "Yahoo Local > Other Professional
Services > News and Media" and there will be a ton
of local newspapers, radio stations, and television news stations
to contact!
After
following these simple steps you are ready to contact the
media for your own press releases!
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