Press Release Help

It's pretty tough to create a press release that will satisfy both online and offline markets. I'd very much recommend you create seperate releases for each.

The reason for this is that online, keywords are generally going to determine where your release crops up. I'm not saying you need to stuff your content full of them, but you do need to be mindful of it.

Offline, you need to cater to news outlets and come at things from an article sort of standpoint. You need to do this online as well, but the focus should center around an event/idea, and somewhat discretely plug your product in the process. For example, maybe you learn that since 2012 (because you found some sort of survey, whatever), it's been particularly tough for fishermen/women to find good catch & release locations... but your app helps them identify these areas quickly and painlessly.

It's all about being timely and relevant. Why is this important for people to hear NOW? Try to make it not just about your product release, but to focus on a problem that's arisen recently (pretty much as in all copywriting - identify problem, solve it).

I've had clients use both PRWeb and PR Newswire for submitting their releases online - Newswire is more expensive but is generally regarded as the better service.

P.S. - As for "tools," the best you can do is look at a few other releases and/or templates and mimic their style. You generally want to keep things brief and to the point. You add a summary of your business at the bottom along with contact information. Three hash marks indicate the end. Most submission services will have specific areas for you to place your details and keywords.

Yes, being from the media field, i would recommend you prepare two formats for the print and online medium. However, sometimes if the message that you want to convey is only the news, then one copy will do just fine.

Very true Laura.

At Try A Million we have the same split in press releases. Press releases aimed at the online world is totally different than the traditional press release.

Who reads the traditional and also the online version is likely to be different markets. The offline world is likely going to be editors and journalists whereas online versions will likely be to a mixture of editors, journalists, bloggers and others seeing it, so the focus is more on keywords because the aim is to rank.

I would also suggest going with the route of 2 press releases. An online press release is a bad traditional press release! And a traditional PR is bad as an online press release!

Journalists are not really interested in your special whizz bang offer at $1.99 today. They more interested in you having a sky diver jumping in the middle of a famous street and handing everyone the $1.99 deal.

Whereas online that wouldn't really help.

The main thing is (generally):
Traditional PR = Branding
Online PR = Links, SEO, Ranking

Hope that sums it up.

I would recommend Press Release Fire by Brad Callen as a good starting resource on writing and publishing press releases.

I'm a bit biased, but I suggest my software

Inside it you will find great videos on writing press releases, a separate press release writing guide, plus a Keyword research guide as well so you understand how to gear a press release for online use.

You can even use the software to easily edit and submit your PR.

"Best for the money" is hard to say without knowing your needs. If you have an unlimited budget the Press Release Distribution - Submit Press Releases Online - PRWeb is probably the place to go to submit your PR's. If you are on a budget then Press Release Distribution Services - WebWire is a good one to try

If interested you can find the link below in my signature.

Best of luck!

I found a site that has quite a few articles on Press Releases. Web Hosting for $1.99
Also there are some good lists in the site of where to post press releases.
Roger

I like submitting to 2 press release sites: "PRweb" and "Free-Press-Release".