How I made $6,597 from a single press release

[Chris Ramsey]

Happy Hump Day! The week is already halfway through it seems. Good
news for those of us who have the luxury of weekends off!

Let's celebrate it today by talking about press releases.

I'll admit, in the past I've been pretty slack about putting them
out. But boy did I learn my lesson!

Last week I published a press release. A free one, mind you.
Within hours I was at the top of the search results for multiple
high-traffic search terms.

Thanks to this, I now have a brand new client that's paying me
$6,597 to launch a new product. I'm stoked about this product too.
It's got a number of HUGE names behind it, which means that it'll
be a massive launch.

Not to shabby for two hours of work!

So, how can you write a press release that's going to get ranked
well AND bring in good business?

1. Find a good website to release your PR at. I've had excellent
luck using PRLog.org. I use their free service, which practically
guarantees me good rankings, which stands to say plenty of readers.

2. Write as if you are a reporter. The idea of a press release is
to get in the news, not just on a PR site on the web. Keep that in
mind when writing.

You can use fancy-schmancy wording, but overall you just want to
state facts, give quotes, and sound official. Read your newspaper's
website to see what I mean.

3. Create a quality headline. Just like on your website, the
headline will be the first thing read. Make sure it tells the
reader exactly what the article is about and why they should take
the time to read it.

4. Write a full summary. In 2-4 sentences sum up your whole
article. This is what the reporters who are looking for news want
to read. Make this catchy, informative, and readable.

5. Who? What? Why? When? Where? and How? All those questions need
to be answered in your press release.

Again, read through your newspaper to see how reporters write and
you'll be putting together money-makers in no time!

Give it a shot and put three or four PR's out and see what it does.
You're going to get loads of traffic, plenty of new deals, and
quite a busy office.

I dare ya. Do it.

[SurviveUnemployment]

That is solid advice.

[Bruce NewMedia]

Without being too nosy, can I ask, was the press release primarily about your Copywriting Services or more about a specific news event or new product?
_____
Bruce

[Chris Ramsey]

Originally Posted by brucerby

Without being too nosy, can I ask, was the press release primarily about your Copywriting Services or more about a specific news event or new product?
_____
Bruce

It was a press release about teaming up with a design crew to offer more than just copywriting services. Now I'm able to offer both copy and great design.

This particular client was looking for just that, and since he saw my PR, he hired me.

[Loren Woirhaye]

That illustrates a few things: clients prefer one-stop sourcing
of talent.... and being in the right place at the right time
is something you should work to make happen as often as
possible

[Slyknight]

Good advice and congratz on ur $6000+

[Justin Mandel]

Congratulations, nice job!

It certainly does pay to create a press release for any news that needs to be released

[rapidscc]

Man You're Good! And I mean that on different perspectives..

[Shane Hale]

Awesome Chris Very Awesome!!

[braver55b]

Congrats,

You made me green with envy LOL I keep thinking: from one FREE press release. That's awesome.

[MrLewisSmile]

It seems the skill of writing good press releases is a skill worth learning...!

I am inspired

[Vikuna2009+]

Originally Posted by scheda

Happy Hump Day! The week is already halfway through it seems. Good
news for those of us who have the luxury of weekends off!

Let's celebrate it today by talking about press releases.

I'll admit, in the past I've been pretty slack about putting them
out. But boy did I learn my lesson!

Last week I published a press release. A free one, mind you.
Within hours I was at the top of the search results for multiple
high-traffic search terms.

Thanks to this, I now have a brand new client that's paying me
$6,597 to launch a new product. I'm stoked about this product too.
It's got a number of HUGE names behind it, which means that it'll
be a massive launch.

Not to shabby for two hours of work!

So, how can you write a press release that's going to get ranked
well AND bring in good business?

1. Find a good website to release your PR at. I've had excellent
luck using PRLog.org. I use their free service, which practically
guarantees me good rankings, which stands to say plenty of readers.

2. Write as if you are a reporter. The idea of a press release is
to get in the news, not just on a PR site on the web. Keep that in
mind when writing.

You can use fancy-schmancy wording, but overall you just want to
state facts, give quotes, and sound official. Read your newspaper's
website to see what I mean.

3. Create a quality headline. Just like on your website, the
headline will be the first thing read. Make sure it tells the
reader exactly what the article is about and why they should take
the time to read it.

4. Write a full summary. In 2-4 sentences sum up your whole
article. This is what the reporters who are looking for news want
to read. Make this catchy, informative, and readable.

5. Who? What? Why? When? Where? and How? All those questions need
to be answered in your press release.

Again, read through your newspaper to see how reporters write and
you'll be putting together money-makers in no time!

Give it a shot and put three or four PR's out and see what it does.
You're going to get loads of traffic, plenty of new deals, and
quite a busy office.

I dare ya. Do it.

Fantastic! Would you mind elaborating a little bit more how you structure the whole thing, sure would like to know !

[Chris Ramsey]

Originally Posted by Vikuna2009+

Fantastic! Would you mind elaborating a little bit more how you structure the whole thing, sure would like to know !

Fortunately the structure is taken care of by most PR websites. You don't really need to worry about the common things that most PR guides give you.

However, if I were to give a structure for the body content, it would go as follows.

1. Main point of PR
2. Quotes
3. More info on main point
4. In conclusion

[Chris Ramsey]

Originally Posted by MrLewisSmile

It seems the skill of writing good press releases is a skill worth learning...!

I am inspired

It's really not a hard skill to learn. I picked up the general idea in an afternoon a few years back. I've since started using my Hypnotic Copywriting techniques in them and have seen a huge increase in response.

As mentioned before though, being in the right place at the right time really helps! But you can't be there if you don't have a good PR already up.

[mikecorp]

That is good advise, thanks for that.

[trentd]

Thank you for that! I should try sending out a press release and I'll post the results.

[Shane Hale]

Do you know about how much of a traffic increase you saw once the release was submitted? 100's or 1000's to your site?

[Chris Ramsey]

Originally Posted by Shane Hale

Do you know about how much of a traffic increase you saw once the release was submitted? 100's or 1000's to your site?

I'm honestly not sure. It'd be on the smaller end because I offer a niched service, but it was VERY targeted. People who search for services like mine are already sold on the idea and just need to find a writer who can do the job.

[Shane Hale]

Originally Posted by scheda

I'm honestly not sure. It'd be on the smaller end because I offer a niched service, but it was VERY targeted. People who search for services like mine are already sold on the idea and just need to find a writer who can do the job.

Thanks Chris next time back in Anderson look me up! We can get some coffee or something.

[The Copy Nazi]

"Not to shabby for two hours of work!" should read "not too shabby". Tut tut.

[Martin Luxton]

Originally Posted by Metronicity

"Not to shabby for two hours of work!" should read "not too shabby". Tut tut.

Mal,

You know the Americans - they keep dropping vowels from their words.

Martin

[Spark]

Hi there,

Was wondering when writing a press release to any site, we can't really do anchor text for our press release right? We can only give our standard URL that's all. Am i right to say this?

A purely content that inform everyone out there formally about the service you have. Am i right to say so?

[EmmaJames]

That's awesome...I've got to do some
reasearch on press releases and put
this idea to work for my business!

Thank you...much appreciated...

[Chris Ramsey]

Originally Posted by Shane Hale

Thanks Chris next time back in Anderson look me up! We can get some coffee or something.

Will do! Should be up there in a month or two. We'll definitely hook up next time.

[Chris Ramsey]

Originally Posted by triosolutions

Great! Congratulation. press release primarily about your Copywriting Services or some other press realease?

This was a press release about me teaming up with a design group from Sydney to offer high-converting copywriting services combined with AMAZING designs.

I saw a need, so I contacted the best designers I could find, and the rest is history

Originally Posted by Spark

Hi there,

Was wondering when writing a press release to any site, we can't really do anchor text for our press release right? We can only give our standard URL that's all. Am i right to say this?

A purely content that inform everyone out there formally about the service you have. Am i right to say so?

If you pay for a press release on certain websites, you can have real links. This is great for SEO for your site... but that's not why I publish them. I do it so those who are looking to find services like mine find me. Press releases are often at the top of search results, so publishing one will rank really high up very quickly.

If you can get 10-20 PR's up on the first page for a couple weeks on good solid terms, you're gonna be mega-busy.

[dyuane]

I need to learn how to do a press release. I need to internet commerce/marketing.

[gregbanks]

PRLOG.COM is fantastic for this - and it's free

[havaread]

PR are a great way to get noticed by google fast!

[wealthydon]

You are in for mega bucks.

Your only task is simply to OVER-DELIVER on your service.

[mrs spencer]

i have been meaning to do this but i just thought otherwise most of the time the thought come in, now that you have said it i think i need to buckle up and start PReleasing right away...lol

[Randy Daugherty]

Great tips! Thanks will study how can I impart this tips for my benefits Thanks again!

[Michael Atma]

This is a great story... I am just about ready to launch my own PR News Site and am very heartened by your success.

My goal is to use it to target affiliate products (and my own) with a back up from adsense on high CPC keywords (i.e. home loans).

It's taken a couple of months to put the PR site together abd I'll be submitting to Google in a week or 2 for approval. A friend of mine has one and by month 3 was making $5k per month just from adsense and was getting over 1.2 million visitors to the site consistently from month 2.

[paulie888]

Thanks for sharing, Chris. This example truly illustrates the power of the written word, and while I've seen some really bad press releases, what you've done shows that press releases (even free ones) can be pure marketing magic if written and worded correctly.

Everyone should use his tips above as the basis for writing effective press releases. The main point here would be to write as though you were the impartial third party that is reporting about an external event or business, and the best press releases to model would be the ones that catch your eye at the traditional print newspapers (and also the online ones).

[pessi]

thanks. that is indeed inspiring.