First of all, I would recommend sending out press releases regularly. Send them out at least once a month and you’ll see results. Every couple of weeks is not a bad idea.

Here are some reasons to send out a press release:

Every time you create a new product
When you launch a new website
When you launch a new blog
When you are teaching a new webinar
When you are holding a tele-seminar
When you form a partnership
When you win an award
When you hold a contest
When you get a degree or certification
When you start a new business
When you receive industry recognition
When your product ties into current events
When you donate to charity
When you hold a fundraiser for charity
When you have a sale
When you hold some kind of publicity event at a brick and mortar store or physical location – decorating contest, costume contest, etc.
When you hold a raffle
When you hire someone
When you promote someone
To promote holiday sales or events

Now, whether you write a press release yourself or someone else writes it for you, it is YOUR property – so consider re-using it.

You can rewrite it as an article.
You can rewrite it as a blog post.

Additional Tip

You can create a media area on your site and put every press release that you write on there in that media area. Call it “Press Clippings” or “Media Area” or “Latest News”. This gives you a HUGE credibility boost, makes your site and your business look professional, and puts additional content on your site, making it more search engine friendly.

First, let me tell you a little bit about a press release.

They are structured exactly like a news story. They are fairly formulaic. There is a standard list of information that needs to be included in each press release – the five W’s – who, what, where, when and why.

One of the best ways to learn how to write a good press release is to go to a press release distribution site and read the press releases there to get a feel for how they flow, what information is included, and in what order the information is written. www.prweb.com, for instance, has dozens of press releases on their front page. Read at least half a dozen from beginning to end.

Standard Press Release Format

Here is the standard general format of a press release:

FIRST PARAGRAPH: Summarize the “news”, the reason why you’re writing this press release. Let’s say you’re a personal trainer and you’ve released a new series of flat ab videos which feature exercises that won’t hurt your back. You’d start out saying something like: Tens of thousands of people suffer back injuries every year while doing exercises meant to flatten their abdominal muscles. Now, (your name here) is pleased to announce the release of (Your Product Title Here), the first series of ab exercise videos targeted to those who are prone to back injuries”.

SECOND PARAGRAPH: A quote from someone at the company, talking about the news event – why you created this product, or how happy you are to be forming this new partnership, or how honored you are to receive this award, etc. So here, a quote from the creator of the videos, saying something like “So many of my clients were seeking exercises that they could do to flatten their abdominal muscles, which wouldn’t injure their backs. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find a good resource – so I decided to create my own series of videos”…etc.

THIRD PARAGRAPH: More details about the news, product, etc. In this example, perhaps say how many videos there are, how many exercises, how easy these are to do, etc.

FOURTH PARAGRAPH: Another quote talking about the product, how it’s helped people, etc., or what your qualifications are for creating this product – “I’ve been a trainer for 17 years, and have been certified in xxxxxx” (name awards, training, certifications, etc. – it’s good for credibility. “I designed these exercises specifically to….” etc.

FIFTH PARAGRAPH: A testimonial from customers, if you have any. Here you would quote a satisfied customer talking about how well this product worked for them or what this product accomplished for them.

SIXTH PARAGRAPH: Wrap up about the product, including the URL you want people to go to.

This isn’t set in stone, you can deviate from it a little bit, but if you go to any press release distribution site, you will see that this is the basic, standard formula for any press release.

So you always want to include:

A couple of quotes – and always attribute them in the third person, even if you are quoting yourself. It is ALWAYS “According to Joe Smith of Smith Enteprises,” even if you’re Joe Smith.

Remember to place all of the who, what, where, why, when information – what date and time and place an event is taking place, where people can find your website, etc.

Check the previous posts on this subject:

How to Write, Format and Distribute a Press Release I
How Do Press Release Sites Work?
Why to Write a Press Release?
How to Write Optimized Press Releases

This is the fourth post from a series of posts dealing with using press releases in your marketing efforts.

Let’s get started!

Using Keywords

When you are writing a press release, treat it just as if you were writing an article. Do your keyword research. Pick keywords that are frequently searched for, and relevant to your subject area.

Ideally you would like a keyword or keyword phrase that is searched for at least a few thousand times a month but doesn’t have too many competing sites which contain the same keywords.

Incorporate a keyword phrase in your headline, in your first paragraph, and a couple of times throughout the body of your press release, while making sure it does not interfere with the flow of your writing, of course. When people are searching for, say, dog training videos, or a book of cupcake recipes, or online businesses, they will go on the internet and type in keyword phrases like “dog training videos” or “cupcake recipes”, and if you have included the relevant keyword phrases in your headline and press release – that is how they will find you.

Compelling Headlines

The headline that you choose is very important. It should contain a good strong action verb and should succinctly describe your story. It should also contain a keyword phrase that you have come up with, which gets a lot of searches – at least a few thousand a month – and doesn’t have millions of competing sites which have the same keyword phrase in the title.

For instance, if you are creating videos about flattening your abs, a headline could be “Flat Abs Now: Personal Trainer Releases New Series Of Ab-Flattening Videos For Back Pain Sufferers”. Flat Abs and Ab Flattening would both be keyword phrases – although again, do your keyword research first to make sure that you are using highly searched keywords with ideally little competition.

Here is a list of commonly used action verbs in press release headlines:

Announces, Appoints, Unveils, Reveals, Presents, Launches, Promotes, Hosts, Upgrades, Expands, Provides, Introduces, Debuts, Offers, Improves, Selects, Reports, Supports, Joins Forces With, is Recognized For, Invited To, Prevents (illness, disaster), Recognizes, Awards, Is Presented With, Opens, Features, Reports, Honors, Visits.

In our next post we’ll discuss How to Write and Format a Press Release. Until then.

Actually the answer is pretty obvious: you get free back links and more exposure for your website.

So are they any good these free press release sites?

In addition to free sites, there are paid services like PRWeb and Webwire which are reported to send more traffic than the free press release sites.

However, PRWeb charges a minimum of $80, up to $360. Webwire charges $19.95. There are a number of other paid press release distribution sites as well.

Is it worth it?

Well, running your press release in PRWeb, if you pay for their more expensive services, MIGHT increase the chances that your story will be picked up by mainstream media – IF you a have a newsworthy, compelling, well-written story. This is because for their more expensive services, they include their story on a list that is sent out on the Associated Press Wire services, in a section referred to as a Media Digest. However, there is still no guarantee whatsoever that all of that extra money will get you picked up by the news media.

Frankly, even if you spend five grand and hire a publicist, there is still no guarantee that you will get picked up by the news media.

However, if you write a press release in the appropriate format, using a good template and submit it to dozens of the free press release distribution sites, and do it regularly, you WILL make your product or service or company very easy to find all over the internet – Guaranteed!

Expect a big spike in traffic when your press release is distributed to dozens of the free press release sites (using one or two of those sites isn’t that effective).

So if your purpose is to drive traffic, get free online publicity, get back links, credibility, branding, and blast your message across the internet – the free press release distribution sites are absolutely sufficient for that.

In summary the benefits of writing and submitting press release are:

They are good for branding.

They are good for back links.

They are good for getting a site indexed quickly.

They are good for reputation management.

They are good for staking a claim to more pieces of internet real estate.

They are good for getting the message out about your product, service, website, book, movie, program, webinar, teleseminar, etc.

They are good for credibility.

And sometimes mainstream media outlets do pick up press releases from the free press release distribution sites.

In our next post we will discuss how to write optimized press releases. Stay tuned!

This is our second post on How to Write, Format and Distribute a Press Release. In this post we’ll discuss how free press release sites work.

Basically, with these free press release sites, you submit your press release and if it is written in proper format and does not violate any of the standard “don’ts”, for instance it cannot contain obscenity or promote pornography, hate material, blatant advertising, no promotion of illegal items, etc. – then they will print it on their site.

For a while it will be on their front page. Then as new press releases come along it will be pushed off the front page. It will still be on their site, listed by time and date published.

It will also appear in the search engines really quickly. Free press release sites are a great way to get your own site indexed quickly, and to get your news online very quickly. In some cases, within minutes after your press release has been submitted, people will be able to find it online.

Every free press release site operates a little differently in how long they take to approve your story. Some don’t have editors and just post the story instantly. Some have editors read the story/press releases first and it can take hours or days. With some of those sites, you will need to create an account and in others you just cut and paste your story.

All of these sites require the same basic information: headline, body of the story, and contact information for you or your company.

Your story can be found either by searching for keyword phrases that are used throughout the body of the story and in the headline, or by going to the press release distribution sites to look for news stories to pick up. We will discuss using keyword phrases in your press release and headline in a later post.

So….are these free press release distribution sites actually effective? Will anyone find your stories if you use them?

The answer is a resounding YES – or frankly, they would go out of business. And in case you are wondering how they stay in business – almost all of them offer enhanced services for a fee, such as the opportunity to embed video or include HTML and more links, and many also monetize with advertising, as well.

In our next post we’ll discuss some of the benefits of writing press release. Stay in touch.