Creating A Good Press Release

This post was written by Internet Marketing John on September 24, 2009
Posted Under: Traffic Generation

Creating a good press release is considered an art form in some circles, and is why many professional press release writers, charge between $100 to $500 for a 300 to 600 word “masterpiece”.

The reason for creating a good press release in the first place, is simply  to get free publicity for your business, or website.

PR experts go through the following steps, in order to get the most publicity for their clients.

  • When creating a good press release, basic formatting is important.

When you format your press release, make sure you begin using: City, State, Date, Start Press Release Here.

Finish your press release by placing three pound signs; ###, at the end.

  • The total length of your press release is also an important consideration.

A brief, concise, 200 to 250 word long press release, that gives the reader all the information that is necessary about your business, is more apt to be picked up and published, than a verbose 400 to 500 word press release that simply reiterates, and rehashes the information that was already stated.

When it comes down to creating a good press release, shorter is usually better.

If your business or company actually does have a significant news break to release; your press release should be about 350 to 550 words long.

In no case should you ever exceed 700 words for any press release, short of the second coming.

A press release of over 700 words, falls into the article category, and is far too in depth to be considered as a press release.

Major media outlets receive hundreds of press releases daily, and don’t have the time to read long articles.

You would be extremely lucky to get an 750 word press release published as an article, much less even looked at, by a major news company.  In general, the longer the press release, the less likely it is to get read.

  • Creating a good press release is also dependent on how well you present your content.

Your press release should have only 5 or 6 paragraphs.

Your first paragraph should be short and answer the five W questions;  Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

Your last paragraph should mimic an “About” web page, and furnish relevant information about your business.

The rest of your press release should contain at least one or two quotes, and two or three paragraphs about the newsworthy event, written in the third person.

Make sure that all the business information that you would want the public to know about included in an article, is presented in your press release.

Creating a good press release that will get snatched up by the media is easy if you follow these simple guidelines.

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